The Zombieslayer

OK, I went off on Harry Potter 6 how disappointed I was.  So you may be wondering what I’d actually recommend.  Here are a few…

Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in this one about a bitter old man who hates his kids, his neighbors, and pretty much everyone else in the town he lives in.  His neighbors are Hmong and have very strange customs to him.  He plays an old Korean War hero who’s now quite old and occasionally coughing up blood.

The movie has a few unexpected turns, some sympathetic characters, and a bunch of characters you root against.  All in all, good writing, good acting, good direction, good movie all around.  This may be the best movie I’ve seen in ‘09.  8 dead zombies.

The Watchmen - Are you as sick as I am with superhero/comic book movies? Probably not, but still. I’m sick of them. If I can go several years without seeing another comic book movie, it would probably be a good thing.

Spiderman 3 dragged. X-Men 3 sucked. The latest Batman was overhyped, overrated, and really not that good. Both Hulk movies sucked. The last Punisher sucked. Yeah, WTF am I doing watching all those movies anyways? Well, because they’re $1. If I had paid $10 for any of them, I’d be tempted to drive over to the director’s house and beat his ass.

The Watchmen though is an exception. Everyone else I saw it with thought it was slow. Well, I was the only one there into History, and to me, it worked.

You get to see an alternate universe where Nixon (God forbid) is in his 3rd term as President of the United States of America, we won the Vietnam War, we’re still in the Cold War because it’s the mid-80s, and the people have had it with costumed heroes. Good philosophical questions abound, and I got to really hate some of the costumed “heroes” in this movie, which was a good thing because I think that’s what they wanted.

I won’t tell you which ones, but those who know me could guess which ones. I’ll give you a hint - I hate anyone who abuses their power (like law enforcement and career politicians for instance).

Sure you can say the special effects weren’t so impressive but if you go to a movie for special effects, I severely question your intelligence.

Like Gran Torino, good writing. Good character development. It’s no coincidence that the actual comic book is supposed to be the best comic book ever written. That of course doesn’t say much (there goes my geek audience). The film reflects that.

7 dead zombies

I haven’t seen Milk yet. It’s something I keep looking out for but the rental box never has it.

Oh, Taken was pretty good. Not bad for a pure action film. Liam Neeson kicks ass, and he looks cool doing it. Another 7 dead zombies for Taken.

Small note on my rating system - 5 or 6 is an average movie. 7 is good. 8 is really good. 9 is a must see. 10 is a classic. Most movies are in the 4-6 range with my rating system.

–

Hot Italian Babe Monica Bellucci

Yes, I like Italian and Spanish women.  I like Columbian, Argentine, and Brazilian women as well.  But right now, let’s not go off on a tangent and get back to Italian women.

Here’s Monica Bellucci.  I was telling Lime awhile back that of my faves list when it comes to hot babes, I think only one was in her 20s.  I like a woman who can hold a conversation with me, and one who has life experiences.

Bellucci has been trying to cross over into American cinema for awhile now and it has been, well, let’s just say unspectacular.  It’s too bad, because she actually can act and is drop dead gorgeous.

–

All these images are NSFW (Not Safe For Work for those internet noobs), so don’t be clicking on them at work unless your boss rules (or you are the boss).

waterfall

lying in water

lookin’ great in black and white

reflection in water

I used to read books.  I still do, but almost always non-fiction except for the Harry Potter books.   I know, boring, but I’m one of those people who go through phases.

One of my favorite authors back when I read fiction was Edward Abbey.  Hated by both the Right (for environmental extremism) and the Left (for voicing that there are too many God damn illegal immigrants), Edward Abbey is my kind of guy.  He believes in open space, the natural world, sex, and Freedom.  Anyone want to argue with that?

“The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an “equalizer.” Egalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never needed—but do not forget what the common people of this nation knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny.”

-Edward Abbey

Abbey gets it.  Guns are the equalizer.  I hear liberals say “what good is a rifle against a tank?”  I’ll tell you what, Mr. Liberal.  You get in a tank.  I’ll hide with my rifle.  We’ll play a game called hide and go seek.  I’ll let others put money on us, and I guarantee you that the people putting money on me will be happy with the results.  I could write a separate blog post on how easy it would be for me to kill you, but it will be long and boring and over liberals’ heads because liberals don’t know anything about how guerrilla warfare works.

