stallone: sly or just old?
Now Playing: green day - american idiot

rambo iv and rocky vi (actually, this one will be called rocky balboa apparently) are being planned at this time. sylvester stallone is 59 and aside from the contender this past year (which not that many cared to watch), is he even on anyone's radar anymore? i mean, i know we're in the big republican upswing (or, is it the downstroke now?), and it's about time for a good jingoist flick in theaters (not that we don't get one of those just about every month as it is, if not more often), but come on... rocky? rambo? is that really what we need? was the rock too busy working on doom to get a good action film going? where was vin diesel? where was nicholas cage? hell, where was antonio banderas... oh wait, he was making an irrelevant sequel to a movie i'm sure most people have already forgotten (since you, reading this are probably one of those people, i'll say for the record that sequel is the legend of zorro, second to the mask of zorro from 1998)

true enough, a good jingoist action flick or a good boxing movie (i mean, i enjoyed million dollar baby and cinderella man almost as much as the next guy) will be a nice change of pace next to the blatantly bad action films (see, oh, i don't know, stealth) and blatantly bad horror films (see house of wax or the fog or the ring two or... well, there's a whole damn list, growing longer everyday)--

and speaking of bad horror films, i should say i actually enjoyed most of high tension (although that one's french so it hardly fits this discussion) until that innane twist that made the part of the film i actually had enjoyed completely irrelevant and made for a seriously lacking climax... couldn't we have just had the lead actress beat the killer to death and leave it at that, you know, like the climax of the first episode of showtime's masters of horror last night?

and still speaking of bad horror films, in trying to explain how purposefully bad saw ii will be (though i think i've talked myself into seeing it in the theater and not just waiting to get it on my blockbuster movie pass) i think i convinced myself as to a certain brilliance on the part of last year's original, at least in the balls it had to be seriously fucking gory. i'm a fan of that sort of thing, as some might expect. digging through a presumed dead guy's stomach to get a key to release a bomb from your skull--that's my kind of movie. though, to be fair, i should mention that i think saw (the first one) would have been a better film if the flashbacks hadn't been there--coulda tacked them onto the dvd as short film extras or something, or website promotion material. two guys in a room talking about and eventually committing disgustingly gory acts--that works for me as well

anyway

stallone should stick to producing. even if he wants to produce a boxing movie, good for him. boxing movies tend to be pretty good (see the original rocky, dogfight, diggstown or the aforementioned million dollar baby or cinderella man for some good examples... hell, maybe i should check out against the ropes just on principal) so i'm ok with that. but, bringing back rocky balboa, after rocky v pretty much said he's dying of... well, whatever the fuck was wrong with him--i just remember the film putting forth the notion that one more fight would kill him... of course, then he had that one more fight, out in the street with that young upstart punk and he didn't keel over so, maybe the diagnosis was faulty. but, speaking of upstart punks, why not do a movie about that character working his way back from the obscurity of getting the shit kicked out of him by an aging, dying boxer to be the world champion? or, better yet, screw the whole boxing thing, and just get on with rambo iv but instead of the jingoist crap of rambo or rambo iii, actually get back to the themes of the original novel, you know, make john rambo a psychopath who wouldn't sell out to serving his country again if his life depended on it... and, by the way, were his actions in first blood (the film or the novel) anything close to being a vigilante (or would it be more of a, oh, i don't know, insurgent?)? cause that's what a press release is calling him in the plot for the new one--apparently, some girl gets kidnapped, and it's up to rambo to go all vigilante and save her, with rae dawn chong at his side, and leaving dead guys on planes and dropping josh lyman over a cliff and... oh wait, that one was already done, with that politician in the lead roll and that sitcom actress/softcore pornstar wannabe alyssa milano as the kidnapped girl...

what was i saying?

***

see the first installment of my new, other blog, "boring useless details" today

disaster relief... it's the new christmas!

let's state it simply. the new american way of not caring about the world or even the rest of our country all the time is to throw a bunch of money at that world or that country when disaster strikes. sue, relief organizations have existed for a long time, and sure people have made donations before. but, between the reaction to (and coverage of) the hurricane hitting new orleans and the tsunami earlier this year, it's a little pathetic, the size of teh divergence between how much we supposedly care now, when disaster strikes, as compared to how much we cared about, i don't know, the amount of poverty in new orleans or in southeast asia before these disasters

but, of course, we'd have to pay attention to more than just the live team coverage at the top of the news hour to be able to care, wouldn't we?

and, we just don't have the energy for that. we're too busy worrying about what new songs we should put on our ipods, what new ringtones we should put on our cellphones, what tome cruise and katie holmes are doing this week, what lie from george bush and his cronies we're expected to believe of late...

