RIP Steve Jobs

It is really hard to fathom that one man has changed much of the way the world communicates and is entertained the way Apple founder Steve Jobs has.

Take a look at all the innovative (and expensive) technology that Apple has rolled out since the company started in the late 70s. Macintosh....to iMac...to iPod...to iPhone ....to iPad.

How many of us have one or more of these devices?

I know I have many pods, though I was slow to convert and I still hate iTunes, but you really can't say anything against the quality of something made by Apple. (You can gripe about the price though)

I find it really amazing that the world has really shown such emotion in regards to this man's passing. He wasn't really a celebrity...he was an innovator and a businessman.

One can only wonder, if Apple will come up with such awesome gadgets now that he's gone.

RIP Steve!

Bloo and Ms Blackie my two iPod shuffles weep for you.

Where Does It End

Have you heard about that idiot from Sister Wives? He's got a lawsuit against Utah because of their bigamy law. You can read more about it here

You know, right now we're trying to allow gays to be married. I have no problem with that. I think if you want to be married...that's just hunky dory! Get married, be happy...yada yada yada.

But when it comes to people like this, I start to wonder about the state of the world.

I'm sorry..polygamy is just plain greedy!

But now is the right time to bring this issue up. If gays can get married why shouldn't wackjobs be allowed to marry as many consenting women as the want.

This whole issue hurts my brain.

So what do you think...

Sometimes The News Is So Unbelievable

Did any of you see the article about the freaks in CA that tried to sell their baby at Walmart for $25!!

It is obvious they were druggies.

But still, WTF! They were selling their baby for $25.00 and the dude was getting pissy that one of the women he accosted to buy the kid wouldn't take it.

Talk about a hard sell.

But dude, just $25.00!

Drugs are that cheap?

I think I read that both the guy and the girl were strung out on meth. To which I can only think, Poor little baby.

Oh and the other kicker in this story, the dude is 38 (and butt-freaking ugly) and the girl is 20.

~shakes head sadly~

And now there's a poor baby that's been breast fed by this druggie who will be lost in the system.

Thankfully the parents were arrested, but still, this poor infant doesn't stand much of a chance.

The world is an ugly ugly place.

Quick Mention of Haiti

Quick Mention of Haiti

Not that I want to get too terribly serious, but...

As we all know, a huge earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Quite simply put, the city is a complete mess right now, & it's not like Haiti always has an easy time of things as it is.

Haiti is something I'm drawn to. In my high school French class, we got involved with a young priest named Fr. Antoine & who would come once a year to speak to our class, completely in French. Our (tiny) class took it upon ourselves to start fundraising events in the school on several occasions, with the money mainly going to help fund schools. And now, just because we're in America doesn't mean there's nothing we can do.

I may be pretty broke at the moment, but as seen as I even get $10 together I plan to donate. In high school, when Fr. Antoine came back with pictures of the school our money helped, I became aware of how even a little bit of money in Haiti can go a long way. So, here is a relatively large list of organizations taking donations.

There's also a blog mentioning kids in orphanages & the huge problems this has made for them. If you're interested, it's worth the read.

You can also text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.

And remember: we're lucky.

The Great Balloon Hoax

The Great Balloon Hoax

Show of hands, who here is sick of all the Balloon Boy coverage? The story should have been a blip in the "odd news" Yahoo newsfeed and a clever Halloween costume. Instead, it has morphed into a National Crisis TM!!1!

Gotta admit when the story came out, I was amused and followed it. Mostly because I was at work and had already read Fark that day. What I expected to happen was a lot of other bored folks talking about it on the internet. I certainly didn't expect the news outlets to grind to an absolute halt and cover the story for hours. I mean, we're in two wars and a recession - isn't there actual news to cover?

And now everyone is out for blood because the parents "were just out for attention." Of course they were! They're reality TV darlings! Did it really surprise anyone that's watched any reality series? You can't create Frankenstein's monster and then be angry that it drops a little girl down a well.

I don't care if their series got canceled. I don't care if they're going to court. I'm done with the damned story. I kind of wish the profession I went to school for actually covered news nowadays, but I guess that's why we have the BBC.

Sidebar: is anybody else disappointed that this wasn't a marketing stunt for the DVD release of Up?

My Polanski rant

My Polanski Rant

So I've been trying to write a well thought out post on this, balancing both my own personal and political beliefs and my interests as a filmmaker. And you know what? Fuck it.

I'm really getting sick of some of my favorite directors and Hollywood folks rallying around Roman Polanski. In case you missed it, the Rosemary's Baby director drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in the 70s and escape to France to avoid incarceration. Recently he was apprehended in Sweden en route to an awards show.

No doubt that horrible things have happened to him in the course of his life, and I can also understand that you can do very fucked up things under the duress of grief. I can also agree that extradition laws can be weasel-y. Still, none of this excuses the fact that he has raped a 13 year old girl after putting Quaaludes in her drink.

Even if it has been decades ago, it still has not been punished. And no, testifying in court and leaving a country is not punishment, especially when you can still win an Oscar. Seriously, does the fact that you make some amazing movies give you a "get out of jail free" card? I don't think it should. As Chris Rock so eloquently put it a few nights ago on Leno, "Even Johnny Cochran didn't have the nerve to go, 'Well did you see OJ play against New England?"

You know who else was a great artist? Phil Spector. I'd argue that his contributions to pop culture top Polanski's. And yet when he murdered a woman, the Unilateral Celebrity Voice didn't say, "Oh he's old" or "Oh, bad things happened to him in his life" or even "Oh, but he produced 'Be My Baby!" Nope, the majority opinion was "Holy shit, this guy's crazy and look at his hair!"

So what does it take to get a crime recognized? Does someone have to die before a celebrity isn't given a free pass? Fuck me, do people actually think "the 70s were a different time" is an acceptable defense for rape?!

And seriously? For all you film snob types that think his movies are God's gift to cinema, might I suggest Dance of the Vampires? That was more enema than cinema, amirite?