“The most common form of terrorism in the U.S.A. is that carried on by bulldozers and chain saws.”

-Edward Abbey

This will piss off conservatives.  Well, conservatives piss me off.  Today’s conservatives are completely unable to see anything past the dollar sign.  I don’t want to see the entire America turned into strip malls and suburbs.  I just don’t.  I think nature is beautiful as is, and the last thing we need are more cities.

We need less people.  The world is overpopulated.  And yes, I’m for limiting immigration to only taking the best of the best.  I’m sick of taking in the shit, the gang bangers, the pregnant teens, near retards, and illegals with diseases.  Send them all home.

“It might be wise for us, as American citizens, to consider calling a halt to the mass influx of even more millions of hungry, ignorant, unskilled, and culturally-morally-genetically, impoverished people…Why not [support immigration]? Because we prefer democratic government, for one thing; because we still hope for an open, spacious, uncrowded, and beautiful–yes beautiful!–society, for another.”

Exactly.

America simply was more beautiful when it had 200 million people.  It was even more beautiful when it had 100 million people.  Now we’re over 300 million people and every year, the population grows.  Not from within, but from outside the borders.  Americans know how to use this thing called “birth control.”  Illegal immigrants don’t.  They just breed and breed and breed, then their kids join gangs and tag everywhere and make the schools suck.

I know this first hand.  I’ve lived in those neighborhoods that white yuppies are afraid to enter.  They’re not pleasant for anyone, and the teachers in those schools burn out within five years, because illegal parents simply don’t take education seriously.

Anyways, Abbey’s books are excellent.  I suggest pretty much anything he ever wrote.  I like people who think for themselves, and Abbey not only does that, but he can write.

I’m going to see the Harry Potter 6 movie today and will link the review to this post when I get back.  In the meantime, I’m a Slytherin.

Why? No, I’m not a bad guy.  I’m a good guy.  But let’s look at the four houses…

From Wikipedia, Gryffindor values courage, bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry.  I don’t value courage and bravery.  Those will get you killed.  Yes, if someone I loved was in trouble, I’d risk my life to help them.  But that’s a given.  So would just about anyone else.

Realistically, being scared keeps you alive.  I have fear because I want to live.  I don’t want to die until I’m in my 90s (or unless I lose my brain, then I’d want to die earlier).

Hufflepuff, values hard work, loyalty, tolerance, and fair play.  OK, I like this house.  I value hard work, loyalty, and fair play.  Tolerance? No.  I’m a very intolerant person.  Some people piss me off and I have no time for their bullshit, and I’ll call a spade a spade.  So that’s three for four.  Almost a Hufflepuff, but not quite.

Ravenclaw values intelligence, creativity, wit, and wisdom.  I’m almost a Ravenclaw.  Intelligence, I got plenty of that.  Creativity and wit, yup.  That’s me.  Extremely on both parts.  Wisdom? Nope.  I got none of that.  If it wasn’t for my wife, I’d probably be either dead, in jail, or homeless.  So that scratches me from Ravenclaw.

Slytherin house values ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness.  Bingo.  That’s me exactly.  I’m a Slytherin.

It’s just an unfortunate coincidence that to be a successful bad guy, you have to be ambitious and cunning (and resourceful).

Now as proof that not all Slytherins are bad, the most brave wizard of all is a Slytherin.  He sacrificed a heck of a lot more than anyone else did, and that’s really saying something because so many of them sacrificed a lot.  (NOTE: I had his name in there but realized it’s a spoiler so took it out).

Slughorn and Andromeda Tonks are both from there, and Ms. Tonks raised one of my favorite characters (Nymphadora).  More proof that Andromeda is cool is she was Sirius’ favorite cousin, and disowned by the Black family (which is a good thing).  Sirius Black as you probably already know is my favorite Harry Potter character.

Anyways, movie starts in four hours.  I got to buy tickets as soon as those dorks open their ticket window.  Have a Happy Wednesday.

