Time To Move On

This blog has been at this location for over ten years.  In the early going, I had switched my free domain name from www.clydestuff.blogspot.com to just clydestuff.com.  And it has remained that way since then.  And although my writings over the past few years have been infrequent, this domain was always part of me.  It was mine.  I owned it. 

Every year since then it has renewed automatically.  Over the past couple of years it has renewed it using my credit card I use for other Google things such as My Play and Google Drive.  But not this year.

Now Google wants to force everybody into using their biggest new thing, Gsuite.  Gsuite is their latest entity to round up businesses and get them to use Google for all everything.  At a price of course.  But no exceptions.  You use Gsuite, or you’re out whether you want it or need it.  And beyond renewing my domain, I don’t really need it. 

And using the free Gsuite to try and renew this domain was an endless nightmare.  Yet, it renewed a domain I no longer need or use, and should have expired back in May at the least, earlier if you want to take into account that it renewed the domain automatically on my credit card that was on file for other things Google besides blog renewal.  But getting and renewing this domain just wasn’t going to happen.

Even clicking on any help link or “speak to someone” did nothing but run you in circles one way or another.  Most of the time it brought up repetitive canned answers.  Or it would invite you to upgrade your Gsuite account at a huge fee to talk to a live person.  Talking to a live person (supposedly but probably not) on Twitter was about the only upgrade I could afford.  And guess what?  It did nothing but give me the same canned response I had read over and over and over and over and over for hours.

Finally after hours wasted on this, and accomplishing nothing it dawned on me that because I didn’t have thousands of dollars to stuff in Google’s wallet, that my blog and my problems meant nothing at all to them.  I mean, they’re a multi-hundreds of billions maybe trillions of dollar company.  Me?  I’m just a freeloader who paid a crummy $10 a year for my domain and $9.99 a month for storage.  So much for that.  This was my final response to them on Twitter:

I wrote some rather nasty replies last night but after calming down, I deleted them.  I have every right to be angry, but realized it accomplished nothing.  I've never had any trouble with Google until now, but when you guys step in it, you step in it bigly.

I did everything you suggest.  The best I could do was to get logged in under an old blog name that I never use anymore and should have expired a long time ago.  But I figured that would work for both of my blogs.  I was wrong.  I paid $10 and got a renewal on a damn blog I haven't used in over a year, and which should have expired a long time ago considering that credit card was out of date since 2014.

But somehow for two years, you were able to use my other credit card, the same one that pays for my Google storage, to renew my domains for two years.  But not this year.  This year you insisted that I go through Gsuite, although I have no real business, and my blog was never anything more than my own personal writings, reviews, rants and opinions, written for the most part to please myself.

And to make matters worse, I received emails from Gsuite, and emails from Enom.  I had never gone through Enom before and figured it as being Spam.  Who wouldn't?  But I tried.  Boy how I tried to renew through Gsuite but it just wouldn't let me sign in under www.clydestuff.com and did nothing but run me around in circles.  I could only hope it would renew on my same card I used for other google services including Google Drive and Google Play.  It didn't.

And last night after finding my domain gone, I tried every which way possible to renew it.  But it absolutely refused to acknowledge I had a second domain beyond the old unused corporate owned USA.  It's ridiculous that you wanted to force me into Gsuite, that I have no use for as an individual with a blog and no lofty expectations.

Initially, it wouldn't even let me revert it back to the old clydestuff.blogspot.com.  I had to finagle and jump through hoops just to get that done. It still won't even redirect people from clydestuff back to that one.  So thanks to whatever you guys think you are achieving with this, I'm basically screwed.  And enom?  I finally tried them.  They linked me back to you and your endless tail chasing.  Go figure.

I'm of a mind right now just to close up shop, take the writings that I really want and move over to Word Press.  Frankly, I don't even need Google Drive I'm paying $9.99 a month for and have mostly kept as a matter of convenience.  I can get one Terrabyte of storage on Amazon for way less than that and I'll probably do that.  They win by default after I had already planned to stick with you guys.

I suspect I'll post this letter somewhere.  Maybe I'll take a screen capture video of all the steps I tried to go through just to renew my domain, which should have been nothing more than having to update a credit card.  Then post it on youtube.  Instead, I had to have something forced down my throat which in the end, never enabled me to do what I needed to do anyway.

So I guess I'll be moving on to other pastures. Maybe not greener, but this experience has really darkened my opinion of Google blogs and unnecessarily so. I'll keep you informed.

