Mr. Bill George Presents

Archive for 2009|Yearly archive page


Odds And Ends #2

In Film, Music, Video Games on September 23, 2009 at 10:28 AM

- Friend of TIAW and frequent commenter, ‘unofficialitguy’ is doing a site revamp over at http://www.unofficialitguy.com/ . Make sure to check it out this Friday, September 25th. When the time rolls around I’ll edit this post with updated details but I wanted to make sure you all were prepped and ready to go. He’s also been added to our links list on the bottom left of this page. Can’t wait to see it!

- The long awaited DS game Sribblenauts came out recently and I picked myself up a copy. It is unbelievably fun at times but can be frustrating at others. As a 5 minute demo to show off for friends, it’s unrivaled. But when you really sit down and starting putting time into it and slog through the hundreds of levels, it starts to wear. Sure, you can create any object you want and use it to help you solve puzzles, but often those objects don’t act the way you expect them to or hope they will.

If I create a construction worker and put him in a backhoe and place the whole thing above a dig-able surface, I expect results! Instead he sits idly by twiddling his virtual thumbs (essentially). In fact, whenever you create any other human characters they either act as a guardian for you, an enemy of you, or neither and just meander around.

The game’s database is a marvel to behold with no stone left unturned, and as an appetizer the game succeeds tremendously, but hopefully this will flourish into a franchise. Maybe then they’ll focus on adding depth to what happens on screen instead of just deepening their glossary.

- Speaking of games, I recently played The Beatles: Rock Band for the first time. I had about an hour and a half with the game and went through 3 or 4 sets with a handful of songs a piece. It is what I expected: a Rock Band game full of Beatles music. But it goes so far above and beyond in terms of detail and presentation that it really blows all other music games out of the water. The amount of effort that must have been poured into this game is palpable in the background videos, loading screens, menus etc. It’s truly a sight to behold, and I’m not even a huge Beatles fan. (Though I am becoming one. It’s so much easier to comprehend just how much they did when you see it all in one place. And it helps when that one place is a video game franchise I already know intimately and love.)

- Steven Soderbergh’s new film The Informant! came out last week and I had the pleasure of seeing it. It tells the unbelievable true story of Mark Whitacre and his work with the FBI as an informant in a price fixing scandal involving one of the biggest companies in the food industry in the early 90′s. Sounds like a snoozer, but Damon’s performance as Whitacre is inspired. It’s a fascinating story that’s told so well that it is nothing short of riveting. Worth a watch for sure.

- I downloaded the song from the new Nano commercial. It’s a good time. You can find it HERE, track number 9, “Bourgeois Shangri-La.”


Selling Out

In Business, Society on September 21, 2009 at 12:29 AM

“Oh, to be employed,” I thought to myself as sat in my bed for nearly three months of this past summer doing absolutely nothing.

Well, absolutely nothing in between the many festivals and shows and Phish concerts I attended with the help of my graduation money.

Cursing my dwindling bank account, but reveling in the freedom of my schedule, I wonder if maybe I am destined to a life of hippie-dom, floating from show to show, bumming off of my parents, and scraping by in life just enough to enjoy myself, but not enough to feel like I am actually contributing to society.

Then I got a job.

For the first week I hold onto my pre-working lifestyle tightly. The night before my first day I stay up late out of protest. I watch Larry King’s senile ass like I had been for the entire summer, even though he is on at 3 a.m. and I need to be up for 8 o’ clock the next morning. The next day I nearly fall asleep during my training, and instead of going to bed earlier that night, I drink double the coffee at work the following day.

I come home for my hour lunch break. And despite my every instinct I blaze with my sister during that hour. I go back to work paranoid, out of it, and just generally dumb, but it’s worth it because I prove to the world that I’m not going to give up my life for a stupid job. I tell myself that, OK, maybe toking isn’t the best course of action when you’re trying to learn two intensive computer programs, but I still smoke two more lunch breaks after that before I finally give it up. Actually, I run out of weed.

A couple more days go by. I find myself making promises to myself that I know I wont keep. I refuse to let my newfound schedule hinder me from working out, and despite my early evening tiredness I still drag ass to the gym and do 50 minutes of cardio (plus weight training) five times a week. I look forward to my post-workout glass of wine (make that two) and a few episodes of me and my mother’s favorite show, In Treatment. Or, depending on the Netflix delivery schedule, I pour that glass of wine and curl up in bed.

