Happy New Year!

Spy vs. Spy

Bring on the light

Tonights Movie

"...I got my mojo working....I got my mojo working...but it just don't work on you..." - That's what you would be hearing right now if you were listening to WOLFGANGSVAULT - Quicksilver Messenger Service, Filmore Auditorium, Nov 5, 1966, like I am as I type this. But that seemed to go over like my Google Earth. I liked it, nobody else did.


Tonight I decide to go to the movies so I'm going to take a break from our regularly scheduled review of my birthday party (post party review day 4) and spend a minute reviewing the film. I had two choices;

1. The Pursuit of Happiness
2. Eragon
3. Casino Royale

I know, that's three. But I've already seen Casino Royale so that's off the list. And I know what you are thinking -

"it's a no-brainer Chuck. See the Pursuit of Happiness! It's getting great reviews and Eragon looks....well, GAY!"

And you're right. Only two problems. I know Pursuit of Happiness is a "touchyfeelytugatmyheartstringsmakemecry" type of movie and well, I'm just not in the mood.

Plus, I really like dragon movies. Sure, I've yet to see a dragon movie that lived up to my expectations, but I still see them. I've seen Dragon Heart, Dragon Slayer, Reign of Fire, Hidden Dragon (crouching tiger) and Enter the Dragon. (So I'm stretching a bit.)

Needless to say, my expectations still haven't been met.

If you were to take the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy - and I'm talking about the directors cut, extra scenes, all 9 hours plus - convert it into colloquial Spanish, then have someone with two years Spanish language education convert the Spanish version back to English, edit it down to 1 hr 39 minutes - you would have a pretty good idea of what you have with Eragon.

Sure you had: good witches, bad witches, dragons, evil leaders, ugly guys making weapons, normal guys readying the defenses, dragons, a hero named Eragon (sounds an awful lot like Aragorn to me) massive cool castles, massive armies, bows and arrows, magic swords, magic, did I mention dragons?, a loud horn to announce the arrival of the enemy, homoerotic scenes, special effects galore, dragons, SPAM (just seeing if you are still reading), fight scenes, motivating speeches, death and .....DRAGONS.

Unfortunately you were missing; dialogue, a plot, good acting, good actors, and... a plot. (It was worth mentioning twice).

In fact I've seen PORNO movies that have a better plot than Eragon. Now that I think about it, I've seen PORNO movies with DRAGONS in them that have a better plot than Eragon.

I give it 3 dragons teeth, out of 54.

YouTube script

You may have watched it live on YouTube. You may have watched it twice even. And if you were like me, you almost fell off your chair laughing.

But until you read the script, it's hard to appreciate the genius:

"So what happened, it started off with a half a bottle of wine..........and......I think it's Spanish wine, ....and you got some super duper camera there.............AND GUESS WHAT? I saw that Al Gore tape last night"

True Love

I think what set Rob off, was that not only was he competing with Krush, he was competing with Krush's channeling of Spicoli, Maxwell and Depp.

Who can compete with that?

Krushnami

Ponderosa Party Productions Presents:

Beebe's Birthday Bash Bonanza!

(This blog is not yet rated)

I don't know where to begin?.....So I'll start by getting a second cup of coffee, since after all I now have a years supply, better get to it while it's still fresh.

Ahhh, that's better!

I think the effects of this past weekends debauchery, are still lingering in my body. However the memories are as fresh as this second cup. My friends truly caught me by surprise! The fact that I had to chase off a couple of hoodlums that where skulking around in the darkness of Matt's patio, only delayed my entrance, not my shock. Shock only amplified when I realized the hoodlums where not infact hoodlums skulking around, but Hari and Clute - skulking around.

FLASHBACK: There I was, delaying my entrance as I admired Plow's new pond. After all, I had no idea there were people waiting for me inside, I figured Plow was still putting on his hair gel, and we were going out. I had at least 15 minutes before he was ready. Then, after admiring the new pond, I decided to check out the progress of Plow's new outdoor shower facilities. It was then that I noticed the two "hoodlums" hanging in the corner looking at me, like two raccoons caught raiding the trash can. Then the shock set in - matched on the outside I'm sure, by the look of confusion? I'm not sure how to describe that look (as it was on my face) but you can ask Hari or Clute. I attribute this look to the fact that my heart momentarily stopped, causing the blood to stop flowing to my brain, further causing an immediate lack of ability to process anything sensory.