This and That: You know you’re in the 60’s when

One of the characters who is pregnant, in labor, and in a hospital lights up a cigarette like it was nothing. A doctor actually shedding tears over losing a patient. Marvel when the Chief of Staff lights one up right outside the surgical wing.  Then there’s the woman who is getting ready to have a C-Section.  This is when they gas her up like she’s Barbara Graham. 

Dr. Kildare, Season 2, Episode 1: Gravida One

While Kildare assists in the case of a pregnant woman who shows a lack of enthusiasm and even hostility to the idea of giving birth to her first child, Gillespie is involved in the case of the hospital's original benefactor, who is suffering from a perforated ulcer.

Bill Maher On Trump’s 3rd Week as So-called President.

“The only one interested in getting into Ivanka’s pants is him (Trump)”

It’s the stupidity, Stupid 100.1: So it begins. Trump picks Climate Change denier to lead the EPA transition

We knew this crap would happen.  Many Most of the Trump  followers are climate change deniers.  Followers such as the big corporate farmers that grace the local landscape with whatever crop suits them.  Where I live, it’s mostly Almond Trees.  We are still mired in a four year, going on five year drought in California, and these harvesters of water hogging almond orchards want their water. 

Drought?  Not in their vocabulary.  Climate Change?  Not around these parts.  It’s just all one big California conspiracy to deny them the water they need so that we can have Almond Joy bars from now until the end of eternity.  I even saw one farm with a big sign blaming Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi for not turning on their secret spigot, even though Republicans hold control of both the House and the Senate.  Well, I guess you have to blame somebody.

But now that Donald Trump is president, I have no doubt that they expect he will turn on the big heavenly water spigot in the sky and all will be right with the world.  Uh…huh.  How does that Joni Mitchell song go? 

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

With the harvest from one particular local farm bringing in 20,000,000 dollars, I guess it pays to keep denying the obvious.  Trump has taken his first step in giving them a helping hand by doing what we all knew he would do. 

Gut the EPA and fill it with Climate Deniers so that he and all his other buddies can drain the fuck out of Lake Meade so they can take a shower in their Vegas Hotel Suites.  Remember the name when you go to flush your toilet and that turd just sort of lays there kind of helpless like: Myron Ebell.

From Scientific America:

In a biography submitted when he testified before Congress, he listed among his recognitions that he had been featured in a Greenpeace “Field Guide to Climate Criminals,” dubbed a “misleader” on global warming by Rolling Stone and was the subject of a motion to censure in the British House of Commons after Ebell criticized the United Kingdom’s chief scientific adviser for his views on global warming.

More recently, Ebell has called the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan for greenhouse gases illegal and said that Obama joining the Paris climate treaty “is clearly an unconstitutional usurpation of the Senate’s authority.”

He told Vanity Fair in 2007, “There has been a little bit of warming ... but it’s been very modest and well within the range for natural variability, and whether it’s caused by human beings or not, it’s nothing to worry about.”

But whatever. So I guess Climate change isn't real, and with the GOP will be in control, I'm sure they'll be turning on those super secret water hoses they have stashed away at the White House just in time for spring. Meanwhile, here's Joni Mitchell while we wait. But just remember this: It's the stupidity, Stupid.

It’s the Stupidity, Stupid! - 100.0: Yes mom, women can be self hating misogynists as well!

One could argue that those who voted for Führer Trump, did so solely out of racism, homophobia, or misogyny.  And I’m sure most of those people did, although some still are trying to stay in the closet and pretend, “No, it was not I!”

But whether it’s just an acquaintance on Facebook, a friend (or as is more likely, former friend), or even a relative, trying to hide their White Superiority Trashiness, they’re fooling no one.  Least of all me.  

I read somewhere that many of the white bigoted Obama hating woman hating cowards who make up a huge chunk of the electorate, came crawling out of their rat holes to cast their ballots for the first time.  They did this because Trump spoke to them like a godly vision confirming that it was okay to hate minorities and people of color and to publicly cheer them on.  Even last night as Trump was making his victory speech, someone hollered out, “Kill Obama” more than once. 

trump supporter sayin "kill obama" while trump is giving a speech.. This is what u mean by make America great again? pic.twitter.com/J4i7zp8zFC

— . (@Iilcanon) November 9, 2016

But really, do we need all those labels?  It all boils down to one thing.  Almost half this country is wallowing in their own stupidity and seem to be damn proud of it.  And there is enough blame to go around for the fact that if these people went looking for their own ass to wipe, they’d probably be hard pressed to find it.