I sit down at my computer, “Ah, tonight’s the night I will write that piece about working for This Is A Weblog. Right after I smoke this customary peace pipe for inspiration.”

I get to feelin’ pretty inspired, and at this point I have already drank 2/3rds of the glass of wine, so I decide to play a little Tetris before I write. I wake up with my laptop hot on my thighs. It is 3 a.m. I finish the wine and blink and it’s 8 a.m. I’m awoken not by my alarm clock, but by the sound of me yelling “noooo” at my alarm clock. I tell myself I will go to bed earlier that night, that sometimes we have to compromise our ideal lifestyle for work. That’s why it’s called work.

After a few more weeks of this, my 8 a.m. alarm turns into my 8:17 alarm. My Larry King Live appointment turns into YouTube clips of Charlie Rose; I can watch those at anytime, and besides Larry sucks now. My midday blaze session turns into my nightcap. My bedtime glass of wine turns into the “Can I finish this glass of wine before I pass out?” game. My weekends are no longer for partying, but for catching up on sleep. I start to see the barefoot and free version of myself from the summer slipping away. I wonder what I am becoming.

A month goes by and I get my first paycheck. I grimace when I see the hunk of taxes taken out, but grin when I take another hunk of cash out and put it toward my car savings. I buy a Man Man ticket as soon as it goes onsale without hesitation. I charge $114 on my American Eagle credit card. I even overdraft my checking account just because I want to buy a good bottle of wine. I look at myself in the mirror, adnored with a new blouse, pair of pants and red-stained teeth, and I know that I have become a corporate whore.


Cryptozoologists Unite!

In Science on September 13, 2009 at 12:46 PM

For most of my life, I have generally had my head in the clouds. I can recall many a time where a teacher has called upon me, snapping me back from my alternate reality as a dragon rider that I had just created in my head, to answer some banal question that is much less interesting. This most likely stems from my obsessive reading of science fiction/fantasy books as a youngster and also can said to be attributed to my insistence that mythological beasts either do exist, will exist, or did exist at some time.

The catalyst for this thought process was  an article I read recently reporting that two New Zealanders were trekking to the Gobi desert in search of proof of the Mongolian Death Worm. It has a flashy name I know, but its attributes are even more of an eyebrow raiser.

This fabled worm “is reported to look like the intestine of a cow. It is the subject of a number of extraordinary claims by Mongolian locals—such as the ability of the worm to spew forth sulfuric acid that, on contact, will turn anything it touches yellow and corroded (which would kill a human), and its purported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge (from its arse).” according to Wikipedia. My first thought upon reading this was that this worm would make a badass Pokemon. I mean electricity, poison, AND earth properties? That would make a nice addition to my… er… hypothetical lineup.

Though no matter how much I might wish this creature exists, the reasoning portion of my brain tells me that a worm that shoots acid and lightning probably doesn’t exist, and if it did… well, then God help us all. Yet no matter how much my brain discounts the possibility of this creature’s existence, I find myself rooting for these two journalists to find it. Just as I wish the Loch monster might reveal itself one day and terrorize the local tourists, or that Big Foot would bring to fruition his revenge on the “Messin‘ with Sasquatch” crew for tarnishing his image, or that any of these bogus creatures could have some credibility, aside from crack pot monster-hunters and people like me who just want some mystery added to the world. The worst thing about those documentaries on “The Search for Bigfoot” or the Discovery show “River Monsters” is that if any of these fabled beasts were actually found it would be all over the news, not revealed in some syndicated TV show. Yet despite these facts, we watch anyway. Such is the power of mystique.

Of course, this all leads back to my childhood obsession with dragons. For if Bigfoot can exist, or if a lightning defecating acid vomiting worm can exist, then surely a flying, fire-spitting reptile can, or once did, exist. I must say that the animal mocumentary on dragons that was on Discovery awhile ago really put me in a state of ecstatic glee, though only on the inside. Otherwise my friends may have realized my brain has never matured past my early teen years. I mean is it really so much to ask to have a dragon as a best bud who sounds just like  Sean Connery like in Dragonheart?

