Smart Procurement: USMC Buys British Harriers

I had seen rumors of this, but this is the first confirmation I’ve run into. This is a great deal and gives the Marines what they want and need rather than forcing more F/A-18 Hornets on them. Having forward based aircraft is important to close air support due to the benefits of having very fast turnaround.

Since the new used Harriers will be rebuilt with U.S. hardware, I have to wonder if they plan to use the radars from the retiring Hornets to make some of them AV-8B+ configurations in the future. It is probably being considered but we will have to wait and see on that.

This is a wise investment for the Corps and I am pleased to see the U.K.’s folly being salvaged in some way.

UPDATED:

It looks like the Harriers will only be used for spare parts according to this report. If correct, it is a sad end to some still very useful airframes. It is still a smart move by the Marines and protects their AV-8B’s from being taken out of service.

Computer Insecurity

It was true in past decades that you could rely on brand names to guarantee quality, but it was always touch and go in the personal computer world. It has gotten far worse and one product I used to use and highly recommend has gone very bad. Lavasoft’s AdAware used to be a front line weapon against malware. Now it is owned by people who made their money scamming people online. The most galling fact about this purchase is that they used to falsely sell AdAware!

It looks like Malwarebytes and Spybot: Search & Destroy are the go to programs now. I’m waiting for the release of the gold version of Spybot 2.0.  These days I do not rely on such programs as much, mainly due to using OpenDNS to filter addresses and Firefox with AdBlock Plus and NoScript to further keep bad links out. While I don’t surf “bad” sites, there has been a growing trend of hacking big websites and ads. So nobody is safe right out of the box.

Thanks to my precautions, I do not get much malware found on my system, if ever. It has been years since I saw anything other than the odd suspicious cookie.

Still, it is sad to see what happened to AdAware. If you do not stay up to date on what is going on, the possibility of being at the mercy of con artists, thieves, and other evil doers increases greatly.

Fortune Telling?

I just arrived home from a gaming session of D&D and while we were goofing off and ignoring the DM, I pretended to auger a fortune from a bowl of left over Halloween candy.

“You will have a short and painful life,” I predicted to one of the players.

He replied, “Did you say a short and painful wife?!”

Best line of the evening, by far.

Health 11-12-2011

Helping out on the move cost me three weeks of reduced activity so far. The usual infections are back and I am hoping to beat them down by the beginning of next week, which is probably optimistic.

H2O2 therapy is back at two doses a day and the results are like flipping a switch. More alert, the bowels better behaved, and a little more energy. It looks like this level will have to be maintained for months to come. At least I am getting faster at drinking the stuff.

Finally got my store of contacts laid in and I have to say I love the bifocals. While pricey, they are worth it to be able to breath! I switched back to a smaller font size on my pocket PC’s eBook readers too, so less scrolling needed.

Bleach Ep. 12: A Gentle Right Arm

While featuring the duel between Ishida and Ichigo, the real stars of this episode are Chad and Karin when a plague of Hollows attack Karakura Town.

After revealing himself to be a Quincy, an extinct race of supernaturally gifted humans, Uryu Ishida challenged Ichigo to a duel at the end of the previous episode. Insulting the carrot topped team worked like a charm and with his temper rising, he agreed. If there is one thing Kurosaki can be counted on to do, it has to be rushing headlong into things without thinking.

Condescending and acid tongued like a proper villain should be, Ishida explains the rules of the duel. The one who kills the most Hollows in 24 hours is the winner and proves his superiority. Quickly he initiates the summoning of the monsters and makes some pointed remarks about Hollows being drawn to humans with spiritual abilities that set Ichigo off running. But not is all it seems, as Kurosaki has misunderstood what the Quincy was hinting at.

Determined to protect his sisters at any cost, the substitute Soul Reaper has failed to notice that his closest friends have all begun to spiritually awaken too. For instance, poor Tatsuki now sees ghosts the way Ichigo did in the beginning and it is annoying her to distraction. But the boy is clueless to all this going on around him.

It is Karin that Ichigo is most worried about and sure enough she can sense something is wrong while playing soccer with a group of boys. Though it is more accurate to say she is intimidating them more than playing with them. It is clear she will be playing a big part in the episode, which is a welcome thing. Karin is one of the better characters in the series and isn’t seen nearly enough.

Her older brother slaughters Hollows on the way to her regular hangouts. One of the better Hollow battles to this point is a highlight of this episode, with Ichigo taking on three at once in a very fluid piece of choreography. While he is occupied slashing his way through Karakura Town, Rukia is still trying to get more information out of Urahara at his store. But her cellphone/Hollow detector won’t stop going off and its display is starting to look like an old video game…

With methodical precision, Ishida destroys Hollow after Hollow for a count far beyond his rival’s. There is more to his story and it appears that will be revealed soon. While scores of monsters rain down upon the town, Chad finds himself seeing something in the sky. This idling in the street irritates his starving musician companions for a comic break in the action.

But that rift in the sky is all he can focus on and when a Hollow drops from the sky his priorities change. Just one little problem – he cannot fully see the monster! Showing discretion, the large teen leads the creature away from the crowded shopping district.

That would have been brilliant, except he leads the Hollow straight to the playground where Karin is! Surprisingly, the two work well as a team when he tries to protect her, but a mere human can’t expect to take on a Hollow. Even a human as impossibly tough as Chad.

Another glimpse into the half-Mexican’s childhood shows how much he took his grandfather’s lessons to heart and in true shonen style it fuels his resolve to protect his friend’s little sister. A punch, a flash of light, and an explosion of energy follow as the gentle giant finds his own supernatural power. When the smoke clears, his right arm has undertaken a mysterious metamorphosis.