UPDATE - My review is up here.  Don’t worry, I was careful not to give anything away.

So, world leaders want $20 billion from us in food aid to feed the poor, starving people around the world.  My thoughts? Screw them.  Let them starve.

As cold as it sounds, I’ll explain.

This world is severely overpopulated.  The last thing we need are more people.  I just got back from Vegas and in the shark reef, every single endangered animal had one thing in common - habitat loss.  You know what habitat loss is? It’s the politically correct term for there’s too many fucking people in the world and those people are sprawling out and causing animals to become extinct.

Instead of giving food aid, we should cut off all foreign aid.  No more military aid either.  No more fighting other peoples’ wars.  No more global rent-a-cop.  No more bombs.  No more missiles.  No more food.  The only thing you should be getting from us are contraceptives and instructions how to use them.

I am no longer a Right-winger.  I’m tired of both liberals and conservatives.  They’re all idiots.  I have no wings any more and no alignment to anyone.  Visiting zoos, wildlife parks, and the Vegas shark reef have really brought some reality to my 30-something year old brain.  Animals everywhere are going extinct and it’s not because they suck (I do think species that can’t cut it should go extinct), it’s because humans breed like rabbits and sprawl everywhere, pushing animal habitats further and further out until they got nowhere left to go.  Yes, WE caused these extinctions.

So yes, I have become slightly misanthropic.  Thinking about human greatness has also brought me down.  We went to the moon in the late 60s and what have we really done since? Let’s see, put SUVs in every yuppie’s garage, created cell phones and a generation of kids completely devoid of social skills, wiped out all kinds of cool species like the Baiji (Chinese River Dolphin).

Now, the internet is cool.  I’ll give humans that.  No, Al Gore didn’t invent it and I personally saw it in use before Al Gore did, so he can kiss his own self-righteous ass.

But we need to seriously do something about sprawling and habitat loss.  Now.  I just learned the Komodo Dragon is in “vulnerable” status.  Take a guess why.

I got back early this week, but had so much crap to do.  Now looking for work.  The company I was working at got bought out and the entire team got laid off.  This has all happened before so it’s nothing new to me.  I can’t complain as we got a good severance package and I’m set for awhile at least.  I just don’t want to burn through my excess cash because that excess cash will be taking Mrs. Z on our next vacation.

While in Vegas, I won $2.60 in the slots.  Yes, that’s the extent of my gambling.  I play pennies or nickels just long enough to get the cocktail waitress to get me a free drink or two (always tip them well so they’ll come back fast, and be super polite with them.  That’s my tip to you).

As soon as I’m up, I pull out.  I don’t really gamble.  Well, I take that back.  Yes I do.  I gamble on sports.

Brett Favre will be on the Vikings, and he will kick ass if Childress realizes he has to limit Favre’s throws.   The Vikings have a better than average defense and the best player in the NFL in Adrian Peterson.  To win the Super Bowl, the Vikings need to be a run first, ball control, clock eating team and Favre needs to complete passes and move the chains.  Do that, and the Vikings have as good a shot as anyone.  I put money on them to win it all with 8-1 odds.

The Packers on the other hand need to be more aggressive offensively and need that 3-4 defense to work.  If not, it will be another long season.  I put money on my beloved Packers to win it all with 20-1 odds.

If either team wins the Super Bowl, Mrs. Z gets to go on the cruise of her choice.  So yes, I admit, I do gamble.

With me though, I’m not about the money.  I don’t care about losing a few bucks in the slots because I use the slots for the drinks so I could hit Vegas with a nice buzz.  I actually like Vegas.  It’s tacky and superficial but so what? I can’t be pretentious all the time.

My next vacation though will probably be hitting more states.  I’m at 27 now and got 23 more to go.  I’ve been to a lot of countries, but for me, the bigger priority right now is finishing up my own.  America still is beautiful, but each year it is getting more crowded and with the economy in the slumps, you’d notice a lot more garbage and a lot more taggings everywhere, which is really sad.

Anyways, I’m back.  I got to look for work but between errands and job searching, when I get some breaks, I’ll drop by your blogs.  Hope all is well.