But enough about my fascinations with cryptozoology, does anyone out there harbor that mad hope that some of these fabled creatures exist? Perhaps one that is more intriguing than the others? I would say the Loch Ness Monster would be the coolest in my opinion (aside from dragons of course). The idea of some relic hidden in a labyrinth of underwater caves, shying from the human eye is awesome. It’s too awesome to listen to reason. Therefore hope must take over in order to preserve that sense of wonderment that grows increasingly absent as we grow from children to adults.


Statistics, Lies, And Videotape

In Film on September 11, 2009 at 10:16 AM

I’ve always been fascinated with statistics. Especially everyday life statistics. Such as the amount of time every year the average person spends waiting in line. Or the number of times we blink. Or the amount of a certain food we eat. I love when we are able to take a step back from ourselves and view our habits through the prism of cold, hard, truth-telling numbers.

In fact, I wish I had a statistician. I think everyone should have a statistician assigned to them. Just to follow you around and keep track of what you’ve eaten, where you’ve gone, how much time you’ve spent doing something, how many times you’ve worn that outfit, how far you’ve walked, how many times you’ve yawned, how many bathroom visits you’ve made etc. etc.

And, as we all know, the knowledge of being observed changes behavior so the statistician would have to be invisible. Maybe God (if he/she/it exists) is doing just that. And when reach heaven he pulls up an Excel spreadsheet and says, “Alright, let’s take a look at the numbers here…”

But there is one statistic measuring my actions that I think I can recount accurately: Most Watched.

We all have a certain handful of movies that we watch much, much more frequently than others. Sick days, rainy days, you name it. The type movie we feel it is our mission in life to show to anyone who hasn’t seen it. The type of movie we not only know all the words to, but every single sound effect, music cue, cut, angle, facial expression etc.

Because of my affinity for film I have can think of many movies that fall into that category (The Blues Brothers, The ‘Burbs, Apollo 13, Tremors, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, A Few Good Men, almost all of M. Night and Spielberg’s work etc.)

But there is one film I know for fact I’ve spent more time watching than any other:

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

I’ve seen it countless times (well it would be counted if I had a damn statistician…).

For a span of two or three years I actually had a New Year’s Eve ritual that involved T2. I was never very big on New Year’s Eve as a holiday or the parties than resulted because of it. And often times I’d just as well stay home, watch the ball drop and hit the hay. But when I was in middle school (I think it was) I made it a habit that every New Year’s Eve, as soon as the ball dropped, I’d pop James Cameron’s masterpiece into my VHS, in order to ensure that the first film I watched of that new year would be non-other than T2.

Alright folks, now I want to hear from you. Shout out your most watched movies in the comments section. I’m really interested to see what kind of mix we get.


Why I Hate Country Music

In Music on September 7, 2009 at 4:38 PM

What kind of music do you like?

In my experience the archetypal answer, at least for everyone around these parts is that they like pretty much everything, except for rap and country. Recently, rap has sort of fallen off that list. So why does country music never make the cut? In a society where people are exposed to, and seem to enjoy more and more types of musical genres it becomes difficult for people to say that they are fans of any type of music, so they simply say everything but country? Poor country.

I think, that in my years of listening, I have stumbled upon the reason why I am not too fond of a lot of country music, and I’m guessing that this might apply to a lot of other people as well. It’s not the excess use of peppy fiddle or the strumming of acoustic guitar, both of those I rank up in the awesome category. It’s certainly not the down home vibe that it gives off, as I’m a fan of folk music and it usually carries with it a similar imagery (albeit usually sans cowboy hats). I think it’s the fact that Country, more than any other genre of music, over-utilizes as type of song that simply doesn’t resonate with me. The story song.

Have you all heard the story song before? It starts off on some rainy night when the singer was a kid, or maybe during a conversation with an auto-mechanic or your dad, you enter into a situation thinking one thing or feeling one thing, and thanks to an odd circumstance, or conversation or a bit of imparted wisdom you’re able to get over your sadness, frustration, being cheated by the car dealer and become better or smarter for it. Blech.

