March 24, 2005
School's Out For...Spring
WOO HOO! I have just learned that I do not have to work over Spring Break. That means Zippy has a whole week of nothing to do! Our Spring Break starts Monday, April 4.
ANY SUGGESTIONS???
March 22, 2005
Zip's Movie Rant #24601 - Special Extended Edition
It's common knowledge that there is such a lack of creativity in Hollywood nowadays that the studios have stooped to developing older films, TV shows and video games into new movies. I have usually been able to file these under a subsection of folders in my brain:
B:\Documents and Settings\Zip\My Documents\Films\Remakes\Decent
B:\Documents and Settings\Zip\My Documents\Films\Remakes\Not Worthy
B:\Documents and Settings\Zip\My Documents\Films\Remakes\Utter Crap
"Decent" means that it lived up or paid proper respect to the original source material while, at the same time, being a decent film in its own right. This would include The Manchurian Candidate, Walking Tall, Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead and Scooby Doo 2. Yeah, I said Scooby Doo 2. Wanna fight about it?
"Not Worthy" means that it might have been a somewhat decent film on its own but was not a worthy tribute or successor to the original. This would include The Stepford Wives, Thunderbirds, Garfield, Around the World in 80 Days and the first Scooby Doo.
"Utter Crap" is reserved for movies that not only misrepresent the original source material but are just horribly made altogether. Of course, the one that started it all was Super Mario Brothers, but over the past couple of years, this category has really begun to fill up with other bad video game movies like Resident Evil 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 1 & 2, and anything by Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, and the upcoming BloodRayne), but there are a few non-game related like The Ladykillers and Starsky and Hutch that really chapped my hide.
There are a few upcoming remakes that will re-chap my hide...
Guess Who, which opens this weekend, is a remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The original was somewhat of a statement for its time, and I can see how reversing the race of the characters would make it relevant for modern times. But why make it a flat-out comedy? Why make fun of racism instead of actually dealing with the issue? Plus, there is NO WAY that Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac could live up to the chemistry between Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier. Not even close.
The Pink Panther is another forehead-slapper. I love Steve Martin, but this is not his schtick. He is way out of his league. I weep to think that anyone would have the balls to try and fill Peter Sellers' shoes as Inspector Clouseau. Besides, Geoffrey Rush has already done it brilliantly, but at least he did it as Peter Sellers!
But now I have learned of another travesty. The classic TV show "The Honeymooners" has been made into a movie. Oh yes. Feel the pain. Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton are coming to the big screen this summer. But who will be filling the legendary shoes of Jackie "The Great One" Gleason and Mr. Art Carney? Why, none other than Cedric the (Hack) Entertainer and Mike "Needs A New Agent" Epps. Oh yes. Feel the intense pain. Wanna go for all out agony? Watch the trailer here.
What's next? All the President's Men with Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville? No, wait...that's The Dukes of Hazzard. DAMMIT!!!!
I've put up with it to this point, but I can't take it any longer. I have hit 16 different levels of pissed off that I have never hit before. I am so sick of Hollywood ruining everything that is good and pure with entertainment, and I'm even more sick of the American public allowing it to happen. Yeah, that's right...We the People. We are the ones who allow it. Movies keep getting worse because people keep going to see them. See the trend? Crap movie + people seeing it = profit. Studios + profit = make more crap. More crap = more profit. Studios = Bastards. American movie-going audiences + watching more crap = Nation of Idiots! Bottom line = STOP WATCHING CRAP MOVIES!!!
So who's really to blame? The studios for making crap, or the audiences for supporting crap. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, can it still order out for pizza? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if I honestly gave a rat's ass?
The same attitude applies to the crummy state of our society today. I love my country, but I hate what this country and its people have become. Why does Brad and Jen's divorce/seperation/whateverthefuckitis get the headline and the Social Security issue get a small byline somewhere on the next page? Why has Michael Jackson's escapades with a few little boys taken precidence over the thousands of little boys across our country who are unable to have their illnesses treated because their parents can't afford health insurance? What happened to GOOD TASTE in this country? When did it all start going to Hell? The media wouldn't report it if the people didn't want to hear it...right? Or did the media just start reporting trash and the people went along with it? Are we that gullible? Are we not intelligent enough to decipher for ourselves what we should be interested in? Maybe that's why it's called 'media for the masses'...
I want to fight the system, but I don't know where to start.
God, my head hurts......
March 17, 2005
100th POST!
Well, waddaya know? This entry is the 100th post to TheZipman.com. The first post was back on July 10, 2003. Technically, there were some before that, but the server crashed and they lost all my stuff so I had to start over. But the official number on my MovableType publisher is 99 posts, so this will officially be 100.
I've got a lot of updates to get to, so *fair warning* this might be a long post. First off, however...
Now for some UPDATES:
1. Our performances of Bedroom Farce went extremely well this past weekend. We had great audiences for all three shows who seemed to like it very much. Thank you to Ginger and Baby Brother for coming to see it! For everyone else, you missed a great show...SUCKERS!!!!
2. Our new addition to the family, Luke, is doing quite well. He is already growing and has put on about a pound and a half, which is very good since he was premature due to a couple of slight health issues. His mom is recovering quite nicely, as well.
3. Work is going well. I'm really enjoying working with the kids at the elementary level. Several have confessed that coming to my computer lab is one of their highlights of the week. One whole class made me a huge gift bag for Valentine's Day. (Don't tell the other kids, but they are my favorite class.) Of course, the pay is not good (thanks lawmakers!) but my boss has been very accomodating by letting me work extra hours for supplementary income. Every little bit helps.
4. I am in the process of building my very first computer. I have mapped out a plan, thanks to the assistance of Thomas, and am slowly collecting the pieces I need to complete it. Once it's finished, I'll finally be able to play Half-Life 2 (by then, hopefully the price will have dropped a little), as well as 50 other games that I've been wanting to play for a while. Of course, now that there are no more plays for a few months, I will probably get to jump back in on some superhero ass-kicking that I haven't gotten to enjoy for quite a while.
5. I had the extreme pleasure and honor of serving as a judge in the Region 7AAAA Literary Meet. I judged the Dramatic Interpretation events for boys and girls. Fortunately, the good performances outweighed the bad performances, so it was quite the enjoyable experience. It was cool because it felt like I was sort of passing on the torch from my days of competing to the new generation of students. The judges were not told any names or school names during the competition so there would be no chance of favoritism. Turns out that the guy we gave first place was from Gordon Central, which is my alma mater. The best that I had ever placed was third, so I was extremely proud of him.
REMEMBER! THE PRINCE IS WATCHING YOU!
March 14, 2005
My own little prince
Using the pattern found on this translated site, I made my own origami version of The Prince from Katamari Damacy. More craftiness can be found here. Enjoy.
March 02, 2005
It's a Boy!
There is a new addition to our family this morning:
Luke Brady Minten
Born - 1:00 A.M. on March 2, 2005
Weight - 5lbs, 12.9oz
Length - 19"
Luke is the son of my cousin and her husband, Season and Shawn Minten.
