Embiggen is a Perfectly Cromulent Word!

Is it just me, or does it seem like every time a difficult topic, (such as whether or not we should "refudiate" a mosque near Ground Zero*,) comes up, the media makes a huge deal out of whatever blithering idiocies Sarah Palin spouts on the subject? This way instead of having any sort of meaningful debate, everyone can just jeer at her and by default, anyone who agrees with her. Also, when she tries to fend off criticism by comparing herself to Shakespeare, I have to wonder if she's really a politician or just an actress hired to keep the Us VS Them shell game going.

*For the record I have nothing against Islam or Mosques, but I don't see why there NEEDS to be one near ground zero, and I personally think that the feelings of the families of the 9/11 victims should be paramount. However, I also tend to think that one should remember to flosingrabe their toes with nonerschmidst every other pingwobble.

TTFN
-Tony

Tony's Movie Rants!

I took Joe to see Despicable Me today. My God, it was hysterical, much better than the predictable (but enjoyable) Toy Story 3. I would love an army of minions! Plus, it had a cameo by Julie Andrews, (almost unrecognizable with an Eastern-European accent,) as a painfully unsupportive mother.

My only issue with the movie is that there are three adorable orphan girls who predictably warm the not-so-evil supervillain Gru’s icy heart. Now I have no problem with orphan girls, but- as orphans throughout literature history have done- all they dream about is getting adopted and what their new mommy will look like. Will she read them stories? Will she give them kisses? But as a writer who thinks about and researches characters, I kept thinking: What about their old mommy? Don’t they miss her? Don't they want their mommy more than anything? Don’t they want to know where they come from, what their family was like? Where they got their eyes or sense of humor from? What Gru had still fallen in love with their cuteness, but instead of adopting them, had helped them find their real mother or father? (Assuming they were given up for adoption. For all I know real mother could have been eaten by a pack of wild yaks.) Yes, there are many wonderful people who take in children for adoption. But like the Godfather told Tom Hagen (in the novel,) never forget your real father.

Now that I’m on the subject of movies and adoption, I think that the trailer for Salt staring Angelina Jolie looks cool as hell. But she and these other obnoxious stars (are you reading, Madonna?) who go to countries where poor parents had to give their kids up and adopt these kids like they’re some sort of trophy piss me off. (Ten points to Tropic Thunder for it's satirical take on this trend.) If you have that kind of cash and you really want to do good, instead of adopting these kids, why don’t you sponsor their family so they can be with their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters? I think if I was a kid and my parents were alive but poor, I would give anything to be with my family instead of living in lala land. (I’m sure my parents are reading this and laughing their asses off, but hey, I missed everyone horribly when I left for the army and I was eighteen!)

Well, I’m off for a late-night walk. Everyone have a good night. And seriously, despite my perspective, go see Despicable Me. It’s a riot. (Is it me or is Vector supposed to be Bill Gates?)

TTFN
-Tony

Musings of a sun-broiled brain.

For those who don’t know, I’m finally back to work again – which is a wonderful thing. The only proverbial fly in the ointment is that I’m working outdoors in this miserable heat. At least I can work on my tan. My feet and arms feel like stretched-out rags. We had a last second emergency to take care of, involving digging and laying PVC in the ground. I’m filthy, sweaty, smelly, and my fingers are dry and stinging from the solvent. Shower here I come.

The sky is stacked with cumulus clouds that come and go, come and go. I love the sky like this - when there are layers and layers and shapes and the sun or moonlight (especially the moonlight) is refracted through the clouds creating shapes and halos. I wish I could lie in a field and stare at it all night, but wild coyotes might eat me.

How does a group of individual nerve cells form a consciousness? Are bee hives or ant colonies a complex organism? Sometimes I wish I was a fish in the darkness and crushing cold on the bottom of the ocean and I wouldn't have to move and I wouldn't make any perceptible ripples in the world and I wouldn't matter. I could just be.

I may have mentioned that I once wrote an algebra paper using Ohm's Law equations to plan city traffic like a circuit board. Energy was speed, the volume of cars was amps, and traffic lights were ohms. The difference is the cars are each being driven by an individual consciousness, while electrons are sucked through to the negative pole. It also doesn’t matter if one electron hits another.

If you’re driving in a crowded city or highway, do you partially become a member of a gestalt mentality?

I think it's time for a nap.

TTFN
-Tony

Play-Doh

I made this at my parents house over the weekend, when I was playing with Play-Doh with the kids. Yes, I know it's pretty much the same as my tin-foil stop animation a few years ago, but it was just something I did on the fly, not a Gumby adventure for Christ's sake.

TTFN
-Tony

NEW ANIMATION!

Yes, for the first time in years, here's an animation for you. What's more, it's hand-drawn!

Enjoy! :)



TTFN
-Tony