I’m sorry Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Brooks, and Dunn. Story songs are stupid. Really, really stupid. They just don’t hit me at all. They tend to start off on a shaky premise, and end up feeling forced and hokey. There are some notable exceptions to this. The Gambler by Kenny Rogers being the first that comes to mind. The Gambler is a story about a man got some advice from a wise poker player about how to live his life. It’s catchy, and it really, really hits me. It’s a story, but it’s a story from a moment in time. There’s no resolution except that the dude was like “Wow, good advice.” Kenny Rogers was smart enough not to end that song with some rhyming version of happily ever after. He didn’t grow and change and go home and kiss his wife because of what “the gambler” said. Plus, I’m pretty sure that the gambler dies in the song, which is always dramatic. Stuff happens, a story is told, and it’s cool! It’s cool because they leave something up to the imagination.

Look country music writers: When we lend you our ears for two to five minutes we’re not looking for a story. We’re not looking for you to smirk and tell us about the time that you outsmarted your friends. Or learned a lot about life, or how you’ve grown as a person. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I would love to hear how you’ve grown as a person, just not in lyrical form. People tune into music in order to feel something, and 5 minutes is far too short of a time to go through conflict and resolution. Just leave it at conflict. Take the song for what it really is, a moment in time, and just belt out how effing miserable you are. Don’t grow, don’t change, don’t rethink your life. I don’t want that. At least not in your music, and if you’ve got a story to tell, please for the love of all that is musically good, don’t end the story. It doesn’t need an ending.

So I guess that’s why I hate (some) country music. How about everyone else? What makes you hate (insert genre here) type of music?


Actual Blogging: Sept. 4th Edition

In News, Television on September 4, 2009 at 12:39 AM

So it’s late at night and I’m staying the night on a friend’s couch. Currently I’m typing whilst watching Letterman and I felt the need to write a bit. Mostly because the site hasn’t seen a new post in days and it was about time something went up here.

I figured I’d take the time to do some actual blogging and discuss what’s going on this weekend for me because I’m excited about it and technically it’s preventing me from posting anything else.

For any of those who may not know, I live in Western Mass and work at the Apple Store in Holyoke. I’ve recently been given the opportunity to become a ‘mentor’ in the store. Part of this responsibility involved going to Boston for training at our corporate office there. That training occurred earlier today (technically yesterday I suppose) and it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it and took a lot out of it.

Meanwhile, I have today and tomorrow off from work and a friend from New York will be in Boston tonight so I decided to stick around in town and spend some time with my friends, which I see far less than I should.

Tomorrow (technically today) I will have the morning/afternoon to myself in the city (until the friend from NY arrives). So I’ll get a chance to do whatever I want in Boston and I just planned my day.

I’m going to head into the Museum of Fine Arts. It’s a great way to spend some time and I’ll be able to do it at my own pace, a luxury I’ve never before experienced. On top of that, there is a showing of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Something I’ve never actually seen but have always had an interest in. I can’t wait. Expect plenty of twitpics.

Then I’ll reconvene with everyone for a night out. So anyway, that’s what’s up.

Have I ever told you my feeling about late night TV by the way? I’m a huge Letterman and Ferguson fan at this point in my life. i used to be a big Conan  advocate, and I still believe he has the best bits, but his interviews are starting to feel canned and he has lost his edge. Meanwhile, Letterman and Ferguson have the most interesting, fun and unpredictable interviews. And Fallon… well… he’s trying. But yea, CBS all the way for me.

That’s all.

UPDATE: Didn’t get a chance to see the movie at the MFA. But the trip in and of itself did not disappoint. And I did end up going to the top of the Prudential and it was amazing. Once I get home and get the pictures up on my MobileMe gallery, you’ll be the first to see ‘em.

UPDATE 2: I’ve updated my MobileMe gallery with pictures from the trip. Including a video you can hear me being told to stop taking at the end of. Make sure to check out the stuff from the top of Prudential in particular and the Boston Harbor misprint that I submitted to the fail-blog HERE.


Duplicity

In Film on August 29, 2009 at 8:56 PM

Tony Gilroy’s film Duplicity was released this week on Blu-ray / DVD and I could not let the occasion pass without saying something. It is one of my favorite movies of the year as evidenced by the review I posted on my previous web endeavor (IAgreeWithTheMovieDude.com). Because that review came in the waning days of the site and because my love for this movie cannot be overstated, I submit to you my full review of Duplicity:

Tony Gilroy wrote and directed this spy comedy about two former espionage experts attempting to pull off a major con job in the private sector. Gilroy’s name may sound familiar because his directorial debut, Michael Clayton, garnered rave reviews and more than a couple Oscar nominations. Clayton was easily one of my favorite films in 2007 and Duplicity is now one of my favorite films of 2009.

