The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Archives for April 2006

Samuel L. Jackson

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He is one of my favorite actors. Time has a good interview with him. Not as in depth as I might like, but some cool quotes nonetheless. In particular he relates his thoughts about how a Jedi should speak.

Time: Did you end up saying, “I want these m—–f—— snakes off this m—–f—— plane?”

S.J. Yeah. It’s kind of difficult to watch me in a movie and not hear me say mother—— once. I wanted to say it in Star Wars, but you just can’t say that kind of stuff. Jedis don’t talk that way.

Master Yoda would have been most displeased. 😉

An Illegal War

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They are fighting an illegal war.” It is a term that I have heard for many many years and I can’t remember a time where it didn’t sound strange to me.

From a personal standpoint I happen to think that there are times when war is merited. We usually refer to those moments as a moral war but I readily admit that this sounds somewhat strange to me as well.

Think about it. Is there a country in which murder is legal. I suppose that one could argue that enemy combatants are killed and not murdered. There are rules of warfare but I still find some of this to be strange.

When it is moral to drop bombs on other people, to destroy their homes and their way of life there is a bit of an issue.

I suppose what I am saying is that terms like moral and illegal are not so easily applied, at least not from my standpoint. The world is a funny place. I may have to blog about this some more later.

There Are No Bargain Matinees Anymore

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I love going to the movies. I always have, the Drive-in, the theater, whatever. They are all good. Give me a big screen, padded seats and a great sound system and I am pretty happy. I almost never walked out on a movie. A bad movie is like a train wreck, it is hard to look away.

It used to be that the biggest challenge was trying to sneak in some food. I certainly didn’t want to pay through the nose for popcorn and candy, especially if I hit the bargain matinee. Those were usually somewhere between $3.50 and $5. What was the point of paying more for the food than the movie.

Back in college my girlfriend and I found a place that charged a buck a movie. For poor college students it was an outstanding find. We loved it and spent many happy hours there.

Alas I haven’t found anything close to that place in years. For a while the weekends provided the standard $5 fair, but that seems to have disappeared. More and more chains have raised their rates into the $7 to $10 range and shortened the time frame that they were available. Instead of having until six P.M. many theaters seem to offer the bargain for the first couple of shows only.

So what you have is a movie date that is just slightly less than it would be if you went to the standard evening show. Roughly this works out to be almost $20 for a pair of tickets and then another $10 in cheap snacks. Add dinner, parking and a couple of odds and ends and you have spent a couple of bucks.

I don’t mind spending money on entertainment, but I do mind paying for a terrible flick. Anyway, I have rambled on long enough about this.

Dreams Fulfilled and Unfulfilled

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I really should be responding to the comments. I have blogged about this before. I still maintain that the most time consuming part of blogging is responding to comments. If you want to garner decent traffic it is also one of the most important things that you can do.

Typically I try to reply in the evening. The challenge with doing so is that sometimes I find that I am just so tired that it is tough to blog and reply. It is not really fair, but sometimes fatigue wins and I don’t respond or I give a very short reply. Nonetheless I very much appreciate the comments, thank you for your time. It is appreciated.

On the subject of dreams there is always the question of how to fulfill those. What do you do to turn fantasy into reality. How do you bring the image in your head to life. Are you someone who is more content to dream or are you resourceful enough to turn fiction to fact.

At my nephew’s bris some friends of my parents looked at my kids and laughed. They called my son and daughter forces of nature, little tornados of activity and then told me that they remember me the same way. My mother has said the same thing. I didn’t hold still. I was constantly in motion.

Some of that has changed, now you’ll find me in a stationary position for extended periods of time. My mind is a different story. It doesn’t shut down, it is always moving. If you could see inside my skull you’d find closets that were stuffed full of things that I might need one day. There would be garages filled to the ceilings with books and boxes stuffed with magazines. There would be all sorts of exercise equipment and toys.

In the background there would be an incredible sound system playing an assortment of music. Simultaneously there would be several televisions playing movies and sports games.

And somewhere in the midst of all this you’d find me mulling over ways to get rich. Not because I desire material goods, but because I desire the ability to own my time so that I can follow all of my dreams.

There is something to be said for having a roadmap that you can follow to see that your dreams are fulfilled but there is also something to be said for enjoying the journey. Be of good cheer. Be strong. Be patient. Be tenacious and never forget that luck may be an occasional substitute for talent but there is no substitute for hard work.

You Never Know When You’ll Need This

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I am a gadget guy. I just love all the doohickeys and doodads. I always have. I just found a couple more items that I can add to the list of things I might need one day.

The first is The Portable Bar. I first learned about it over here. Thanks to the fine folks at JustInCase I am now confident in my ability to hire myself out as a party on wheels. And you know, there is never enough of those.

Here is the thing that really gets me going. Thanks to Random Good Stuff and The Poop Report I have become familiar with the work of Marcel Neundorfer.

The good man has helped to design games you can play at the urinal. This seems like a no brainer to me. If you are going to serve as a traveling bartender than you might as well bring along some games to entertain the guests wherever they may be.