The battle continues and Chad shows how cool he is, though not everyone is positive about him being cool. It is a highly amusing moment and shows why Karin gets some of the best lines in the series.

But the danger continues for Ichigo’s family and friends as the Hollows continue to rampage.

Thoughts

This episode is a deft blend of comedy and action while throwing in some character development for Chad, Karin, and Ishida. Finally all the images from the opening sequence are explained and one would guess that all the main characters have been introduced. That person would be in error.

Things are only just beginning to get rolling, I am pleased to say.

A Gentle Right Arm is a good example of Bleach’s ability to blend action, drama, mystery, and comedy into a satisfying whole.

Odd and Ends

After having to come up with new titles to posts all the time, I decided to reuse this particular title for my more trivial posts. Recycling is good, or so they say.

Raccoons are nasty, vicious, and unsanitary critters despite the washing food thing they do. We have been afflicted with a rarity around here, a stealthy raccoon. Multiple times I have entered the bathroom to see its tail in the cat door as it silently escapes after raiding the cat food in the kitchen. Hopefully, the new smaller cat door will keep it out. It is also elusive once outside and hunting it down has been a futile quest.

What does the English custom of tea have to do with computer history? More than one would think as this article on LEO, the first business computer, shows. I would have thought a bank would have built the first one, but reality is wonderfully stranger than fiction.

After becoming dissatisfied with the quality of screen captures from VLC, I have switched back to WMP12 for the time being. I probably need to do more research into setting on VLC, but so far I have been unable to get it to use the ATI videocard’s built in deinterlacing that is superior to the software options. At least the Bleach screen captures will look better from now on.

With Call of Duty: MW3 and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim coming out in the same week I am very grateful not to be a hard core gamer. Game prices are ludicrously high at release these days and often you are paying so that the bugs will be fixed for the bargain hunters later on. Class me as one of the bargain hunters. Only Mass Effect 3 has me tempted that way and it isn’t due to March. More time to build up resistance, right?

Watched Will Penny thanks to Netflix last night. What a great movie. I think it is one of the few to really portray what it was like to be a cowboy and that ending was perfect. Anybody who thinks Chuck Heston couldn’t act needs to watch this film.

Is Episode 4 of Squid Girl season 2 the funniest of the entire show? It has to be of the second season so far. The first part focusing on learning English is hilarious, but the other two segments are top notch too.

For those who have given up on Bleach, now is the time to try it out again. The current arc is worth checking out and Episode 342 is where to begin. Even if you have read the current arc in the manga, a lot of fleshing out and expansion is being done, apparently with the creator’s involvement.

I am hoping to take advantage of the Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcasts to theaters in the near future. Unfortunately, I was not able to go see Siegfried from the Ring Cycle when it ran last week. Faust is the next one up that interests me, so we will see.

This archive has some stupendous photos from the heady days of high performance flight including shots of the A-12, YF-12, SR-71, XB-70, and X-15 among others. Man, the Valkyrie was a beautiful aircraft.

Squid Girl Episode 5, Season 1

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

Another identity crisis due to mistaken identity, the perils of inkvading high school, and a surprising final segment start off the second disc of set one. The usual laughs and insane situations are there, but don’t be surprised if you come away with a tear in your eye rather than a smile after watching this episode.

Are You from Planet Calamari?

Proving that the previous episode’s mild fan service was no fluke, the first third starts off when an impossibly proportioned blond in a bikini enters the Lemon Beach House. We can tell she is a great beauty because all sorts of sparkles emanate from her hair as it waves in slow motion in the sea breeze. Well, that and the male customers completely lose their cool at the sight of her.

Immediately sizing her up as a foreigner, Eiko panics. Once again showing her sadistic streak, Chizuru forces the teen to wait on the newcomer. It soon turns out that Eiko’s command of the English language leaves much to be desired.

Luckily for her, the blond is fluent in Japanese and is here for a very specific reason. It seems there are rumors of an alien having been sighted at this location. Now who could that be?

And so Cindy Campbell, M.I.T. graduate and alien hunter extraordinaire joins the cast of loonies. Squid Girl is understandably rather upset with being called an alien and even more so with Cindy’s nearly Sanae like desire to haul her off to a laboratory. Not only does the American look good in swimwear, she is a true mad scientist – and mad scientists don’t take no for answer.

Is our tentacled protagonist really a Squiddian invader from outer space?  Can Squid Girl find her way back to normalcy? And just what is normalcy for her anyway?

Want to Join a New School of Fish?

One of my favorite things about Squid Girl is how everyday events become  epic adventures for our blue tressed heroine. If you were wondering if her adoptive family had lives outside the beach, wonder no more. Summer vacation is over and Eiko proudly dresses in her school uniform. After some confusion over cosplay, Squid Girl demands to come along. Rebuffed, she sneaks into school anyway to do some reconnaissance like a proper inkvader.

Exploring all the empty rooms she can get into, it becomes clear to Ika that this is a military training facility. Why they even have a place to take care of the wounded. It is a perfect base to stage her takeover of the surface world from! Or at least that is how she sees things.

Violence, hostage taking, and PA announcements lead to a potentially deadly situation. Can this be peaceably resolved or will the inkvasion finally begin in earnest?

Who’d Like a Pet Squid?

The final segment is a big change of pace and is original to the anime. I do not want to give too much away, but the nearly dialogue free story shows a deft touch while tugging at the audience’s heartstrings. It all begins with Eiko finding a mini Squid Girl in a jar on the beach one rainy day.

What follows will be familiar to anyone who has raised a pet, especially if they have wooed a feral kitten.

