Sorry kids. Work has kept me running this last weeke and a half. Stupid job. Why must you support a level of living I'm so comfortable with! WHY!?
Frankly I'm getting tired of the whole job. But like this poor retard, I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Star wars

Anyone surprised the new film broke the single-day box office record?
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/briefing/starwars.htm

So, I saw the new film last night. I'll keep this totally spoiler free. It's better than the other prequels, still not as good as any of the original trilogy. Anakin's fall is rushed and some of the details that should have been wrapped up before we proceed into Ep IV (A New Hope) were either done so in a very contrived manner or just left dangling.

It's like a monet painting- from far away you get the whole idea of what's going on (mostly b/c you knew before you even got to the theater what is going to happen), but when you start examining the fine lines, you realize how blurry and unfinessed they actually are.

Lots of action (some too fast to catch upon one viewing, I think), killing- you betcha!, evil emperor- Of course!

Bottom line: if viewing the first two prequel films didn't already make you nostalgic for the original trilogy, the way this one ends certainly will.

Of course you'll wonder where the cool CGI, backflips, non-clunky droids, and R2's fancy features are throughout the original 3 films. But let's not get caught up on details. It's just science-fiction.

Hey Kids!

Weeellll, if it ain't all my favorite lil' bastards! Grandpa Fred is babysitting you goofy bastards today while your normal moron blogg-boy is away. And seeing that last post of his and the very fact it was TUESDAY leads me to believe he's been neglecting "Sammy Bronkowitz Presents" pretty regularly.

Let me pour a little more Bailey's into my cup o'joe here and get down to business.

Ahhhh, just the way Grandpa Fred likes it. If all goes accordingly, I won't even remember typing this post by lunch time.

So where was I? Oh right, the pinko-hippie jerkwad that I'm babysitting for. Let me tell you something about My. SatansYam: he IS bad for not giving a damn about what's going on over in Iraq. Period.

Right now Yammy-boy's probably off on some environmental crusade in Alaska while you and I are hard at work (though I'm lucky enough to be enjoying this from the comfort of my own kitchen table while reruns of Press Your Luck are on TV in the background. I sure wish my wife, Shana, would turn that shit off every once in a while. Maybe try pressing Fred's "luck" for once? You know what I mean? Heh heh heh. Well, as long as she keep that damn cat off my recliner, I don't give a good god damn. it always tries to claw up the arms and leaves a hairy mess all over it!)

But I digress. Commie liberals. They're a pain in the ass. Would all you tree huggers please go back to your chanting circles and meditate and shutting the hell up?! Let President Bush and his staff handle things like warfare and commerce and social security here in the Big Boy world. We have real problems, people! And sticking your head in the sand because you're just too sensitive to read about our sons and daughters DYING in war is just sissy! I didn't raise my sons to be sissies. Hell, I didn't raise my baby girl Danielle to be a sissy girl either! She started working for Tyson Chicken as a meatpacking intern at 18. Know what she does now? Not only is she a supervisor, but she's working in their corporate office. My little darling tells me that next  month she's supposed to finally move into a cubicle of her own instead of sharing the one with this Jew kid they've crammed her into for the last 7 months. He's probably a pinko-Commie too. I told Danielle to keep her eye on him just in case he's a liberal plant.

Well, nature's calling and it's getting harder for me to hit ther right keys on this computer after my third cup of Bailey's and coffee. Since I know I'll be at least half an hour in the john, I'm going to sign off for the day. But you guys know what I mean about SatansYam being a candy-ass and all that. I love the guy, but he can't go denying the work of America in Iraq. We're the BEST fucking country in the world and when we act, walk, talk, shit, everyone needs to listen! Wish me luck, kids. In the meantime, let sissy-boy know you agree with me in the Comments. I'll check in later.

Grandpa Fred, signing off.

Apathy for Iraq

Is it bad that I just don't care anymore?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7777352/

Don't get me wrong, I care that our people, and the Iraqi people really, are getting hurt over there. But I don't give a damn what the details are.
Reading every new story telling me about every spat of fighting and who dies and who's just mortally wounded does nothing for me. Except remind me how short-sighted the decision was to start a war over there that we could not finish neatly on our own (if at all).

I never felt we should have engaged in this kind of combat and still don't. If the media has to keep shoving news stories down our throats to get people to "care" and "not forget" about our troops over there, I think it's time to wrap up this Administration's little mission in the sand.

We know war sucks and it's painful and our people are getting hurt. But there's nothign I can do about it directly anymore. Even on election day the role I can play is minimal (though I'll certainly try). So enough with the war stories. How about some news that will make people feel good for a change?

