December 2, 2007

We watched the first of Sci Fi's new mini-series Tinman. Traditionally, the phrase "a Sci-Fi original movie" can be translated to mean "suck-a-thon", but since I really liked Wicked (the book; haven't seen the musical) , Todd MacFarlane's twisted Wizard of Oz figues and I once communicated with a guy working on a cool Wizard of Oz role-playing game, whose website I can no longer find, I thought this thing could be interesting. We often give Sci-Fi the benefit the doubt, at least until the first commercial.

As it turns out, we were not disappointed. They have a good take on the story and an interesting reinterpretation of the main characters. The casting is good and the CG, for the most part, is good. Zooey Deschanel is cute and well-suited as the spunky, but out-of-her-element D. G. (Dorothy Gail). Alan Cumming as the Scarecrow, a former advisor whose brain was removed because he knew too much. Roaul Trujillo, whom I do not think I have ever seen before is Raw, the Cowardly Lion - a half-man, half-lion with shattered nerves from the abuse at the hands of the wicked witch, who uses the lion-men because of their psychic abilities. Neal McDonough is a 'that guy" and plays the title role of the Tinman, an ex-cop without a heart. Kathleen Robertson is perfect as the wicked witch. Richard Dreyfuss is the Mystic Man, the wizard, reduced to performing psychadelic psychic burlesque shows for a decadent audience.

A few things I did not like: the new Munchkins looked like kids dressed up as Thanksgiving turkeys. That they lived in what looked like Ewok village did not help. The jet-powered cyborg in Milltown was also a mistake. The Japanese are spending too much time making anthropomorphic robots when the Roomba has proven that form-follows-function robots are actually viable economically. But to have a robot/cyborg that "levitates" on a jet is such a waste of fuel and processing power that there is no reason to build one even as a proof-of-concept.

December 1, 2007

Photo by L. J. Skipper

Nothing beats a day of hard work to make a good night's sleep. Saturday, we went on a trail ride with Cowboys for Kids and Horseshoes from the Heart

We drove down Friday night, stopping at Golden Corral (Western, right) were I ate rare steaks and Brussels sprouts and she ate BBQ chicken and cauliflower. We stayed the night at Gina's, but her dogs are scared of the dark and didn't stop barking until they turned a light on in the kitchen. Mind you, the dogs were outside.

We got up early. I mucked out the trailer while she wrangled the horses. We loaded Dee and Missy. Dee is a big horse; usually Hank rides her. We drove to the VFW on Hwy 6 in Santa Fe, donated our toys a saddled up. The ride was led by a good-looking wagon drawn by a big black Percheron. There was another wagon pulled by a Belgian. The Horseshoes from the Heart wagon was drawn by a couple of mules, Spanky and Buckwheat. There was a tractor pulling a trailer for some other non-riders. Then there was the honey wagon bringing up the rear. It also had a water trough on it for the horses.

Dee apparently figured I was too heavy and did some little crow hops. She is pretty stubborn, but I hung on and she settled down. SHE had thought we would have the troublemakers of the ride, but there were a couple of unmarked kickers and some other rowdy horses that ours look like saints. On the other hand, we probably had the dirtiest horses there. Oh, we cleaned them as best we could, but our kids like the mud.

We rode a meandering route through the neighborhoods, the wagoneers through candy canes and key chains to the few kids that came out to see what was going on. We took a lunch break at Runge Park where they had a trailer with a grill churning out some very tasty hamburgers with all the fixins.

After resting over an hour (and some of us needed it) we continued on. I had readjusted my stirrups based on the comments of my fellow riders and quickly realized that the new setting was killing me, so we stopped and adjusted them again while the trailing rider waited for us. Then as we trotted to catch up, my hat blew off and the rider had to pick it up for me. Thanks, whoever you were.

As we got to the final stretch, poor Dee was pooped. She just was not used to going that far with that much weight. After looking at the photos, it was worse than I thought. I may have to digitally edit them so I don't look so fat. Anyway, I got off and walked with her, sometimes trotted and we made it back. I gave her plenty of peppermint treats and water, and rubbed her down pretty well.

The Horseshoes from the Heart folks were trying to load their Conestoga wagon onto a trailer, but the winch was broke, so I volunteered to help while she finished up with the horses. That was a chore.

By the end of the day, we were tired, sweaty, sore, dirty, smelling like horse and sore. I fell asleep on the couch and could not even drag myself to the shower, but at 6:30 Sunday morning I was up and feeling great. It was a fun day and I am ready to do it again.

Photos will be coming soon.

Repo! The Genetic Opera - Trailer

In the not-so-distant future when an epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet, scientists gear for a massive organ harvest. A biotech giant comes up with easy organ payment plans, but all financed organs are subject to legal default, including repossession at the hands of repo men.