Now that I’m back home, it’s time to catching up on the latest news…
Following word that Hollywood is planning an ill-advised sequel to It’s a Wonderful Life, Yahoo’s Kevin Polowy offers his list of 2o Classic Movies Hollywood Can’t Remake or Revisit: http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-news/untouchables-20-classic-movies-hollywood-t-remake-revisit-235511819.html Any you’d care to add to the list?
6 Sneaky Ways Movies and TV Shows Outsmarted the Censors Viral Yeah, admittedly a couple of these are tried and true.
I’m sure you’ve heard the reports about Knockout, that “game” played by young idiots that essentially amounts to sucker punching complete strangers. Well, finally, a report about one of those games with a happy ending: The assailant unwittingly picks a victim with a gun, gets shot twice, then sent to prison: http://www.wilx.com/news/featured/headlines/Dangerous-Game—Point-em-Out-Knock-em-Out-231443411.html?device=phone
And, on a similar note, the family of a gun-wielding thief is upset with the good samaritan who shot him: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/alabama-thiefs-family-angry-good-samaritan-shooting-him# This quote from one of the family members – “Like I said, we don’t know anything.” – pretty much sums it up.

Vegetarian burgers are more toxic than conventional beef patties – and other favorite-food-related info: http://preventdisease.com/news/13/110413_14-Things-People-Do-Not-Want-To-Know-About-Favorite-Foods.shtml?utm_source=110413
If you’re thinking of purchasing a new home, compare your annual salary to this handy list and find out where you can afford to buy: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/here-s-where-you-can–and-can-t–buy-a-home-on-a-five-figure-salary-214349734.html San Francisco tops the list, beating out New York, at $125,071.78. Damn. Got to sell that show!
File this one under “amazing”. When slowed down, crickets actually sound like a human choir: http://enpundit.com/someone-recorded-crickets-slowed-track-sounds-like-humans-singing/
For those special occasions (like, say, you’re 100th birthday) – http://eater.com/archives/2013/01/28/most-expensive-tasting-menus-in-america.php As a matter of fact, yes, I did manage to do one with Akemi and Marty G a while back.
The 25 most inappropriate magazine ads: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/gallery/entertainment/25-most-inappropriate-magazine-ads?=popup
His loved ones celebrate his birthday without Diesel who was stolen from his yard in Pensacola, Florida – which seems to be dognapping central. Anyone with any leads can contact the family at their Diesel dedicated Facebook page: Finding Diesel
Juanita the Pomeranian was adopted the same day that the shelter clinic released her to adoption kennels!
Wow! Diesel’s family are sure holding out hope for their dog. Florida, like California, has a serious dog fighting problem. This is where a great many stolen dogs end up.
about the 25 most inappropriate magazine ads;
the ‘fashion junkie” thing was a big WTF? 😕 the same with the “killer heels” kiss tobacco, gucci & duncan quinn. and about 99.44% of them really.
i thought “real fries in a fake world” was kind of funny.
the nikon face recognition wouldn’t have been nearly as bad had the girls looked 10 years older. IMHO.
the love cosmetics one is just very wrong.
i know the point of ads is to get your attention & make you curious about their product, but sometimes they go too far.
1. I would agree with most of those movies that shouldn’t be remade, and can think of many, many more. I think that some films like Jaws, Star Wars (the first movie), and Raiders of the Lost Ark – despite advances in technology and special effects and such – should be considered untouchable because they have become iconic just as they are. And movies that were in some way unique to a time in cinematic history or just totally epic shouldn’t be meddled with, either – like Road Warrior and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I feel that way about a lot of Hitchcock movies, too.
2. Interesting about the censor thing, especially in The Maltese Falcon (never having read the book, it adds clarity to both Lorre’s and Cook’s characters). And we all love the Kirk/ Uhura thing. However, most of those censor tricks disgust me, and shows just how much we’ve become desensitized to graphic violence (inc. sexual violence)…says the person who just sang the praises of Road Warrior. 😛
3. Knew about most of those food tricks/additives, but reading it again really puts me off the food industry as a whole. Unfortunately, eating non-GMO and whole foods and organic is extremely expensive, so most of us are doomed to eat food that’s been unmercifully tampered with.
4. The cricket thing is amazing – hauntingly beautiful!
5. Um…yeah. Those ads are offensive…and they’ve screwed up my computer (I need more memory, so ad-heavy pages and pictures freeze me up). Lemme post this before I lose it.
das
Okay, was finally able to see the last ten ads. While most are – to me – totally inappropriate and/or offensive, I will say that there is one exception – the AIDS ad. I think in that case shock value IS appropriate, because many people just don’t get how important it is to protect themselves from the disease.