This story shows what heights the animators are capable of rising to as what should be a simple overdose of cute becomes something deeply touching instead. It was so popular that two shorts were done starring Mini Squid Girl for the Blu-ray release in Japan along with figurines.

Thoughts

Squid Girl is a light hearted series that occasionally will surprise with sharp insights or genuinely sweet moments. It is the latter that you will remember from this episode. It is something of a sucker punch and all the more effective for it.

I have to praise the English language voice cast again. They have done a bang up job and I also have to give the dub writers a hand for how they rewrote the scene between Eiko and Cindy. It was cleverly handled.

This and Episode Six are the only episodes on disc 2 and for some reason the same extras from the first disc were repeated. I have hopes that the second set coming out later this month will have the Mini Ika Musame shorts on them as they are very cute.

Taking Care of Business

Today was all about the title and it went well for a change. There is nothing like clearing out unexpected bills and realizing you will have more money than you expected left over. In this case it was a dental bill that hit me out of the blue and had me worried.

It has been an interesting several days. Rampant silliness during Saturday night’s gaming session seems to have been a good beginning to it all. We were dangerously close to “shoe drop” territory all night so much fun was had.

Sunday was quite the day at church. When I arrived a tad late due to a combination of starting out slowly and then being in slow traffic (harvest and hunting season at the same time), I found myself in the overflow section. Which promptly overflowed and required more folding chairs brought in! It has been a long time since I’ve seen that.

Fast and testimony sacrament meetings are always different and once again I felt prodded to go up and give my testimony. Unusually, the Spirit had me scripture diving beforehand and had a very direct push for me to talk about fear. Specifically, how we are to fear not despite all that is going on. Since my fears are on the selfish side I did not go into them, but it is clear I need to work on that.

I can say that I transitioned to fight mode from self pity mode while driving to church, so something is up. Don’t know what and probably don’t want to know what.

Anyway, I was called and set apart to be an Elders Quorum instructor in addition to staying as a ward missionary. In fact, my first lesson to teach is this coming Sunday. It might be a good idea to find out which lesson we are on since I confuse chapter places with Gospel Essentials class. Having taught every lesson out of the Gospel Principles manual, I could probably do it in my sleep. However, one needs to prepare no matter how versed they are.

This morning, I ran into a deal at Amazon for The Greatest Video Game Music album by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a whopping $2.99. There were multiple tracks I wanted so I got the whole deal and it is well worth it. Standouts for me are Mass Effect: Suicide Mission, Bioshock: The World On His Shoulders, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and Modern Warfare 2: Theme. Others will delight in the full orchestral versions of classic console games such as Final Fantasy and Super Mario Bros. It was a nice way to start the day off.

Time to up how much H2O2 I take in daily. Another attempt to taper off has resulted in negative consequences. It appears I can’t get below two dosages a day without things going backwards. Ah well.

At least I was able to be out and about three days in a row again.

The Effectiveness of Circular Firing Squads

One amazing thing to me is how the Republican Party manages to destroy itself via internal warfare on a nearly constant basis in recent years. The current race to be the presidential nominee is a textbook example of this foolishness. Campaigns cannot wait to tear each other down and provide ammo to the opposition in 2012 with the conservative side of the party being the worst offenders.

Furthermore, we have candidates who are even more adept at shooting themselves in the foot than their opponents. One thing for sure is that none of them can shoot straight and stay on target. So the end result will be having a moderate to liberal candidate again, just like in 2008. In this case it will be Mitt Romney, who by a small degree was just to the right of McCain.

I have not enjoyed watching conservative candidate after candidate implode. Yes, the media is working against them, but far too many “own goals” have been kicked into the nets.

The latest is Herman Cain and his sexual harassment scandal just got a lot worse. If he is innocent, his campaign has handled this the worst possible way. If you are Machiavellian about it and he is guilty, they still have handled it the worst possible way. This goes well beyond inexperience and most likely is the beginning of the end for him.

Perry is going nowhere due to his abysmal debate performances and the fact he is not that conservative in the first place. But it is the debate performances that have killed him. Supporters claim that debates do not matter, but that is where the voters usually make up their minds. Most people do not follow things until the last minute and only pay attention to the flashiest of events.

Bachman is done. Her lack of wit and inability to go past talking points sank her like a rock. Big fish in a small pond syndrome is what happened here and she has yet to realize it. She better before it damages her back at home in Minnesota.

Santorum simply does not have the personality needed to make it on the national stage.  In the days before television, he would have done much better. But appearances and performances are everything today.

Newt is unelectable. He is the prototype for what was done to Palin and is still toxic all these years later, despite having some good ideas and excellent debates. But he is not that conservative and some of us have long memories. He is good VP material at best.

Ron Paul is unelectable in every possible way. There is no way the country will hand over the keys to the crazy uncle who has been drinking too much from the conspiracy punch bowl.

Huntsman would make a good challenger to Obama – in the Democratic Party primaries. ‘Nuff said.

Which leaves us with the establishment’s choice, Romney. He carries a lot of political and social baggage. Just a few months ago, I talked to activists that sat out the last election due to McCain being too liberal and they said they would vote for anyone, even Romney, over Obama. I do not know what changed, but the atmosphere is slowly becoming one of sitting out again.

That does not necessarily mean Romney will lose. I also have talked to Democrats who would cross over to vote for him and he will get most of the crucial independents. It will be an ugly race though, with many evangelical Christians opposing him due to his being a Latter-day Saint. Having to deal with that prejudice on a regular basis myself, I can say it will be a factor.

Meanwhile, supporters of various candidates are busy vilifying other candidates in blind hero worship. This voluntary fanaticism is just as dangerous as any demagoguery can be from a politician. The passions being shown are more akin to what we used to see in party versus party elections.