...

needless to say, i won't be donating any money, and not just because i can't afford it--send donations by paypal to robertegblack@hotmail.com, save us from this horror of life in southern california--but because i don't feel like fueling the hypocrisy of america. we run out and kill some of the peoples of the world, and sit back and watch american idol and dancing with the stars, and we wait for a disaster, nevermind the ongoing disaster that is the freight train of our culture and our war

fuck...

7/21 is just a joke

but, a hearty "nice try" to jill lawless of the associated press. at least, she's the only one i saw trying this with a headline, turning 7/21 into a 9/11 type "remember the alamo" slogan, nevermind that the whole 9/11 thing was stupid from the start here (regardless of how many people have embraced it). there's a 11 september every year, people. and, sure enough (i checked), there's a 21 july every year as well, even in england. so, stop it and stop it now, as dr phil might say.

that headline, by the way: Police Raid West London Homes in 7/21 Case

BE PREPARED... to die and/or be tracked
tv guide is reinventing itself to have less of the schedule and more articles

law & order producer dick wolf is looking forward, despite the cancellation of trial by jury, to doing more law & order shows, including a french version of criminal intent

four boy scout leaders died monday (and another, plus two workers, injured) when a ten pole hit a power line. apparently, they were teaching the boy scouts what not to do when erecting a tent near power lines. needless to say, the boys got the message. the day before that, a boy scout volunteer died from a heart attack at that same jamboree event (some big boy scout shindig that gets sponsorship from the department of defense, despite the whole requirement-to-accept-god bit of the boy scouts... it should be noted, of course, that a federal judge has said it can't sponsor it anymore)

and, while some folks in rural south dakota (as if there is any urban south dakota) are fighting to keep analog cell phones, it turns out that the fcc wants all cell phone service to be digital by 2008. and, in other cell phone/fcc/big brother news, the fcc wants %95 of wireless company's customers to have by the end of this year, apparently, phones containing chips that allow emergency operators to pinpoint a person's location... when a call is placed to 911. cause, certainly the ability to track cell phone users would never be abused, and of course, if the government were to use it for anything but rescuing 911 callers, we would certainly hear about it, just like we hear about it everytime the patriot act--recently renewed, by the way--authorizes them to check on all our buying habits and our library check outs

and, part of iraq's new constitution gives islam a major role in civil law, raising concern about women's rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance

oh, and london and egypt are apparently exploding all over the place. and, it turns out the london police have nothing still on that guy they gunned down in the subway

but, the space shuttle blasted into outer space this morning, and christianity is all the rage, so all is well

no fucking comment
"The House voted to extend indefinitely the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act, while limiting to 10 years two provisions of the law that have become linchpins in the ongoing congressional debate: allowing federal agents to use roving wiretaps and to search library and medical records."

don't wear a coat in london

more explosions in london the other day and apparently, they're all freaking out now. a guy of asian descent dared wear a long coat on a warm day and plainclothes cops chased him down and when he fell down they shot him multiple times and he died

sure, it's possible he actually was a "terrorist" but the entirety of cause those cops had was that he had on a coat and ran from the police--note, of course, those police were not in uniform, and who wouldn't run from a bunch of guys with guns?

it should be noted that one witness said the man appeared to have "a bomb belt and wires coming out." of course, then you have to notice that after the fact, reports haven't mentioned that bomb belt and those wires actually having been there

and this witness comment should be noted as well: "they pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him. he's dead. he looked like a cornered fox. he looked petrified." that witness went on to say that the guy didn't have any wires, just a thick coat... in london. isn't it the way of things in london, weatherwise, that if you wait five minutes the weather will change? isn't that what they say? maybe, despite the heat, this guy just liked to be prepared. or maybe he's a big fan of columbo. or maybe he's mentally retarded. or maybe he's a terrorist who just happened to have on his coat but didnt' bring his bomb today...

do any of those things demand his death?

poem - "bored"
thousands dead and i don't care
thousands dead and i don't care
thousands dead and i don't care

it's a start...

might as well be jimmy cracking corn,
the details of this iraqi porn,
'cuase you know we're not supposed to see
the individuals dead for who they may be.
just know that we're winning,
that the onward christian soldier's grinning,
and god is on our side,
'cause surely the good lord CAN abide
all the blood...
afterall, he made the fucking flood.
and, he's supposed to be worth it,
worship, adoration, and all that shit...

but, what's the point,
when the greater good destroys the join
and thousands are just a sacrifice?
don't make me say it twice.
what's the point,
when the GREATER GOOD destroys the joint,
kills all the infidels...
ring the victory bells,
let your light shine,
and his kingdom be thine...

not mine...

built on the dust
of the wreckage that must
still, forever stink of death
as the world tomorrow draws his breath
and we all get to...

