You can find anything in a Salvation Army Thrift store

Somehow I managed to not take advantage of this 'deal.'

More reviews you can choose to use

The Proposition is an Australian western. It's a gritty, violent, at times absorbing film.

The movie centers around Guy Pearce, who plays the middle brother in a family of outlaws, and the man who is tasked with bringing him and his brother to justice, Ray Winstone, as the local police captain. Winstone captures Pearce and his younger brother in a shoot out and he makes him a deal, go kill your older brother (Danny Huston) and I'll pardon you and your younger brother. Off Pearce goes and once he finds his older brother things go down hill for all concerned pretty quickly.

This film, written and scored by Nick Cave, is a realistic gritty dirty western. It's the kind of western that Hollywood made for about 5 minutes back in the mid '70's but had to stop because they hated filming people with so much dirt and grime on them. It's the kind of western that I really like, it's full of action and interesting characters who aren't scrubbed clean when they should be filthy and hairy.

Standout performances littler this movie like diapers and beer cans litter yards in trailer parks. Winstone and Pearce are especially good. I recommend this one but be warned, there's violence and some of it is of a sexual nature.

This CD is a kick ass blend of dance music and rock 'n' roll. The sound of this band leans heavily on drum machines and other electronic devices but when coupled with their often cheeky lyrics and the cool sounding voices of the singers, it all works. I really dig it. I love the art they used in it as well.

And finally I just finished this book:
It's a great read and a very distinctive take on modern China by a westerner who has lived in China off and on for many years.
Ms. Dewoskin found herself not only working for an American PR company in Beijing for a boss who refused to speak or learn Chinese language and customs, she managed to end up starring on a Chinese night time soap opera. Her tale of how she managed to juggle those two jobs, her Chinese friends, the Chinese language (both written and spoken), other expats, and daily life in China bowled me over. I'm impressed by any westerner who lives and thrives in China, a country so radically different than our own, and the fact that did so while she was a young single attractive woman on her own was amazing to me as well. I applaud her courage and the way she stuck to her principles while living and working in Beijing.

I highly recommend this travel essay book. And I hope Ms. Dewoskin writes more about her other adventures in China soon.

Conservatives never let pesky facts stop them from scaring folks

If that really was a Soviet missile, it would have said 'CCCP' on the side, not 'USSR.' This book came out in 1965, you know, back before they fact checked shit like what our enemy's missiles might have written on them.

Crazy is as crazy does

Tom Tancredo, former Congressman and former Republican party Presidential hopeful, said that President Obama is hiding his real birth certificate to make the teabaggers look like they are 'nuts.'
Seriously Tom, President Obama doesn't need to do anything to make you and the teabaggers look like nuts. You folks do a great job of that on your own.
Now, shouldn't you and the rest of your teabagger crew head to Arizona so you can point out all the people with brown skin that need to be stopped by the cops? Or perhaps you can go protest all that wasteful Defense Department spending. Or better yet, take to the streets to call for an end to the wars of terror and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan that caused our current deficit.

Or you can keep talking and showing the world what an idiot you are. It's your choice.

Great design is timeless

Foam

Is it out to get us too?

Spotted in traffic the other day

Woof.

Just a few more...

...poison pills in his mom's nightly cocktail would ensure Timmy would never have to eat Brussels sprouts again.

WTF PETA?

Can anyone tell me why Olivia Munn has to be naked in order for her and PETA to tell us that elephants should be free?I'm all in on freeing all animals from circuses and theme parks but is seeing Olivia Munn getting naked and posing next to elephants the only way we'll all finally get off our fat asses and do something about things? And don't get me wrong, I'm all in on seeing Olivia Munn in the buff, I'm just not sure what her nakedness has to do with freeing Babar and his buddies.

Perhaps PETA has grown tired of attracting middle aged people who wear black socks with their Jerusalem cruiser sandals and they're trying for the teenage horn-dog market. If that's the case, then I guess PETA must have all the cash they'll ever need because those horny teens and twenty somethings aren't going to give donations like the pot bellied middle agers do.

Ah, who knows. PETA works in mysterious ways.

Equal Time with Maggie Q

"Veggie Man has nothing on me."

