Month: July 2013

Corporate profits are at an all time high.
Corporate taxes are at an all time low.
Workers wages are at all time lows.
Job growth is at an all time low.
And they want to get rid of the minimum wage.
Write your congress. This is wrong. Just wrong.

Great “Game of Thrones” scene:

Episode  9 – If I Ever Leave This World Alive

Summary:

At the end of the last episode of Defiance the plague had hit. Episode 9 starts right where that left off. Humans and Irathiants both carry the flu, but the Iraths don’t get sick. Lucky them.

Just in time for the outbreak the earth republic decides to show up and quarantine the town.

In the mayors office the city council has decided that to save the town they need to isolate the Irathiants. I’m sure that will go well.

When the council sends their thugs to capture Irisa Nolan is forced to raw down on Rafe McCawley, and only Irisa telling him to stand down keeps things from getting bloody. I do like the way that Nolan is ready to go down shooting to protect her. A father should protect his children no matter what.  The one thing that I didn’t like is that Rafe pulled a pistol on Irisa. If I was Nolan, I’d wait for a dark night and put an ice pick in the back of Rafe’s skull and leave him lying in bed for his kids to find.

Luckily, the doc was able to get a message out to San Fran, and a cure has been air lifted out to the badlands. Nolan takes the earth republic puke with him to go retrieve it while the town rages with infection.

In the quarantine section of the mine, one of the miners kills Irisa’s friend, really pissing her off.

Meanwhile, Quentin gives up the artifact to the old mayor to find out where his mother is. It turns out that Quentin’s mother is alive, but suffering from bipolar disease. His mother went crazy when she ran out of meds, and the mayor snuck her away after she deteriorated.

On the way back with the meds Nolan and the earth republic dude get ambushed by Irathiants. Datak Tarr gets the meds from the ambushers in a nice display of bloody anger, including killing the earth republic dude because he saw Datak begging for his life, which is a major no-no for an Castithan.

At the very end of the episode the old mayor meets with Doc Yewell, and tells her she has the artifact that Quentin gave her. The Doc urges the old mayor to destroy it, but clearly she is also intrigued by whatever power it represents as well.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Irisa threatening to bite one of the people throwing stones. She is so fierce and hot.
• Irisa kicking some ass when the council enforcers come to put the Irathiants in isolation.  Then, when they overpower her, Nolan is ready to draw down on everyone to protect her.
• Irisa and Nolan hugging at the end of the episode.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• I don’t like how everyone calls Irisa “Little Wolf”. That should be saved for special folk like Nolan.
• How the hell does the council expect to isolate the Irathiants without Nolan?
• Who paid for the cure?
• Amanda lost her old earth republic boyfriend.

World War Z (5 Out of 5 Graves)

I’m happy to say this was the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you haven’t read the book, I’d say wait and see the movie first. I think it will make it more enjoyable.

—There are spoilers below, so be forewarned.—

The movie starts off with Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) at home with their kids, getting ready for school. As they are rolling through Philadelphia they get stuck in traffic, and that is where the movie has its rockets lit and doesn’t slow down until the very end.

Gerry and his family are stuck out in the midst of the initial outbreak, and after escaping in an RV they need to stop at a shopping market to get his oldest daughter an inhaler. The social unrest in the market was perfectly done. Everyone is out for themselves, social order has fallen apart. While all this is going on , Gerry’s old boss from the U.N. is calling him, telling him they will send an extraction. That they need him back.

After grabbing some supplies they go back out to the parking lot only to find their RV missing. (This was a tough decision in my head. Would you have left your family in the RV to guard it with the rifle while you tried to get supplies? Or follow the don’t split up rule?)

In any case, they didn’t split up, and end up running to an apartment building where they flee up several stories as the undead pour in from below. Gerry and his family take refuge in a Latino’s family apartment, and flee to the roof the next morning. Unfortunately, the undead attack the front door shortly after Gerry and his family head for the roof.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie happens as they flee up the stairs. Gerry shoots a zombie as it is on top of him, and he gets blood in his mouth. He runs the rest of the way up to the roof where his family is waiting for him. He tells them to stay away as he stands on the ledge, counting down from 10 seconds. (The people he’d watched turn all went quick. He figures if he doesn’t turn quick, he is good.) That is the way you take care of your family.

Tomas, the young boy from the family apartment races up to the roof, and the helicopter shows up just as the zombies overrun the rooftop.

The Lane family ends up on a navy destroyer, and the reason that Gerry is so important is rapidly laid out. They want him to head to Korea to where they got the first reports of zombies. He’s a skilled researcher and they want him to go with the key scientist to help find out what the hell is going on.

I loved the landing scene in Korea. The key scientist trips and blows his own head off. (Proving you are more dangerous to yourself than the enemy if you don’t know what your doing with a firearm.) And the plane is swarmed. Then out of the darkness the remaining soldiers from the camp clear out the zekes and take Gerry back to their bunker.

This is where Gerry finds his first clue as to how to deal with the zombies, he just doesn’t know it yet. (They did a good job not beating you over the head with the resolution.) The combat scenes in Korea were awesome. Gerry finds a breadcrumb here, pointing him to Isreal, the only state that built a wall and was at least partially prepared for the outbreak. My one complaint was when Karin calls Gerry as they are sneaking back to the plane. Really? She would know from his previous work not to ring him.  And he’d know to keep that phone off to save the battery.

After landing in Israel there is an awesome back story about why Israel built a fifty foot wall around a city to survive. And we get to see the hottest girl in the movie for the first time.

Segen (Daniella Kertesz) is assigned to Gerry’s protection detail. She is smoking hot. Her eyes are so intense, and there is something about the Sinead O’connor haircut that drives me crazy.

I can’t wait for the movie to come out for purchase so I can see more of her.

The fall of the Israeli city was epic and well done. Which led to the second minor issue with the movie. Would they really have build the walls with no watch towers every so many feet? But watching the zekes pile up and overflow the walls was another incredible scene.

Unfortunately Segen gets bit, but a quick thinking Gerry saves her by taking her hand off. She’s still hot, even in pain and with only one hand.

The plane they flee Israel on ends up having a zeke hiding in the rear, and Gerry and Segan just barely make it off the plane alive.

This leads to the final scenes of the movie at a World Health Organization infectious disease lab. The last thing that was mildly annoying happened here. After Gerry puts the pieces together and figure out a possible path to keep the zombies from attacking, they need to go to the infected part of the building to get some supplies. The head of the lab, Gerry, and one handed Segen end up making the run.  Really? You send the one handed girl? Still, I shouldn’t complain, every scene with her in it was worth it!

Gerry takes a risk in the lab at the end, but it pays off. The final scenes are Gerry and Segen making their way to a refugee camp where the rest of the family is staying. I really liked how Segen and Tomas stayed with the family. I’d keep her too.

The short of it is, it was a great movie. Can’t wait to watch it on DVD when it comes out.

Definitely the best movie of year so far.

We need to outlaw FOR PROFIT PRISONS.

The moment we privatized prisons, the push for 3 strike laws and mandatory heavy sentences became a driver to business to make sure that we, the rest of society, pay huge sums to their corporate pockets by imprisoning more and more people, for longer periods of time.

Prisons should be run by the government, and sentences should be commiserate with the crimes. Getting caught three times with a joint should not equal 20 years in jail. It destroys families and lives, doesn’t make us safer, and drains our taxes into private prison company coffers.

That elephant looks like it is having an awesome time:

If this passes, I hope the FBI arrests anyone who enforces it.