Gilroy once again focuses his story on the cutthroat world of business and corporate moguls. In this case, the always fantastic Paul Giamatti and Clayton veteran Tom Wilkinson run rival corporations in the home pharmaceutical industry (think Johnson & Johnson). Meanwhile, stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play former spies (of the C.I.A. and MI6 respectively) with a complicated past who now find themselves reunited working counterintelligence for the companies.

Going too into depth summarizing the story would ruin the experience so I’ll leave it at that. Sufficed to say, Gilroy’s writing is as sharp as ever and the constantly twisting and turning story proves both smart and rewarding. Another part of the film’s success is its editing. Pieces of the present are intersected with moments from the past, blending together seamlessly like chapters in a novel. It’s not linear and that is to the film’s advantage. Gilroy tells us exactly what he wants us to know, when he wants us to know it. Trying to put the puzzle together keeps the film constantly engaging.

Owen gives a fantastic performance in a role that, just like the film itself, is smart, charming and always entertaining. Roberts is no slouch either but she does feel a tad more dispensable. She could have been replaced with someone a little younger, with a little more charisma and the movie may have been better served.

But as is, the film just works. When it is firing on all cylinders it is devilishly clever and thoroughly absorbing. By the end I found myself completely caught up in the action and on the edge of my seat waiting to see if my predictions were accurate. Now that’s a feeling every good thriller should evoke.

BOTTOM LINE: Pure enjoyment for the crime and/or spy movie buffs out there.


Whole Foods And Healthcare

In Business on August 26, 2009 at 2:44 AM

This is slightly old news at the moment but the C.E.O of Whole Foods, John Mackey, posted an article that caused some controversy. “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare” was shown on the Wall Street Journal’s website and caused a great deal of disturbance among more liberal Americans, who in most cases are the ones that go to Whole Foods. The entire thing was a P.R. Nightmare. People are boycotting the natural foods markets all over the country to show their opposition to Mackey’s opinions.

I think, after reading the article, that Mackey really doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, which is unfortunate given that he is the C.E.O. of a major corporation (though given how major corporations have been faring lately, it’s hardly atypical). And while I disagree with his overall message, he does make some interesting points, and provides what in my mind appears to be the conservative ideal for privatized health care. He does a very good job of playing a responsible and caring C.E.O. while ultimately not doing much for health care or his company.

What follows are his list of suggestions with commentary/rebuttal where appropriate:

Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).

Mackey goes on to suggest that this would solve a lot of problems with our health care system and provide an example for how his company utilizes high-deductible plans. What he doesn’t bother to explain is what high-deductible means. It means that you’ve got to pay out quite a bit of money before you start getting fully insured. Would this ease some of the financial burdens on people on a paycheck to paycheck basis? Absolutely. Would it allow insurance companies to spend a lot less? Sure it would, but as soon as someone has a health problem they’d better have $2,500 in the bank. Which doesn’t sound like much to your average middle class American, but your average middle class American also isn’t bagging groceries at Whole Foods. Mackey also suggests that this creates an incentive to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. No it doesn’t, it creates an incentive to avoid spending that $2,500 at all. I’ve had a toothache for the past few months but have I gone to the dentist? Nope! Thanks high deductible insurance plan! Realistically speaking this only really helps solve health care problems for people that can afford to have some health care problems to begin with. It’s a great way of working within the system we have, but nothing near what a proper universal heath care system could offer.

Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Read the rest of this entry »


You Magnificent Basterd

In Film on August 22, 2009 at 8:57 PM

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Deathproof was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in my life and I still have not forgiven Quentin Tarantino for putting me through it.

And please, spare me the “he was trying to do” this or that. Don’t bother telling me in what light I should view it. It was a waste of my time. Plain and simple. I don’t care if it was a throwback or homage. I don’t care if he made it slow and excruciating on purpose. It was terrible and I’ll never get that time back.