It is that kind of internal strife and failure to unite against a common foe that has damaged the GOP greatly in recent times. You would think with things as bad as they are that the factions would come together. But I am not seeing it and in fact it is getting more fractious with the consequence of reasonable activists becoming burning out due to it.

Why all this division?

Perhaps that desire to deny how bad things really are getting is clouding minds. We are about to enter a time of widespread economic and social chaos around the globe. There will be wars of all kinds breaking out in the next decade.  Those of us who can see it are alarmed, but unable to affect events. The inertia of the masses is too great, the power of denial too strong, and the maintainers of the status quo too entrenched.

It is said there is a flee or fight reaction when confronted with a physical threat. What goes unmentioned is the third reaction which is paralysis. Perhaps that is the biggest problem of them all – that there are too many people who act like deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi.

Whatever the cause may be for all the internecine warfare on the political right it does not matter. I am sick of it and the unwillingness of people to deal with what is happening. I am also sick of watching the entire system self destruct.

Boy am I glad I live in the countryside watching the way the world is going.

Bleach Ep. 11: The Legendary Quincy

After an episode of nonstop comedy, an air of menace slowly comes back into the series when a mysterious stalker with an axe to grind appears. But comedy is still the main focus at this point.

Bleach can be very predictable at times, but only within its own strange rules. New viewers will find themselves surprised often in the early going before it settles into its normal pattern of weirdness, especially in the “canon” storyline. That is to say, the non-filler main storyline.  Filler is the dreaded way of keeping an anime adaptation of a manga going while waiting for the original author to produce new content.

While the previous installment of Bleach introduced what seemed to be a filler character, Don Kanonji, it turns out there is fallout from the epically silly events. Very silly fallout, of course.

Teenagers fear being summoned to the principle’s office and the entire group finds themselves there.  Being lectured to by the gym teacher who appears to be in a steroid induced rage, they are in it deep. You see, due to Ichigo and Rukia being seen on national TV causing trouble the school has been embarrassed.

Showing there are limits to friendship, everyone correctly dumps the blame on Ichigo. Attempts to get out of being lumped into the punishment are played strictly for laughs with Rukia being particularly amusing. Her ploy works all too well and there is an impression she has done this kind of thing before.

What would Bleach be without random Hollow problems? When the latest alert goes off, the group take notice of Rukia and Ichigo running off. Orihime is watching very closely and speculates about their relationship to the ire of the boys. But someone else is watching too as the sinister music plays…

There are a lot of good character moments in episode 11 and Rukia gets the best ones. From being bad cop/bad cop all by herself (wait, shouldn’t good cop be in there?) to her rant against her cellphone, the diminutive Soul Reaper is a bundle of annoyed energy. Those bits and the fake sob story she employed earlier are great fun.

I do believe I wrote that an air of menace is to be found and so it arrives. Though our hero’s do not know it, they have been followed all episode by a strange figure wearing a long jacket and glasses. Finally catching Ichigo and Rukia by themselves, he emerges from the night to reveal himself.

He is Uryu Ishida and has supernatural powers himself. They are nearly as impressive as his acid dripping condescension which is most impressive. His mockery culminates in a statement of hatred towards the substitute Soul Reaper. Just like that, Ichigo has a new menace to deal with and it turns out to be a classmate – though he doesn’t remember him. And just what is a Quincy – what Ishida calls himself?

For once, Ichigo decides to check things out before going into conflict. Just one little problem: he has already forgotten Ishida’s name. Fortunately for him, Orihime knows Ishida, since they are in the same handcrafts club. Handcrafts club?! I am not sure if that is more or less menacing to know.

The scene that follows is a hilarious spoof of fighting animes, when we are shown Ishida’s fearsome sewing skills. Like every other character in the series, there is something off kilter about the boy. But you have to admit, he is good with a needle and thread.

After school, Ichigo and Rukia split up to pursue different leads on the new threat because we all know it is better to divide your forces when confronting an enemy. Ichigo counter stalks Ishida and Rukia heads to Uruhara’s for intel. Veering off into slapstick comedy to break the mood, we are presented with Jinto bullying Ururu again. It isn’t very funny, in my opinion.

This short sequence is, however. But then again, I like utterly random silliness when it is played straight. That is probably a result of watching too many Pink Panther movies growing up.

As the mystery of the Quincies begins to unfold, it looks like Ichigo and Rukia will have their hands full…

Thoughts

The Legendary Quincy is a classic setup episode without any real action in it. That said, it is still a lot of fun as the sense of mystery is back after the previous story. Here is where Bleach’s universe begins to open up more with hints of being more complicated than previously shown.

Ishida is an interesting character, a calm and collected nerd who is incredibly arrogant. His powers are an interesting contrast to that of the Soul Reapers and he is positioned to be Ichigo’s perfect foe.

The voice work on the English dub rings wrong once again, with Ishida’s voice sounding too old and too monotone. Despite his air of maturity, the character is still young and the Japanese voice actor nails that perfectly. I will concede he is a complex character and difficult to portray.

2011 Come Back Here!

So it is November already. This year has flown by with most goals I had set out for the new year unmet and quite a few not started. Oddly, I am not alone in this and almost everyone I know have experienced the same thing. There is a modicum of comfort knowing that.

After a lousy week with health problems, this one is a bit better. Still not where I need to be, but I did survive an active weekend including a Halloween party. So far I have not escaped the need to nap in the afternoon, but I have hope that will change shortly.

I had the cheapest Halloween costume yet. It consisted of a ratty long sleeve T-shirt, jeans, and an empty box of Trix that I ran through multiple times with a kitchen knife. Yes, I was a cereal killer. I actually had something else planned but had a last minute flash of inspiration while talking to a Kwik Trip clerk.