"Where am I? Is this what the Twilight Zone is like? What are you guys doing here?"

Now I like to think that I am normally a pretty sharp cookie, quick on the uptake. But I still had no clue! Yeah sure, Gregg was down from Jersey and I hadn't seem him in awhile. That was a bit odd. But no odder than seeing Clute with a beard! It wasn't until they told me I had to go inside and act surprised, that I actually started to make the move indoors.

Lest you think that I wasn't surprised when I walked through the door - think again! If only I could have had a wide angle shot of that crowd, to keep the memory alive forever!

There before me, were my friends. A eclectic mix to be sure. There were my normal friends. By normal I mean the one's I talk to regularly, but I also mean the one's that have a "normal" appearance. These are the normal-normal group. They could be further divided into normal-normal-normal, but that isn't necessary. Then there were my friends, who are also normal, but not regular. This is not to say they are a constipated group, but one that I don't see often. This therefore is the normal-abnormal group. Then there is the abnormal group. The abnormal group can be further divided into abnormal-normal: the ones who are abnormal looking, but normal acting. This group could be further subdivided into abnormal-normal-regular, unless of course they are constipated in which case they are abnormal-normal-irregular or abnormal-normal-constipated. I'm not sure if anyone at the party actually fits into the last group? Then there was the abnormal-abnormal. This is a special group, a man unto himself. The exact scientific classification of this group is still being debated, but science is leaning towards A-A-DoM. That's abnormal-abnormal-diarrhea of mouth. There is also some debate among some of the "fringe" scientists, over this group actually being human at all, with the common belief that it is actually an alien life form who has merely taken on human appearance. This being further supported by the continuous display of awkward "human like" behavior and a general magnetic repulsion to anyone who's initials aren't CNN. Throw all these elements together, and mix with a little mom and dad, some well cooked lamb, a little Ponderosa magic fairy dust, some salt, some pepper a lot of great beer and you have the makings of the party of the decade.

And that's what I'm calling it. The party of the decade. At least, my decade. It was a fitting end to my 30's an outstanding welcoming in, to my 40's. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of you for your participation. I'd list everyone's name, but I'm deathly afraid I would end up forgetting someone! However I want to make a special acknowledgement to Flash, CNN and Jojo for the wonderful job they did providing me with counter-intelligence, and all the other bells and whistles they added. Big Plow for hosting the party. It's one for the Ponderosa record books. And lastly Tim for masterminding this whole event. I heard it said somewhere that "everyone love's PinF" - I know I do! (cue Brokeback)

Happy Birthday Gregg!

I would like to wish my really good friend Gregg (aka Hari) a very happy birthday! Remember, from now on - I will always be younger than you!

So to Hari who is the biggest music lover I know, and PinF who is the second, and Tedman who is the third, and everyone else filling in behind....I present you the following;


www.wolfgangsvault.com (check out the concert vault)

And then proceed directly to the link below...

http://radio.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=radio&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.topdownloads.net%2Fsoftware%2Fview.php%3Fid%3D34599


for those of you who already know about this - shame on you for not sharing! Otherwise, Merry Christmas to you all from the MisAdventures of Chuck.

All work and no play makes Chuck a dull boy...

PinF keeps claiming he sees a resemblance - I'm not buying it.

You be the judge??

Part II

Psychological Neoteny

I was at the Pocono (Stowe) Coffee House this morning, multitasking between a "practice exam" and the NY Times magazine. Well, maybe it wasn't so much multitasking as it was short attention spanning, as practice exams are boring. Just ask Tedman.

The NY Times magazine was the "6th annual year of ideas" edition and had all kinds of interesting tidbits in it. One of which I want to talk to you about here - Psychological Neoteny.