My history with Tarantino has always been checkered. I really love Reservoir Dogs.  Pulp Fiction I’m lukewarm about. Jackie Brown left no impression on me whatsoever. Kill Bill pt. 1 I loved while pt. 2 felt played. His style is often a turn off for me, but the performances in his films and his writing keep me watching.

His latest work, Inglourious Basterds, is his best film to date. I say that without a doubt in my mind. He shows the kind of top notch director he can be when he focuses… but at times he still gets in his own way.

90% of the film is a fictionalized World War II drama about a group of Jewish-American soldiers and German double agents attempting to destroy the Third Reich, and it is phenomenal.

The other 10% is Tarantino being Tarantino: Over the top musical flourishes. Absurd typefaces. Random voiceovers. Unnecessary flashes of imagery, etc. Because his presence is felt so rarely, it proves only to distract rather than enhance.

But the rest of the movie makes up for it and then some. Tarantino has always had a gift for dialogue, but in the past that dialogue has been in a context that is usually fairly entertaining (opening scene in Reservoir Dogs) or worthless (girls in Deathproof).

This time, Tarantino pairs his gift for dialogue with some real substance. The outcome is some of the most riveting exchanges I’ve seen on screen in a long time. I cannot stress this enough: Inglourious Basterds is one of the most compelling movies I’ve ever seen.

A great deal of that has to do with the fantastic performance of Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa. He carries the film and is one of the most interesting and watchable villains Tarantino has ever brought to the screen.

As a warning, all the parts of the film I’m raving about (and also can’t stop thinking about), are subtitled and star no name actors. While the advertisements play up the Basterds and the star power of Brad Pitt, their role is actually fairly small in the scope of the story. Don’t go into the film expecting a constant bloodbath. This is a thoughtful and methodical tale of espionage with some occasional action.

The more I relfect on it, the more I want to see Inglourious Basterds again… right now.

It is the least Tarantino-y of his films and I feel it’s his best. That may say more about my taste than anything else, but believe me when I tell you that this movie is something special.


Crowning Moments Of Awesome

In Film, Literature, Television on August 20, 2009 at 12:44 AM

As defined by the website www.tvtropes.org, a Crowning Moment of Awesome is best described as:

“The moment when a fictional character does something for which they will be remembered forever, winning for them the eternal loyalty of fans.”

And it was at this website that I found myself escaping from my hours of boredom, looking up what I deemed to be Crowning Moments of Awesome and seeing if they were indeed cataloged by what I would declare as the most comprehensive compendium of such moments.

As I searched through the website and was reminded of the various CMOA that I have experienced throughout my years as a reader/movie-watcher/tv-gazer, I realized that these instances really make or break a movie/book/show for me. It’s these small instances of, for lack of a better word, awesomeness, that have made the works that they are a part of so memorable in my mind.

Off the top of my head one example that comes to mind is Gladiator, when Russel Crowe removes his helmet and reveals that he is still very much alive to Commodus’ dismay and declares:

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”

Just re-reading this quote gave me a shiver accompanied by fleeting goose bumps. It is one of those movie moments that will stay strong in my head, even as most of the other parts of the movie fall into obscurity.

Another legendary moment is in The Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya finally faces the six-fingered man, repeating the lines, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.” A moment that will be forever rise above other scenes, bronzed in an awesome glory.

Sometimes, however, a movie cannot elicit any memories of a CMOA. Some movies have but a few, some might have multitudes,  and some movies could be said just to be one giant CMOA coalesced from many smaller CMOA, such as the 300 holding strong against their titanic Persian foe.  After reading this article and looking through the numerous examples, I discover that a well placed CMOA is the #1 thing I look for in a movie. The first half of a movie can be shit for all I care as long as it somehow can pull a glorified CMOA from its ass, obliterating all the other detritus from memory.

My favorite CMOA of all time would have to be the end of the last episode from the anime series “Cowboy Bebop” (one of the few anime shows that I can stand to watch). The character “Spike Spiegel,” whom has illustrated various amounts of badassery throughout the series and has become one of my top 5 fictional characters, ends the series with such an amazing “bang” that I will never tire of watching the episode again and again. I do not want to divulge what specifically it is that he does due to the nominal chance of ruining it for someone who might plan to watch it someday, but I can say that it is indeed a Crowning Moment of Awesome. Read the rest of this entry »

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