Albert Einstein's Wristwatch

Albert Einstein's Wristwatch is going up for auction. Whoever wins it better be someone that can understand the implications of what they have there.

Also they should be warned that if it is placed with Henry Ford's Keyring, Steve Wozniak's Soldering Iron, and Thomas Jefferson's Ink Well a pandimensional portal could open. The world's very existence is truly at stake this time. (Not like the last time.)

The Internet Amazes Even Me Sometimes

I want to say congratulations to Mur Lafferty and her "little book that could" Playing For Keeps. She managed to get her book to the #16 place on Amazon.com today in its first day of release. If the #15 book wasn't about Barak Obama who knows how high it might have gone.

The most interesting thing about this is that I would guess that most of the people that bought the book already knew the story. Mur first released PFK as a free podcast novel and then as a free PDF file. She did have it available from a print on demand publisher, but now its available from Amazon and other booksellers. It could end up in airport giftshops (well only if the world is that lucky).

I came late to the show. I have had the podcast waiting for me to listen to for a while. As usual though life has gotten in the way and I have just left it sitting. Over the last couple days though I have had time to read the PDF. I read the whole thing in basically 2 sittings. I just could not put it down.

Thank you Internet for making Playing For Keeps a huge success.

Experiment failed.

Oh well. I knew that this week was the wrong week to try this. I had to take a trip in the middle of the week. Well maybe when I get back I'll try it again. Until then........go read Questionable Content.

Hello Russia.....Helloooooo

Since I know that my blog is the first thing many important political figures in Russia read every morning, I have a quick message for you.

GET OUT OF GEORGIA! Stay on your own side of the border. If parts of Georgia want to break off and join you that's fine, but there is paperwork that has to be done first.

And a quick message to Georgia. RUN Dragon*Con is coming!!!!!!!!! Geeks, Nerds, and Naked People. RU.......ok take some pictures of the naked people, then RUN!!!!!

Oh, and to the other Georgia. Just start mailing parking tickets to Moscow for any tanks still parked in your country. I'm sure you must have some law against parking tanks in your country. Do they make Denver Boots for tanks?

It was nice while it lasted.

Rumor has it that the next Batman movie is likely to have The Riddler and Catwoman in it. The thought of it has many people incredibly excited. And with more rumors of Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp interested in the roles even more buzz is emminant. I see this as the start of the end. More villians means less time to explore each character. And this means lower quality movies. And you don't have to look very far to see some of the worst examples of this. Its very common in the Batman franchise. Batman (1989) was released with ONE villian. Massively amazing movie. Batman Returns (1992) had two supervillians and one normal villian. It nearly killed Michael Keaton's career.

Update: New rumors also have Phillip Seymore Hoffman as the Penguin linked to the next movie as well. PLEASE STOP NOW!!!!!!!!!

Wow

There isn't much else to say about The Dark Knight except Wow. I went in hoping for a good movie. This was no where near what I was expecting. I didn't think Hollywood made movies like this anymore. Or even if they really ever had. Not only was the storyline unexpected, but it was allowed to play out in a decent amount of time. It never felt like they were really rushing the story along, except I know they were. There was 2 movies worth of content in the 2 and a half hours or so.

Ummm yeah, Wow. If you liked Batman Begins (then you are probably already at the theater at this moment, but if you are not) take some time this weekend to see it. Its well worth it.

WALL-E and California Smoke

I know its been a while since I posted. Lets just say that my abductors were very nice, but it wouldn't hurt for them to find a new Chinese restaurant.

If you have been anywhere near California in the last week, you know that we have had a bit of smoke in the air. (Smoke so thick it blocked the sun and changed weather patterns.) It took me several days to figure out why it was pissing me off. Normally I love the smell of a good forest fire. It reminds me of my childhood. But for some reason this smoke was just annoying me. And then it hit me. Traffic. Ok, maybe it takes more than one word to explain it. If you are stuck in traffic for a while you get angry. But if you get to see some nasty carnage of the accident that caused it, you completely forget about the traffic and just keep telling everyone for the next few days about how you saw one car upside down and the other burned to a crisp. Well the same thing happens with smoke. When you get stuck in smoke its nasty. But if you see walls of flame or at least a smoldering stump, everything is great. You get to talk about it for years.

WALL-E
I'm really not sure what to say about WALL-E. Should people watch it? Yes. Its a fantastic piece of filmaking. Did I like it? Pretty much. Pixar has once again created amazing characters and sent them on an amazing adventure. I didn't care for being preached at about environmental and economic issues. I guess a lot of stories have some meaning, and this one does get the call to arms out there. It just wasn't for me.

Pixar's real win on this one though wasn't the art. It was the sound. Back in the 70's a young man was able to give a robot that was not much more than a rolling garbage can a soul. R2-D2 became a hero to a generation. Was it special effects or mechanical wizardry that did this? No, it was the sad sound of a little droid alone in the desert that pulled our heart strings. Ben Burtt has done it again. WALL-E is the next R2-D2. A nearly mute knight out to save the world. The everyman with a boring job who somehow goes on an adventure.....and gets the girl. Pixar would have had a much harder time making it all work if they didn't have Ben Burtt there to give our hero the soul that it needed to warm out hearts.