Odd place to get an idea, but I’ll take ‘em where I can get ‘em.

The Trix rabbit’s eyes still haunt me, though.

Happy Halloween

Links to scary movie reviews for your entertainment:

Frankenstein

Boris Karloff as the pitiable Monster in James Whale’s subversively clever take on why mad scientists should get out of the laboratory more often.

The Curse of Frankenstein

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in Hammer Films’ much darker update of the story.

Dracula

Bela Legosi and his Hungarian accent star in the movie that made the character famous.

Dracula the Spanish version

The vastly superior version of the movie above.

Horror of Dracula

Cushing and Lee again in ripping good story about the infamous Count filmed in lush Technicolor.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Disney goes dark in the early 1980’s film that will make you think twice about going to any carnival.

The Watcher in the Woods

Disney’s ghost story involving the disappearance of a teenager girl decades before has chills and a twist ending.

Gojira

The Japanese movie that started the giant monster movie craze is actually a very reflective and sad film that never treats the big guy as a joke.

Godzilla

The hacked and spliced together American version of Gojira that most people remember.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidora

Godzilla is the bad guy again in an updated take that becomes a morality fable about Japan’s responsibility in WWII and takes shots at the declining youth culture. 

Dracula (1931 Spanish Version) Review

Filmed simultaneously as the famous English language version, the Spanish Dracula is now regarded as being technically superior. Using the same shooting script and sets, but with a different director and cast, it offers a fascinating contrast in approaches. While the English version got all the fame, this is the better movie by far.

 

As the talkies took over the movie industry, demand for native language films grew in Mexico, Central, and South America. This was a sizeable market and filming Spanish language versions alongside the English version was one way to capitalize on the opportunity with dubbing being the other. People wanted to hear their native language and, better yet, see people speaking it on screen.

Universal Pictures decided to film a Spanish version of Dracula at the same time as Tod Browning’s production. Paul Kohner, the former successor to Carl Laemmle who was shoved out of his position running Universal to make room for Junior, was assigned to produce it using the same script and sets. He hired George Melford to direct and the two decided they would one up the other production in every way they could.

During the day, Browning’s version filmed on the sets and by night Melford’s used them. Even the same chalk marks for positions on set were used by the actors. Since the same shooting script was used, I will refer you to my earlier review of Dracula for the plot points. Instead, the focus will be on the differences between the films and why I believe this version to be superior.

First off, the babe factor is a big reason. Yes, that is sexist, but it is also accurate. Even the girl wearing glasses is very attractive and, more importantly, gets more of a chance to act. All the actors benefit from the better direction and pacing of this version, but the women really got a better deal. Perhaps Browning wasn’t good with handling actresses.

Take the bookworm above. In the English version, she is only briefly seen and heard. But here her role is expanded, first by having her comically fall on Renfield (Pablo Alvarez Rubio) repeatedly in the bouncing coach and then by increasing her dialogue. Note that he is not as effete as Dwight Frye’s interpretation and does not seem to mind this happening. She is also shown taking something of an interest in him and later gets a little scene for herself.

Dracula (1931) Review

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with the most famous blood sucker of them all? Supernatural horror films gained acceptance and big box office in America when Bela Legosi donned the cape of Count Dracula. Beset by production problems and an unknown actor in the main part, it was an amazing achievement in its time. Has this horror classic withstood the test of time?

When Carl Laemmle, Jr. was put in charge of Universal Pictures by his father, one of the first things he did was put into motion his plans to revamp the horror movie genre for talkies. Since Dracula was already a very successful Broadway and touring play, it was the ideal subject for introducing the supernatural into horror movies. Prior to it, horror was consisted of the psychological or deformed humans types, with nothing “spooky” allowed. It was thought that American audiences would reject such silliness.

I think we all know how that theory panned out.

Hiring the famous director of Lon Chaney’s incredibly popular silent films, Tod Browning, would insure success because it would be easy to get Chaney to play the part. But “The Man of 10oo Faces” died of lung cancer in 1930 and the studio looked at a lot of actors for the part. Oddly, the star of the smash Broadway play, Bela Legosi, was not considered for the part. In fact, he had to make a desperate concession on salary to get the role he was already famous for and this was only after everyone else passed on it.

Please park your modern day sensibilities and travel back to the more innocent era of the Great Depression to witness a movie that shocked and thrilled the American public.

Health 10-27-2011

I knew helping out on a move on Monday would cost me, but I was hoping it would not be most of a week. But here it is, Thursday, and I am struggling mightily. While the brain is working sporadically and well enough to meet minimal requirements on crossword puzzles, the body is doing its own thing. Or more accurately, not doing a thing. Audiosurf was flat out awful today and I am barely keeping my eyes open.

In fact, I need to lie down.

Harry Potter DVDs and BD’s to Fall Under Cloak of Invisibility

Showing how bad things are in DVD sales, Warner Brothers have decided to milk as much money out of the Harry Potter movies they can in the short term. After December 29th, they will stop producing and shipping all of the movies in the series.

The article mentions Disney has done this with their animated films and I would not be surprised to see this trend expand. Home video sales have cratered and the studios are looking for a way out of the market, in my opinion. It would not be surprising if some in the industry would like things to return to the theater only model, but I cannot see that being viable.

With the death of DVD’s being proclaimed widely and Blu-ray not being very successful, it looks like the digital download format is the only option in the future. Since the studios hate that, it will be a messy transition.

I had thought of getting the last two films to complete my Harry Potter set, but now I do not feel like doing so. This sort of cheap stunt is really irritating, but I suspect it will work. I just do not want to contribute to it succeeding.