Pin Ups Answer Your Burning Questions

How will that new immigration law in Arizona affect you floral bikini lady?
"I'll have to hire Anglo Saxons to clean my pool, mow my lawn, and undress me with their eyes constantly. I'm not happy about it, but I guess I'll do it."

A Texas lawmaker said that President Obama is his god's punishment for the wickedness of this country, do you agree bondage barn lady?
"I'd be willing to bet his god and the god that the Westboro Baptists worship are one in the same. So if their god really wanted to punish us, he'd have let Bush McCain and Half Term Palin win in 2008."

Did you lose your razor huge bush woman?
"Yes. And I lost it after I started using Rogaine down there."

Has the volcano eruption in Iceland made life hard for you narcissistic woman?
"Iceland hasn't melted yet? Even after all this global warming? Holy shit, I guess Sean Hannity is right, Al Gore is full of crap."

Haven't you heard that smoking is bad for you faux hippie lady?
"I'm smokin' with or without the cigarette. So it really doesn't mean shit to me monkey boy."

Have you seen my keys Miss Daisy?
"Yes. I found them but I'm not giving them back without a fight. I'll wrestle you for them. Let's get greased up and go two out of three falls for them. How's that sound?"

Nude model gal, is No Child Left Behind working?
"No children are coming out of my behind and that's final. What? Why are you looking at me like that? Not all answers make sense. Now go away so I can pose more. I mean it. Scram."

And now here's a message from Veggie Man

"Eat me."

The reviews are in

I finally finished watching this film:
I saw half of it 'On Demand' one night and had planned to finish it the next night but it turned out the night I saw half of it was the last night it was on. So one day I bought the DVD for $3 and I finally got around to watching the whole thing over the past few nights.

My impressions of this film are:

• holy hell it's long.
• it's very good.
• the term 'atmospheric' was invented for movies like this.
• Jake Gyllenhaal is one damn fine film actor.

I recommend this one highly, although I'm warning you, it's looooooooooooooong.

I saw this film a few weeks ago:
It's a stunning visual feast of a film. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's a cartoon, it's a very violent odd film that's meant for adults. People get hurt and die in this film. It's not kids stuff, it's for grown ups. It's was a bit on the long side for my taste, they could have cut out 30 minutes and it would not have harmed the film a bit.

I recommend this one if you're into sci fi or anime in general. It can be a bit obtuse if you're not into either of those genres though.

I'm not the target audience for this film:
But that didn't stop me from liking it. It's a cute hip little comedy about some quirky teens who are on the cusp of adulthood. Everything is life and death to them, music, members of the opposite sex, members of the same sex, etc. It's a boy who is pining for slutty ex girlfriend meets new girl and they go through an ordeal before they realize they are meant for one another movie. I'm a huge Michael Cera fan, he's like the everyman we all thought we were in high school, and I'm becoming more of a Kat Dennings fan as the days go by.

The music was cool and the performances rocked, so I highly recommend this one. It may however put you off chewing gum for life though, don't say I didn't warn you.

And finally we watched both parts of Small Island on Masterpiece Theatre.
Small Island tells the story of some Jamaicans who emigrate to England during WW2 and what becomes of them after the war. Their lives intersect with those of a lily white British couple who have their problems. It's all very 'stiff upper lip' stuff that has been done before but it all manages to be very great and very watchable. Every one in this production turns in very good performances, especially Naomie Harris, Ruth Wilson, and David Oyelowo. Special kudos go to Karl Johnson as the shell shocked father in law of Ruth Wilson's character. Johnson had the tough assignment to convey joy, pain, misery, and war induced anguish all without the benefit of dialogue.

Catch this one if they run it on PBS again or pick it up on DVD. You'll be glad you did.

Brunette of the week

Melanie from Canada.

Fat people don't matter

Here's the lingerie ad ABC and FOX refuse to run:


Now I don't know about you but I'm of a mind that the gal in that ad is pretty hot. She curvy, pretty, and all around hubba hubba. To me she looks like the women I see every day in real life. She looks better to me than the skinny sacks of bones that Victoria's Secret uses to model their new line of lingerie 'The Nakeds.' And don't tell me you haven't seen Victoria's Secret ads for that line, if you watch TV then you've seen it. It's full of even more scantily clad women than the above ad is and it's got a 'sexy' provocative name. And every channel that takes lingerie ads is running Victoria's ads and I have yet to see one of these ads from Lane Bryant on any channel.