Case in point: Women who support Trump.  It’s not just that they are stupid in regards to their own glorification of bigotry, but when it comes to misogyny, they can out do any man on the planet.   Is it now any wonder that women in this country have such a time gaining equal footing when apparently half of them are filled with self-hatred for themselves and their own gender?

I’ve shared this particular disgusting picture of pure idiocy on Facebook more than once.  The shirt says Trump can feel her pussy, but you just as well put, “Yes, I’m stupid, and I hate myself and every woman I know” on the back.

 

It’s stupidity run amuck, and a woman who would wear this crap is either desperate for attention, or is so full of self-loathing that she needs a man to tell her she’s worth a plumb nickel.  Even one who makes a habit of bragging about sexual assault.  We can only hope this woman has no offspring to brainwash with her drivel, but that’s probably wishful thinking.

But it gets worse.  I ran across this article at Raw Story which was written before the election where we get these gems:

While it’s jarring to hear a woman defend sexual assault, Robertson isn’t the only female who attends rallies for a candidate who has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he thinks of women as second class citizens who deserve to be called “fat pigs“, or worthless if he doesn’t consider them attractive.

Wisconsin voter Debbie Shields says she believes that Trump is a “loving and compassionate father who was chosen by God “for a time as this.” Another Wisconsin woman who only goes by Shirley also told CNN that Trump’s character flaws aren’t really that big of a deal. She believes Democrats “have no issues they can win on, so all they can do is try to pick on Trump and his character.”

When TYT field reporter Jordan Chariton asked an unidentified female Trump fan whether she would in the very least be happy about the possibility of Hillary becoming the country’s first female president, she replied “Absolutely not. I don’t believe there should be a woman President…I just don’t believe it should be female leaders.”

The writer of the article, goes on to explain it this way:

What I never seem to understand about feminist-bashing conservative women is their inability to see how ironic it is that they attend political rallies, share their opinions and cast their ballots when the America they’re nostalgic about wouldn’t allow them to do any of those things. If a woman thinks that females have no place in politics, why isn’t her deplorable ass in the kitchen making her husband a ham sandwich? Women are not to be heard, right? And to be honest, I wouldn’t mind never hearing from someone that ignorant again.....

This election unequivocally proves that right wing Trump supporters don’t really care about the safety of women. Females have been a convenient prop to fit their discriminatory agenda, but when protecting them becomes inconvenient, the right kicks them to the curb. In fact, as soon as one of their own is accused of harming women in any way, they’re indifferent to say the least.

What I'm wanting to say is that it’s time for women to speak out against the ignorance of those other “ladies” who want to live their life as the ultimate female media stereotype: Dumb and stupid.  You can’t give them a pass anymore than you would Donald Trump, who could title his next book, “The Art of Misogyny: To Serve Man”.  Because unless more of you get on the same page, you’re simply treading water.

So when you see or hear from one of these self-hating, woman demeaning ladies just remember one thing: It’s the stupidity, stupid.

Q. What do you call it when a man grabs a woman's genitals without consent?
A. In America, we call it Presidential.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 9, 2016

Clyde’s Movie Picture Show Quick Quiz 101.0

Every once in a while I would get an urge to throw up a quick quiz on my Clyde’s Stuff Facebook Page.  Sometimes they were fairly easy.  Others were real stumpers.  I never could tell which would be which. 

Generally when I think up these questions, it’s while watching a film or just browsing through my library.  I’ve been trying to get a copy of the film from which I made these screen captures and finally succeeded in a roundabout way.  I try to make these quizzes as offbeat as I can and not the usual run of the mill bull crap the now proliferates your timeline on Facebook like a case of the Zimbio bubonic plague.

The actress in this scene deserved an Oscar.  Well, she would have deserved one if they had a category for best actress being dead while your corpse melts in phony assed flames that come no where near you.  But the film was a monumental work of art.  I say that because it carries a 5.2 rating on the IMDB whereas I wouldn’t have given it more than a 2.2.  If that much.  So there must be some artsy fartsy thing going on here that I don’t know about to not see it’s 5.0 or better greatness.  This is definitely Clyde’s Movie Palace material if I ever get back to doing that gig.

Enough of that though.  It’s very simple.  Name the actress being charbroiled, and the name of this legendary movie. The prize?  There isn’t one. Not unless this blog starts filling my pocketbook with a big influx of cash and that hasn’t happened in the ten years it’s been here.  But it’ll make you feel smarter than anybody else so that’s your reward. 