Here for your enjoyment is a paragraph that explains what it is -

"The mid-twentieth century saw the rise of the boy-genius, probably because a personality type characterized by prolonged youthfulness is advantageous both in science and modern life generally. This is the evolution of ‘psychological-neoteny’, in which ever-more people retain for ever-longer the characteristic behaviours and attitudes of earlier developmental stages. Whereas traditional societies are characterized by initiation ceremonies marking the advent of adulthood, these have now dwindled and disappeared. In a psychological sense, some contemporary individuals never actually become adults. A child-like flexibility of attitudes, behaviours and knowledge is probably adaptive in modern society because people need repeatedly to change jobs, learn new skills, move to new places and make new friends. It seems that this adaptation is achieved by the expedient of postponing cognitive maturation – a process that could be termed psychological neoteny. (‘Neoteny’ refers to the biological phenomenon whereby development is delayed such that juvenile characteristics are retained into maturity.) Psychological neoteny is probably caused by the prolonged average duration of formal education, since students’ minds are in a significant sense ‘unfinished’. Since modern cultures favour cognitive flexibility, ‘immature’ people tend to thrive and succeed, and have set the tone of contemporary life: the greatest praise of an elderly person is to state that they retain the characteristics of youth. But the faults of youth are retained with well as its virtues: short attention span, sensation- and novelty-seeking, short cycles of arbitrary fashion and a sense of cultural shallowness. Nonetheless, as health gets better and cosmetic technologies improve, future humans may become somewhat like an axolotl – the cave-dwelling salamander which retains its larval form until death."

I new it all along. Now I just have "science" on my side, and who doesn't like justification for everything they do?

As my 40 year celebration approaches, I will walk into Sligo's on Saturday with a bigger-than-ever grin on my face knowing full well that my fraternity like antics are actually an exercise in cognitive flexibility, adaptation and an expression of my boy-genius.


Axolotl out.

Stowe Coffee House

Here's a little bit of Stowe in winter - the Stowe Coffee House. Otherwise known as Chuck's HQ, northeast division.

Power Shi(f)t

Power Shi(f)t is what I just did to my employer. Make that former employer. I have finally had enough of the pettiness and dysfunction and handed in my keys.

This is great as now I can be on vacation for the entire month of December. Sure, I don't have any money, but when have I ever had any money? No one, can have as much fun on nothing as I can!

Besides, who needs money for beer when it's your birthday. See you at Sligo's on the 16th.

My thoughts for the day...

How does a mother, father and two kids - and their car - get lost in the Oregon woods for 4 days? I mean, they found the mom and two kids and the car down some dirt road. Dad is still missing. Did you drive 100 miles up a dirt road and run out of gas? Where were you going? Where are their 100 mile dirt roads? How could you run out of gas? I don't get it.....



2 dead U.S solders, 30 Iraqi's. That seems about par for the course. Nobody ever talks about the dead Iraqi's, after all they are the enemy. Sure the news reports the numbers but that is about it. I have to admit I spend more time thinking about the war from the Iraqi perspective, don't know what that means? Maybe I'm a traitor?

Think about how mad everyone is at the loss of life in the USA. What are we up to now 4000? Multiply that by 15 and we get 60,000 Iraqi's. Think how mad they must be? Plus we are over there stomping around on their soil blowing up their buildings. That adds a 2X multiplier to the "mad" factor. So if they are 2X "mad" because we blow up their infrastructure and 15X "mad" at the loss of life they are now 30X "mad" at us as we are at them.

I know what you're thinking, shouldn't they be 17X "mad"?

Does it really matter?


Editors Update - "the lost family" - According to MSNBC, they were lost for 9 days, not 4 as I thought I heard this morning. They were taking the back roads and got stuck because of a winter storm. They were 15 miles from whatever road they were looking for. Still I have to ask, what the heck?

First Snow

It finally decided after a week of spring like weather that it was winter, and therefore should be snowing. Got a whopping 1" last night, but could get more later this week.

Spy VS. Spy

The KGB.

Scotland Yard.

Russian spies dying after eating poisoned sushi?

Polonium - 210.

This morning I even heard someone use the word dossier!

This is what the news should be! You can't write a better script.



In this mornings health feature - my back is doing better although tomorrow is hoop night and I might only be able to go at 50%.



That's the news.