Why is that?

It's because this is America and we don't want to think that overweight people, which is pretty much everybody in this country, are out there having sex, let alone enjoying and reveling in it. We want to imagine that only hot pretty people are making the beast with two backs and that hopefully only they will have children. The corporate media has conditioned us to want only celebrities, models, wealthy jocks, and skinny sexy people to mate and procreate. They told us time and again that fat people are stupid, ugly, and unworthy of sex, children, and fun. And this episode in advertising proves it yet again.

A female apologist and talk show host for FOX has said it was okay for her network to not run this ad because of all the cleavage the gal in the ad is showing. What she meant to say was that it's okay for them not to run it because the cleavage belongs to a 'fat' woman and not a skinny model. Oh the woman at FOX who said that is a former Miss America, so there you fucking go.

So the bottom line is this, if you have a big bottom and some extra pounds, then you probably bought too much processed food that have been advertised on FOX and ABC, and now you have become a disgusting pig who has no business buying lingerie and enjoying a healthy sex life. Keep your rutting private you pigs because according to FOX and ABC new ad policy, no fatties are allowed.

Monkey!

Now we know who's responsbile for destroying the crediblity of the Republican Party

Go bird man go!

The 258 million dollar man

This guy from Missouri won the Powerball jackpot the other night:
I'm guessing all that money is going to buy him a sweet double wide, a kick ass 4 wheel drive pick up truck, untold kegs of Miller Lite, and a shitload of lap dances. And then in a few years when he's blown through all that cash, he'll go back to his old job at the convenience store.

Oy, what I could have done with all that money. Oh hang on a sec, the Mega Millions is up to $166 million, so maybe when I win that one on Friday night some asshole blogger can make fun of my looks and the fact that I currently live in Tennessee. And I'll be all pissed off about it on my way to buying the bank, then when I move into my mansion on the NC coast, I'll be all forgiving and shit.

That's a wrap

Project Runway 7 just ended and Seth Aaron won it.

Going purely by the designs they all showed in the last runway show they made the right decision. His collection was funky, fresh, and oozing cool. He stayed true to his design vision but he came up with some incredible looking clothes, the egg plant smuggling dress shown above was the lone clunker in his collection.
At the start of the show I was rooting for Mila, I tend to root for the older contestants these days, and her collection was smashing. Yes, she did a slew of black and white designs but she also threw in some silver and gray to mix things up. I think her lack of color was what kept her from winning.

As for Emilio's collection, I can sum it up in one word: DREADFUL. I got the feeling I had seen it all before and then mid way through seeing it I realized that I had indeed seen it all before...on the fucking Sopranos.



Yeah. Thought you'd see it too. His collection was awful, unless you're a Long Island mafia wife then it just screams 'Charm!'

So yeah, the judges made the right decision. Seth Aaron kicked his collection up several notches and he won fair and square.

Speaking of the judges, what the fuck was Faith Hill doing on there? I could see her judging a singing contest or a tractor pull or sexiest veggie contest, but the finale of Project Runway? The way she gushed all over Emilio's mafia wife collection of clothes told me all I ever need to know about her and her lack of taste.

And finally Jay showed himself to be a prissy cunt with his insulting remark to the lovely Cerri.
She rightly said that he designed for the tall willowy LA/Miami chick and not for someone with pale skin like her. And Jay took it personally. And he said didn't design for women with bad teeth and thick legs.
Jay, you're a one shot wonder dude. No one will ever see or hear from you ever again and this is how you go out? Have fun making clothes for all the addicts on skid row Nancy. Cerri shits more class out in the morning than you'll ever have in all your miserable bitchy life you low rent drama queen. Go fuck yourself you fucking loser.

I forgot to mention that this post contains spoilers. So if you Tivo-ed or DVR-ed the finale, then you may not want to read this post yet.

