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Pretty soon it will be September. Hurrah! As it is my favorite month. Yet I have not finished this summer movie season strong. My attempts have trailed off the last couple of weeks. In fact I have seen some movies but have not posted my reviews because I essentially forgot that I did see them. Well, let me wrap up the latest films I have seen.

The Island is as absurd a movie as there ever was. Supposedly, Micheal Bay's comeback to action vehicle. Umm. Has he ever been away from that genre? The most absurd aspect of that movie. Scarlett Johanson running away from god knows what. Ewan told her to run so she ran. Not like Tia Leone. Why did she run?
2 of 5 stars.

Valiant. We took my nephew. He got frightened from the evil hawk. I was wondering why none of the pigeons died. Come on it should've been the standard war movie plotting. Rag-tag bunch. Each one to die.
3 of 5 stars.

The Cave was not this year's Deep Blue Sea. It should've been. Sad. It was not even good. But it was better than The Island.
3 of stars.

Labels: movies, review

By this time tomorrow, New Orleans, LA may be a relic of the past. Hurricane Katrina (a name befitting a dominatrix) is bearing down on the city. She's a Cat 5, a powerful one. Hopefully, every unessential person has been evacuated. Depending upon the path Katrina takes, the damage will be unpredictable.

Here are some links to interesting commentary on what such a devestating hurricane means to hit dead center on New Orleans.

Some interesting article.
Chris Mooney
Chris Mooney again but in The Washington Monthly.

Labels: disaster

For vacation last month, I bought an iPod shuffle. The 1 gig model. It works fine for what it does. Yet, I don't like it. It is uncomfortable to me because I ususally like listening to a tune right this moment. I want to hear a song, now, but the shuffle doesn't allow me to get to it right away. You must truly like to hear songs randomly to appreciate it.

Labels: Apple

Another set of vacation pictures. This one is not a continuation of the last, but alternate view of the trip. It's just filling in gaps from the last set of pics.

Labels: "la familia", vacation

Sometimes it is hard to keep a blog. The dog days of summer seem to be best to keep me from posting an entry here at browsermetrics. Anyway, I want to keep the channel up and have a few posts before the end of August so that this month in the archive won't look so bare.

Some time soon (or as quick as I can get my lazy ass to do) I will post my 2005 vaction journal. I liked the way I did the first one and it was a nice way to keep this blog interesting.

I would also like to tell you about my starting to excercise again. I am going to the gym so that when I ride my road bike, I can climb the small hills we have here. I need to be able to power through and climb a 4% grade for at least a mile. Or maybe go to a more modern triple chainring and 10 gear combo. At least then I can spin over the hills. I think I will go to the gym to build some strength in these legs first before forking money for a new road bike.

I haven't watched a movie lately. They all seem to truly suck right now. Hollywood's box office receipts are in a slump this summer. The quality of blockbusters they are pumping out contribute the slack numbers.

I am attempting, again, to read Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. I have gotten through the first three chapters, again. And again I haven't picked up the book in 12 days. I did finish Inside the Postal Bus. That was good. Not great. The writer, Micheal Barry, is a professional cyclist from Canada riding on the US Postal, now Team Discovery Channel, as a teammate of Lance Armstrong. While it was a fascinating look at inside the great team, he did not ride in any of Le Tour with Lance. It was disappointing when he talked about watching his teammates on TV. He did go throught the Vuelta a Espana. B-

Labels: cycling, Le Tour de France, sports

The best cookies in Baltimore. They are crisp and buttery. I had an discussion on why they are the best cookies and it comes down to there crispy, crunchiness. Thank god for the end of the soft cookie era.

Here's a recipe for crispy chocalate chip cookies from Alton Brown. If you make some, please send them my way.

Labels: mmm

It's been a while since I have posted a review on this blog. It seems that the last thing I told you guys that I have seen was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's also been a while since I posted anything. I have seen some movies since last month and also read a book. So my movie viewing habit continues unabated and my quixotic quest continues slowly but surely. Here's the ratings for the last thing I saw and read.

The Dukes of Hazzard 2 of 5 stars. (I would've given it 1, but there was some funny business with an armadillo helmet and Sean William Scott carried the day)

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. A- (You know you like a book when at the end you wish you could learn more about the characters. This deserves a longer review and/or a discussion.)

Labels: movies, review