Frankenstein (1931) Review

Halloween fun goes Universal with a review of James Whale’s subversive masterpiece that frightened audiences and packed the theaters. Return with me to a more innocent time when gore did not exist in movies, television was a science fiction idea, and scared kids still hid behind movie theater seats. Warning: This will be a monster of a review!

1931 was the year that made horror movies popular and proved they could compete for the pennies of Depression era movie goers. Early in the year, Dracula had come out and caused a sensation with its gothic atmosphere featuring an exotic supernatural villain. Known as a B movie studio, Universal Pictures finally had their chance to move up to the big leagues and they had to strike while the iron was hot.

So another adaptation of a classic horror novel was the logical next step. Having bought the rights to Peggy Webling’s stage play interpretation of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the studio moved ahead at full steam.

The movie begins with a quaint rarity: a warning to the audience. Delivered by Edward Van Sloan, the actor portraying Doctor Waldman, it was added after a test screening in California shocked its audience. In this exceptionally jaded era of lost innocence, the concept of people actually have to be warned about content is alien. But this was a more civilized time and not only were children sheltered, many adults were.

So please watch this movie with that in mind.

The opening credits set an uneasy and creepy mood, with strange and unholy eyes being the focus behind the letters presented on screen. To modern eyes, it looks psychedelic, but it would have been nightmarish—even delirious to the eyes of the time.

Anonymous Takes on Pedophiles

One of the beautiful things about life is that while you can never find someone you agree on one hundred percent of things, you also cannot find someone you will disagree on everything.

Those rogue hackers called Anonymous have done a great service to the world recently. There is a shadowy covert world on the Internet where all sorts of malignant activities are carried out with the absolute worst being the creation and dissemination of child pornography. So when they hacked and tracked the members of a large ring involved in this kind of evil, I have to salute them.

I may not agree with them on many things, but this is the kind of vigilante justice I can back.

I remember looking at TOR at one point while pondering whether or not there was a necessity for more privacy in communications between friends and talking about sensitive issues. The cons outweighed the pros, but the idea that this kind of software could be used for truly vile stuff always stuck with me.

Privacy is needed on the Net, but there are lines that have been crossed and pedophiles are so far over the line it isn’t worth arguing about.

So well done, Anonymous, well done.

Health 10-22-2011

It has been an interesting week health wise. Starting with the disastrous weekend, things rebounded on Monday. In fact, things went fairly well until Friday, when it fell apart again.

Two factors appear to be involved: overdoing things and tapering off the H2O2 therapy.

For the moment, there seems to be a limit on how many workouts I can get in a week before it negatively affects me. Two can be done and then I degrade in the stamina and upper respiratory areas. Third is simply asking for trouble.

On the hydrogen peroxide end of things, it appears I tapered off too quickly to once a day and will go back to twice a day to see what happens. I do not relish this, as drinking the foul stuff is not fun in the slightest. Hopefully, the innards will go back to being cooperative as they showed signs of rebelling again.

Slept a great deal yesterday and was unable to get very far into a monster review I am writing. The brain simply quit working. I better get that up Monday morning at the latest.

Gaddafi Is Dead

According to the latest news, it really appears to be him. Warning, graphic pictures at the link. The gold plated .45 seems to be a strong identifier to me and it looks like him despite all the damage.

It has been a long time coming for this certifiable lunatic. I remember when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up and the Berlin disco bombing for that matter too. The world is a better place with him and his son gone, but I have a bad feeling about Libya.

After watching Egypt slide following their revolution, this one looks even messier. Islamic extremists will be looking to take power and one way or the other, they will.

For the moment, at least there is the potential of change for the better for the Libyan people. It is up to them now.

Shape of Things to Come

As the economic conditions continue to deteriorate to the inevitable collapse, governments at all levels will become obsessed with picking the pockets of the citizen completely clean. There has already been discussion of confiscating private retirement accounts, which has been done in other countries. Pumping up inflation is another way savings are wiped out and that is the plan in the United Kingdom.

But here is an idea that blindsided me and is already law in Louisiana. All secondhand goods are to be paid for by check or plastic from now on. Curiously, pawn shops are exempted. But what about Goodwill and Salvation Army stores? This also effectively outlaws rummage sales and any other private sale, since you would have to have enough money to survive checks bouncing or to have a credit card scanner. Those have fees per transaction to use, by the way.

Asinine barely begins to describe this. Supposedly this is to stop materials thefts and theft in general. Most of the buyers there are shady and doing it off the books anyway, so it will not stop crime. But it will destroy a lot of small businesses.

So why pass this law?

I suspect the real answer is that it is all about taxes. It is easier to keep track of what should be taxed because checks, debit cards, and credit cards are all traceable. They want a chunk of unreported “black market” sales that go on all the time between private citizens. The legitimate businesses already keep track of that and pay their taxes, but there is an attitude among some legislators that there is a huge underground economy that can bring in big revenue streams.

To some degree, they are right and that is why a national sales tax replacing the income tax would be very effective. But an individual state doing this will just encourage legitimate buyers to stop buying and criminals will do one of two things: money laundering and shopping out of state.

I feel assaulted by dangerous waves of stupidity.

Squid Girl Episode 4, Season 1

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

The silliness with a heart continues as everyone’s favorite invader from the bottom of the sea learns about money, family life, and suffers from an identity crisis. There will be puns.

Want to Buy Sumfin?

Fulfilling her vow to protect the ocean by picking up litter, Squid Girl is amazed at the volume of trash humans produce. But what is that strange object? A terrified (as always) Nagisa identifies it as a wallet and Ika gets her first lesson in money. As a reward for finding and returning, the owner gifts her with 10,000 yen.