Musical discoveries of the week

In my travels across the vast series of tubes we now know as the internet, I've discovered this great new to me musical group from Canada:
They're known as The Good Lovelies. They play really fun and harmonious 'roots' music. I hate that term but they use it themselves so I can as well. In their case 'roots' means they sing and back themselves up with guitars and mandolins.
All three of the are hubba hubba to the nth degree and even more than that what I love about them is how much fun they look like they are having while singing and playing their distinctive music.There's nothing better than being entertained by smart, funny, uber talented women.

Here's a great video of theirs:


While at my local library yesterday I perused the jazz CD's. And it was there that I found this great CD:I'm totally in love with this French jazz vocalist now. She sings predominantly in English on this CD but when she sings in her native tongue, it's va va va voom and hubba hubba all wrapped up in one beautiful package. Her English songs are flawless and they have that cute sound that non native speakers have when they use our language.
I highly recommend both Ms. Knopfler and The Good Lovelies.

Favorites

There's a Facebook meme going around that many racists, teabaggers, and conservative Christians are using as their Facebook status, and if you have no idea what a Facebook status is them I suggest you get a life or go ask your kid to show you what Facebook is, and it goes something like this: "Dear God, This past year you took my favorite actress Farrah Fawcett, my favorite actor Patrick Swayze, and my favorite musician Michael Jackson. I just wanted to let you know that my favorite President is President Obama. Amen."

They think it's funny to call for the death of this country's first black President. And they get mad when you call them on it. They don't like their hate speech being pointed out to them. It makes them mad, mad enough to kill probably.

In addition to their racism this current 'joke' shows them to be once again, clueless stupid, ill informed Fox News loving idiots. This is true because if pressed they could not name one film their favorite actress has appeared in.
Other than the masturbation loop of her that plays in their spank banks.

As for their alleged favorite actor,
they only liked him, the males anyway, because he was in all their gay sex fantasies. They wanted Patrick to sweep them up in his strong arms the way he did Baby in Dirty Dancing. They dreamed of getting beaten up and then nursed back to health by his character from Road House. And now they dream of his ghost coming back and getting all jiggy with them like his ghost did in Ghost.

In reality they hated Michael Jackson.
They branded him a freak and a pedophile and they forbade his music from being played in their pick up trucks and trailers after he was found not guilty a few years ago.

Their favorite President was actually George W. Bush because he was just like them, conservative, belligerent, and stupid to the core.

Not that any of them read this blog but if any of them do, then I'd like to remind them, especially the Christians, that lying is a sin. That whole commandment about bearing false witness comes into play here.

Don't get me wrong folks, I'm not telling you to shut up, I'm using my freedom of speech to show how your bullshit is stupid, disingenuous, and against the religion you claim to be an adherent to.

The wood pile...

...is it as big as it was after Obamacare became law of the land?

Brunette of the week

Naomie Harris.

I am an ungrateful ingrate

I forgot to thank the folks at Crooks and Liars for linking me yesterday. So let me first apologize for not thanking you guys sooner.

And now let me say, thanks for linking me!

You guys rock!

Recaptioned Soviet era cartoons

"Is good thing I found this bucket of capitalist blood, I will re-paint my body to prove that leopard can change his spots and learn new tricks for the benefit of glorious working peoples of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics."

"Re-painting me and automobile machine which is being made by glorious working classes is not making me joyful. Perhaps I should go stand in line for days at People's Revolutionary Party Supply Store for to be getting a Molotov Cocktail to throw at you while you lay sleeping in bed."

Same difference?

If the corporate media had paid as much attention and did as many stories on the anti war protest movement
than they do to the teabaggers,
then perhaps the war would be winding down sooner and more lives, Afghan, Iraqi, and American, would have been spared. After all, more people opposed the war and the war criminal presidency of George W. Bush than support the teabagging movement.

More people opposed this country attacking Iraq than voted for Bush McCain and Theocratic Barbie. More people took to the streets to call for the impeachment of Bush/Cheney than marched with loaded weapons on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing the other day.

But you'll never ever hear those things mentioned on the corporate media news pundit channels, especially Fox. And they'll also never ever tell you how their audience is shrinking as more and more people turn off their TV's and search out news and opinion on the internet.