Otherwise, most of those are just really…wow…even in the context of the magazines in which they appeared. Although I admit to cracking a smile at the Volvo one, though the last bread one did not have the same effect. Perhaps in my head the Volvo ad was classier than the bread ad, which just seemed a bit too over the top.
Either that, or I just find cars way sexier than baked goods (I have a feeling it’s just the opposite for you, Joe 😉 ).
das
@DAS
GIRLFRIEND! You MUST read “The MALTESE FALCON”!! — Granted, it’s been years – [I have a copy around here, *somewhere*…] – but, it’s one of my fav Books ever! Thankfully, a fast-read [lots of dialogue] as it’s difficult to “put-down”…
I’m no Entomologist, but that “Cricket” looks more like a “GRASSHOPPER” to me..?
I was in college when Animal House came out. To this day, I slurp my green jello. And at one time, I did have a 0.0 GPA. Not from partying, more like hiding from an unsavory boyfriend. How I learned bad grades don’t make a difference as they don’t transfer, and once you have a degree, no one cares.
You should catch up with South Park Joe, the latest 2 episodes, part of a three parter even, cover Game of Thrones, and the console wars. They’re quite funny.
Princess Kenny
Goggle’s Doctor Who game is a blast! For today only!
das
Joe and Akemi, welcome back! Joe, I hope your stomach issues have cleared up. I usually get something like that once or twice a year due to my travels to Europe (and elsewhere). It’s easy to get exposed to bugs and bacteria that are not common in your home city. Pepto, Immodium, and Dayquil are standard travel items for me.
On the 25 most in-appropriate ads:
I think the Nike one was a reference to St. George’s cross and English pride during the world cup. The English will paint their faces during the cup to support their team, and I think Nike was just trying to associate themselves with English football enthusiasm.
The unintentional bloody crucifix image was just because of the red cross on a white background, image of St. Georges Cross.
On the other ad’s, well yeah, many obviously were intended to be offensive.
The food additive stuff did not bother me so much. Soy lecithin (i.e. Soy Milk) in Ice Cream? Not that controversial in my opinion. The hormone stuff in milk does bother me, but I don’t drink much milk, so it really doesn’t impact me that much anyway.
Knee update:
I’m going in on Tuesday for arthroscopic surgery to remove the cartilage cyst from under my kneecap. I’ll then be on crutches for one to two weeks and then prohibited from stressing the knee for six weeks (I’m still trying to figure out what that implies).
I’ve got a week where I can’t climb the stairs in my own house (I’ll be sleeping on the couch), and to entertain myself I think I’ll grab a pair of binoculars and watch my neighbors from our rear window (ala Jimmy Stewart 😉 ). I’m sure I’ll come up with some other things to entertain myself, especially since I’ll be on pain meds (yeah, pain meds on Thanksgiving! 🙁 )
If you see strange(r) comments from me after Tuesday, it’s the pain meds, I swear! 😉
It’s so sad about Diesel. I’ve seen victims of dog fighting, so I don’t hold out much hope. Although, we did have one stolen pit-bull found in Memphis alive. I believe it was because “Kapone” became a minor celebrity in the news. They kept him alive for the novelty I suppose? Whatever the reason, it was an answered prayer. http://lostdogsfound.blogspot.com/2011/12/kapone-pitbull.html
And then there was something about Toronto’s mayor.
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Here’s a Kickstarter regarding a documentary about dogs killed by police.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1850434439/puppycide-a-documentary
The politics of the guys behind it are closer to mine than yours so I don’t know if that’s your thing, but people of different views can collaborate on the things they agree on.
Did they not already do a sequel to Ferris Bueller called “Office Space?” I would consider the movie “Tora, tora, tora” (the pinnacle of docudrama) as one of the classics but too late. (interesting note: The famed director Kurosawa was fired from filming the Japanese portion.) As the creator of “Pearl Harbor” said the story of that day just was not compelling in itself. As for “Groundhog Day”, SG1 had fun with this story line. Oh want fun Teal’c and O’Neill might have had! Speaking of SG1, I just started watching “Sanctuary”. Amanda is quite fetching as a brunette. I wonder who thought she was better as a blond or is something like that up to the creators/producers?
I wonder if the creator of the BK add was a fan of Aerosmith (“Record of my favorite Blue”)
@Baterista That’s great news about Juanita!
That food thing is disgusting. I didn’t know about Greek yogurt though. That was a new one for me. And the crushed insects. If you like that list, you’ll love this list of foods (partial) of products tested by an independent source that found mercury in them.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20090127/mercury-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup
I hadn’t seen half of those ad pictures, but I absolutely remember the Love’s Baby Soft one. Back then it didn’t seem weird, but seeing it now? Absolutely creepy.