While she knows of money, Squid Girl has no concept of how it all works and quickly is barraged with more advice than she can handle. After all, she is just a fresh squid to the surface world.

Sent to shop with Nagisa, the whole world of consumerism opens before her. But little does she know she is being stalked by Sanae who was able to smell her a block away. Yes, smell her. Sanae has more screws loose than a rusty old Yugo.

Shrimp addiction, Chizuru’s sadistic streak, and mental illness all get covered in this very amusing story that plays out like a warped after school special. In the end, there is no way to disagree with Nagisa’s quietly horrified take on the whole situation.

Care to Come Aboard?

Ever wondered where Squid Girl ended up living after invading? Here we get the answer when she isn’t allowed to follow Eiko and her family home for the night. So her base, The Lemon Beach House is where she spends her nights.

But a tragic death of an appliance and the binding of another means it will be a very boring night for a young squid. Drastic measures are required and the fallout from them the next morning can only lead to one thing…

Yes, Chizuru has decided to let Ika stay over at their house! Crabby Eiko is less than thrilled for good reason, given the damage all those tentacles can do. What follows is very sweet, though. Having her first experiences at normal things families do, Squid Girl has a great time.

Video games are played, boredom resurfaces, and what appears to be a shout out to another blue haired anime girl follow.

That’s So Fishy Its Fake

Sheer insanity.

That’s what this wonderfully loopy segment is and it all starts with an innocuous reconnaissance run on a popular neighboring beach. Eiko and Squid Girl are stunned to find kids recognizing her and pulling on her tentacles. Could she be that infamous?

Not exactly. There is another Squid Girl!

Instant identity crisis time for our tentacled would be terror when she confronts her “twin.” It does not matter that the other Squid Girl is a shapely young thing wearing an obvious and oversized mask. Much like when Takeru made a squid hat in episode one, she cannot tell the difference.

But forget the deep sea existential crisis, the real humor is in the insane creation of the rival restaurant owner. We get to see not one, but two versions of his brilliant work. Let us say that the more he innovates, the less appealing his work becomes – even if it has animatronic tentacles and other special features.

An hilarious competition of the Squid Girl’s ensues with the fate of Ika’s future on the line. There will be collateral damage, scares, and a stunning reveal. Just what lurks beneath that expression of the new girl?

Thoughts

Episode 4 has all of Squid Girl’s best points on display. Segment one has the foibles of Squid Girl featured, plus a nice moral message to start it. There is an endearing quality to the show and the middle segment captures the warmth the show often exudes. Part of the fun is seeing the title character have new experiences, but the sense of appreciation for everyday things is rewarding as well. But the sheer insanity of the final story is the episode stealer.

Highlights from the three segments for me:

The short exchange between Chizuru and Eiko when the younger sister sent Nagisa to escort Ika shopping. A very nicely written bit.

The reaction to the box’s contents at the end of the first segment.

The warm fuzzies generated by the montage in the second story.

Realizing how none of the main females in the cast have a ridiculously buxom body that is so prevalent in anime. Eiko, Chizuru, Sanae, Nagisa, and Squid Girl have relatively normal body types. The appearance of the new girl brought that home, because she is the stereotypical anime girl in appearance.

I also liked the hint that the stereotypical beauty seems to be on the shy side in this episode. That final look back added an unexpected moment of poignancy to an otherwise gonzo story. We will see her again.

It seems the American voice actors have settled into their roles by this point in recording and I have to say they do a good job. The refreshing normalcy of the voice portrayals of Eiko and Nagisa stood out to me.

Stupidity Is Its Own Reward

There is a reason instructions should be followed and today I became the poster child of why. 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide should only be transferred from containers while wearing protective gloves because it will burn bare skin. So of course I thought I could be careful and skip finding the gloves.

I think the quantity was only one to two drops that got loose, but that spread out fast despite rinsing my hands. In fact, I though I had got off scot free until five minutes later when the pain began.

Casualty count: right thumb, forefinger, middle finger, pinky, palm, left forefinger and pinky. The fingertips looked like reverse fingerprints. Hot needles is how I would describe the pain.

So far everything is still functioning due to an application of Vaseline and I will see how that goes.

Meanwhile, as of last night and today, everything tastes like bleach. My surmise is that I have hit the saturation point on the H2O2 therapy and should start ramping down to maintenance levels today.

Yesterday, I was able to get a workout in on the home gym and assorted other things done with a nap thrown in. That is a relief after the horrendous weekend and a good indication of how the therapy has helped. The mild chest congestion is gone as of today from what I can tell and given the struggles with bronchitis this year is simply amazing.

I am pleased with H2O2 and displeased with my stupidity. Lesson learned, sigh.

So Much for That

Instead of being at stake conference, I find myself relegated to sitting at home and typing this post. One of the things about having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is that you often do not get to do what you badly want to. To a certain degree, your agency is curtailed.

The entire weekend was a bust because I overdid things on Friday. Though I will admit that given the unpredictability of the illness, I may have already been in trouble. So I did not go to the birthday party, the two sessions of stake conference, and the special meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Twelve. The latter is especially disappointing for me.

After knowing I was in no condition to go anywhere Saturday, I concentrated on resting up for today. It was to no avail and I knew I was in trouble from the moment I got up at 6 AM. My father offered to drive me, but it turns out the car would have needed gas anyway and though it was severely tempting, I would not violate the Sabbath. In the end, it would not have mattered because I was in very bad shape and would have been a zombie through the whole thing.

I have done that before and can testify to the fact that you come away with little to no benefit, since you don’t remember what was said. Instead of an uplifting and edifying experience, it becomes a miserable marathon of trying to stay awake. Only around 11:30 AM was I able to begin to function today to illustrate the problem.