except, we aren't supposed to look
too deeply into the religion or the book
behind it,
the contradictions that don't fit...

but, WE'RE WINNING!
cheshire bush is grinning,
lying through his teeth,
when his sword's already out its sheathe,
and the plowshare's trampled under,
the world torn asunder...

thousands dead,
another dozen just the other day...
i bow my head,
change the channel. what can i say?

i'm bored.
bush scored.

and, i just want...
i just want...
i just want...
i just...

what's on tv tonight?

regb
6-29-5

poem - "useless"
you just did what they told ya
you weren't even a soldi(a)
their orders, you'd blindly follow
'cause your decadent life was so hollow
they'd tell you to mourn,
yellow ribbon, black arm band, at the terrorists point your scorn,
a patriotic wave of the flag--
useless; might as well be a plastic bag.
that would mean more,
as your biggest decisions come down to the store:
paper or plastic? want fries with that?
guzzle more gas with your SUV as you get fat.
and, folks half way 'cross the world die in your name,
but you're watching American Idol... surely, you're not to blame

regb
7-14-5

harry potter is destroying christianity
gabriele kuby, a bavarian-based roman catholic sociologist, wrote a book criticizing rowling's books, arguing "that the potter novels blur the boundaries between good and evil and impair young readers' ability to distinguish between the two. she also asserts that they glorify the world of witches and magicians at the expense of the human world"

from the new pope: "these [books] are subtle seductions that work imperceptibly, and because of that deeply, and erode christianity in the soul before it can even grow properly"

i just have one response to all that

GOOD!

charades
i have trouble sticking thinks out, seeing them through (except for marriage and lego projects apparently). i had a comic strip, twice, and it fizzled, twice. i had an ongoing thing of being a writer (writing every day, cranking out many things still unpublished), but that fizzled into an occasional thing (occasional including the second gardia book getting into my head again lately, probably to see some light in a few weeks when hayley and kieran are in school). i started this blog and had a hell of a good time for a while, knocking out some great stuff, throwing in some of my best material and really making a go of it... but no one read it (save my wife and a couple others (literally)) and it's fizzled. i keep trying to restart it, jump it into overdrive, get all the things in my head out, even if no one really bothers to read it regularly

but, then i sit down and just don't feel up to it, and you know why? cause i keep trying to make every entry into more of an essay, an addition to my old rodent bits column (another thing that fizzled) rather than a blog. thing is, i don't care for the kind of blog that has drunk folks commentating on their nights out while on the verge of passing out, or sketchpads (for literal sketches or for passing ideas (a la warren ellis, though his bad signal has just enough interesting stuff that i still subscribe)). i want mine to be more, but i can't keep up with what i want it to be

and, so here i am, coming into this entry with the idea of celebrity charades on my mind, wanting to go on and on about how reality television has truly, like so many projects of mine, fizzled and died--not that we won't happily watch it twitch for a while--and i wanted to segue into some other recent television, like my defense (albeit not a strong one) of the inside or my offense at the plot of last week's premiere of the closer despite some damn good writing and characterization... but what's the point in that when i started this thing because of politics?

--insert a big smirk here--

of course, isn't my whole thing, my gimmick if you will, to make strange segues between pop culture and politics and religion and my own disgust at most of it? or something like that. i should be saying today that, despite what the Right would have us think, we are not all at war, we are not all in danger. and, i should be cleverly linking that into discussion of the inside's idea of putting the bait at the forefront of the show, nevermind the cries of mysogny, or talk of how the closer's love for junkfood (but not donuts) isn't as cliched as some reviews would have you think, and making sure to mention cheney suggesting last week (or at least it made it onto the daily show last week) there wasn't point in arguing against people who disagreed with him, and maybe i'd throw in some prognostication about iraq and how the suicide bomber killing folks at a police station there is certainly not much of a good sign of our supposed success

but, i'm not in the mood for cleverness. hell, you know what i want to do today? i want to get a new pen to carry around in my pocket wherever i go, as the previous one died yesterday, and i want to wander across town with my kids, and research some stuff on samurai and bushido for lion, horse, tree and do some work on my lego astromech droid (you can see the head, for some sense of scale, here) and maybe squeeze in a movie, and tonight there's six feet under, hell's kitchen, bullshit!, the closer (which better prove tonight that writers of good characters can handle good plots as well, and not the predictable case they had last week... hell, between the cliches of this show and the inside, i wonder if the network cop show is finally dead as well) and the daily show. but, i'll be writing soon. thoughts of lion, horse, tree are playing about the corners of my head, twisting and shouting and asking me to let them out, so i'll probably have to be getting to that soon, and maybe i'll get this little blog here going again as well

or not