I'm back (hey, where's my musical fanfare?)

I guess that's something I still have to learn to live without.

So, alot happened since I left for Rhode Island Sunday (hence my absence almost all week). My company sent me to training in Newport there. I learned alot. Like you still need a JACKET to walk around in RI in the middle of the afternoon even in MAY!

I wish I had more time to discuss a few interesting things I've seen, heard, and read about in the last week, but I'm afraid it once again comes down to the final minutes of my work day on a Friday and the shite just ain't gonna happen. I've got my mini-review of the new Star Wars CD though!

Stuff in short:
The Massachusetts treasure finders were fakes. I got excited. Sue me.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/29/buried.treasure.ap/index.html

Um? I guess I'm just helping to get the word out. Yeah.
http://web.mit.edu/adorai/timetraveler/

Speaking of retarded, Rosie O'Donnell's retarded! But tell me something I didn't know. OK, how about how funny it is listening to her pretending (badly) to be retarded in her new role?!:
http://www.tvgasm.com/archives/television_specials/000761.php

The trailer for the new Dukes of Hazzard movie is out. It's not as utterly terrible as it could have been. If you expected two rednecks in an orange shitmobile being chased by cops, a grizzled old country Uncle, and a young girl in short-shorts, well this will satisfy your desires.
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thedukesofhazzard.html

On the subject of movies, Nick over at CHUD has a pretty good idea about how to handle the future of Star Wars that would rectify the problem between fans of the Original Trilogy and those who want a completely seamless prequel-sequel set of movies.
http://chud.com/steadyleak/2810

Lots of early reviews for the new Star Wars flick. I'll give you the grand sweeping synopsis by saying that most reviewers have felt the film still has some of the same flaws of its two prequel predecessors, but to MUCH less of a degree. The biggest difference this time being that those flaws are more easily accepted when combined with the relentless action, lightsaber duels, and triumph of the "bad guys" at the end of the film.
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20157
http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Joshs_Revenge_of_the_Sith_Review_92074.asp
For non-spoilers:
http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Spoiler_Free_Review_of_Episode_III_92096.asp
The Revenge of the Sith soundtrack came out Tuesday. My girlfriend nabbed me a pirated copy from a friend while I was gone (I'll be buying my own this weekend so I can watch the bonus DVD she's already seen!) What do I think of the music? Great stuff. It definitely conveys the urgency of the movie's pacing and the tragedy that will befall the characters in the film. But I have to admit there is some acoustic imagery surprisingly absent from the tracks on the CD. I expected more of Vader's theme (the Imperial March), at least a few drawn out overtones of the Emperor's theme, complete with spooky vocals. Ever since the prequels were announced Lucas and copany has indicated that the three prequels would visually begin in a very different looking world than the OT. In the Phantom Menace the Galaxy is still a bright and shiney place with sleek ships, which begins to shift in Episode II. And by the end of Episode III, we're supposed to see clothing styles, vehicular constructions, etc that look alot more liek the ones in A New Hope (though not too close since the two films take place 18 years apart). Given the visual links we were promised and so far delivered, I expected the score for this film to resonate alot closer to the acoustic themes in A New Hope. There's the Force Theme (think about the music that constantly plays for Luke in the OT) all over this soundtrack and even a large chunk of the ceremonial music from the very end of A New Hope that sounds like it will play over the end credits of Episode III.
Which is cool, but the music I was most looking forward to was the Anakin vs. Obi-wan duel. It's placement in the prequel trilogy mirrors the one between Luke and Vader in ROTJ, where arguably some of the most dramatic "fight" music in the whole OT is. If that battle represents the "do or die" fate of Vader or Luke, this battle in Episode III does the same for Anakin and Obi-wan. And given that the Emperor is the one responsible for helping to turn Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, it seems a little of the Emperor's theme would have been appropriate. but it's just not there. What is there sounds liek a less adventurous, faster paced version of the Speeder Chase music from Attack of the Clones.

Overall the soundtrack is a true work of art. It's just not what I had imagined it to be in my head (something SW fans have said constantly about the prequels in general since TPM). I've listened to the Revenge of the Sith soundtrack 6 times since yesterday. And it grows on me more with each listen. All of it's great music. Just not what I expected. I'm hoping that once I've seen it in context it'll give me further appreciation. I'm also hoping that maybe there's yet some music that I hoped for in the movie that just didn't make the soundtrack cut.

Anyway, that's it from me. Have a slamming weekend!