Not being able to do things like this gnaws at my very soul and now I need to find my way out of the foul temper I am in. I will listen to my library of scriptures, hymns, and conference talks and hope to find some peace there.

Horror of Dracula (1958) Review

It is Hammer time which means another horror movie review to celebrate Halloween. This time the most famous vampire of them all gets the British treatment in glorious Technicolor! Blood is sucked, victims are seduced, and a battle of wits between good and evil is enjoined.

After the monster success of The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer Films decided they needed follow it up with another horror movie. The obvious choice was to remake Dracula using the same formula of action, serious acting, pretty ingénues, gothic sets, and shooting in color. Bringing back the same director and stars would guarantee success. But did it work out as hoped?

Read on to see why I consider Christopher Lee’s Dracula the best portrayal by any actor and Peter Cushing’s heroic Van Helsing the definitive version.

After a long opening credits sequence, the camera zooms in on a crypt placard with the infamous name of Dracula on it. Bright red paint is spattered on it for shock effect and that particular bit is more amusing than frightening. But to audiences back then, it probably worked, since it was a far less jaded time. For us older folks, this kind of in your face “scary” mood setter brings forth feelings of nostalgia. At least it did for me.

Health 10-15-2011

So far this day has one of staggering about, mentally and physically. Crossword puzzle time was atrocious and Audiosurf was terrible. That is after giving myself extra time to wake up to deal with them.

I think assisting in unloading bags of wood pellets yesterday did me in. That is a beyond maximum output for me and I simply feel unwell. No cold or other bug symptoms, just fried from it.

So much for getting another session on the home gym in today. If I do that, then there is no way to get to a birthday party and stake conference later tonight. This makes me concerned about tomorrow, since I have to get up early to travel to Rochester for a single adults meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook as part of stake conference.

Hopefully, all will work out. I also want to get the next horror film review finished that I began writing last night. Nausea from H2O2 is not helping. I feel like I can’t think right now. Ah, CFS brain fog is so much fun.

Health 10-14-2011

Typing using a cat as a wrist rest is not advisable, though I am doing so at the moment.

Yesterday went well, the optometrist was surprised how well I am doing with the bifocal contacts. 20/15 for the wall projection and able to barely read the smallest line on the hand held card. It looks like his saying I was an ideal candidate for the lenses was dead on.

Also picked up the cheapest plastic lensed prescription glasses I could at Wal-Mart. They are not bifocals, but are for working on models so I can peer over them for detail work. Being nearsighted is an attribute rather than a defect for working on miniatures. Weird getting dizzy from new glasses, but the old ones were fifteen years old. I can’t say I like the frames, but they are for home use only so I should not complain.

Got another session in on the home gym. Years of catching up to do, sadly. One of the rollers popped one end of its cover and I need to see if the lifetime warranty covers replacing it. Mostly a cosmetic issue, fortunately.

I am hoping the workouts will help with the bad lower back problems that intensified this year. Hopefully there will be synergy from the H2O2 therapy and the weight training. There should be plenty of oxygen getting to the muscle tissue now.

This week I started doing meditation daily again rather than sporadically. It simply was not enough doing it once in awhile and once again I hope for some synergy with everything else I am doing. After an aborted attempt to put together a music playlist to continue the mood after meditating, I finally have gotten an initial one functional. But I still need to comb through my music library for more.

Some of Pink Floyd’s tunes work, as do songs from The Alan Parsons Project, but most are instrumentals from classical, electronic, and game genres. The music from the old Sierra game RAMA is particularly suited to the purpose.

I seem to be adjusting to the downturn in temperatures better than usual and reactions to the soybean fields being harvested was less than expected. While the sinuses still objected, it was not nearly like before.

It may be the H2O2 therapy helping there. I despise drinking the vile stuff, but it is having positive effects. It is also nice to be consuming yogurt on a daily basis again without any bowel distress. So far, so good.

Adding Insult to Injury

That story about the trojan keylogger infection of the drone control system somehow managed to get worse. It turns out the base’s officers did not notify their superiors about it and they found out from the media. CYA at its best, folks. This really instills confidence about the competency of those in charge at Creech.

It also raises the possibility that this is a garden variety infection, rather than a deliberate hack. The stupidity on display is embarrassing and I hope some careers get black marks for this. Looking for a silver lining here is difficult, but maybe the military will finally do something about the security in place and harden the systems against hacking.

Oh yeah, this whole going mainly to drones is going to work out well…

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Review

To celebrate Halloween season, Hammer Time begins with a review of the horror film that made the movie studio famous world wide. Plagued by last minute changes to the story and makeup, Hammer’s interpretation of Mary Shelley’s famous novel still chills and thrills over fifty years later. But do not think it a shallow experience, for there is a real story in there too.

In the late 1950’s, British film studio Hammer Films decided to revive the old Universal monsters for another go around. Known mostly for their Quatermass adaptations, the studio focused on remaking Frankenstein. But Universal got wind of the plan and that forced rewrites to the script to avoid a lawsuit. The planned makeup had to change too. Sounds a bit messy, doesn’t it?

Thankfully, a good director, a competent script, and standout acting by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee combined to produce a true classic in the horror genre. Not to mention the movie was a killer at the box office, partially due to it being in color – a change made due to Universal’s threats.

That ability to use color is pressed into service right away with a nice matte composition featuring a lone rider on his horse. Right away the appropriate gothic mood is set and further expanded upon, for it is a dank and dreary prison that the rider has arrived at. The priest (Alex Gallier) has come to the prison at the behest of Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), a possibly insane inmate with a curious story to tell before he is executed.