Rambo…..and friends.

 

Sylvester Stallone doesn't get older. He only gets more wrinkles. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the jungle...or wherever, here comes Rambo: Last Blood.

And it looks like Rocky may be coming back as well. This time as a trainer for Apollo Creed's Grandson.

No word on if Gabe Walker will be climbing Mt. Everest in the near future. Come to think of it, I think Michelle Joyner may still be falling and hasn't landed as of yet. There may still be time for Gabe to race down the mountain to catch her, but only if he hurries.

If you've never seen Cliffhanger you'll have no idea what I'm talking about so that's on you.

Variety:

After months of speculation, Sylvester Stallone has finally announced the title for the fifth (and seemingly final) “Rambo” movie, “Rambo: Last Blood.”

The actor simply tweeted earlier this week that he’ll be filming a gangster biopic about Gregory “the Grim Reaper” Scarpa after shooting “Rambo: Last Blood.”
Seven years have passed since Stallone last reprised the role of Vietnam vet John Rambo. The last film, “Rambo,” earned $113 million worldwide.

Since 2008, he’s talked about both retiring the character (who first appeared in David Morrell’s 1972 novel “First Blood”) for good and bringing him back for a last hurrah. Stallone apparently decided on the latter as he’ll be writing and directing and “Rambo: Last Blood,” in addition to starring in the film.

Stallone will be returning to another familiar franchise this month. He also tweeted that he’s headed to Philadelphia to play Rocky Balboa for the seventh time in director Ryan Coogler’s “Creed.” He’ll play the trainer of Apollo Creed’s grandson, portrayed by Michael B. Jordan. Coogler last directed Jordan in 2013’s critically acclaimed “Fruitvale Station.”

Celebrity Apprentice

I don’t know why I thought that this stupid, idiotic, pointless, show was finished.  Going over the television listings, I see it is still with us proving once again that there are literally millions of brainless vacuum brained people out there who would watch a squirrel eat nuts if you put it on top of someone’s head.  Any hope I had for mankind left the building a long time ago, and a seventh season of Celebrity Apprentice won’t bring it back.

C’mon people, quit being The Stupid.

The Return of Shane (1966)

 

When it comes to classic TV, you never know what show is going to hop out of the vault and make it onto DVD.  Or in some cases, whether a classic series is being left to waste away in the vault.  (I’m looking at you Disney and those classic shows from World of Color/Disney).   Some series you think should be released never are, and some you didn't think would ever see the light of day again,  end up in the marketplace. 

That’s how I would categorize this release.  Shane, based on the classic movie from 1953 that starred Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, and Brandon De Wilde.  It ran less than one full season (10 episodes), and starred the late David Carradine and the late Jill Ireland who was married to both David McCallum of NCIS and Charles Bronson.  Carradine would go on to star in the Wester/Martial Arts mix known as Kung Fu, a series that had a three season run in the seventies.(Don’t mistake it for the remake which also starred Carradine).

The only thing I can tell you is that at the time, I thought it was a really good show, although I have no memory of individual episodes.  I think its short run had more to do with some pretty heavy competition, and the fact that it was a more quiet story driven Western then the usual shoot ‘em up people were used to.  Unfortunately it also came at a time when the popularity of Westerns was just beginning to fade.

The series premiered in 1966, and holds a lofty 7.1 rating on the IMDB.  So obviously somebody besides me remembers it. 

While people continue to moan and groan about theatrical classics wasting away, there is hardly anything said about the many hundreds and hundreds of television series that are crumbling in some vault.  Many are gone forever.  These shows deserve better.  These shows tell as much about who we are and who we were as a nation at any given point in our history.  And for just about anybody, this stuff is all new material since you’ve never seen it before, and all of it is a million times better and more fulfilling then turning into the endless reality bullshit cranked out like so much waste products these days.

As for Shane, the price is hovering between $14 and $16.  That averages out to about $1.40 an episode.

These TV shows are heavy with guest appearances by well known actors and actresses, some who would go on to win many movie and TV awards.  For instance, guests appearing in Shane include Robert Duvall, Wayne Rogers, James Whitmore, Diane Ladd, Charles Grodin, J.D. Cannon, J. Pat O’Malley, Daniel J. Travanti, Constance Ford, Joseph Campanella and many more.

If you’re interested either click the picture or use the ad (turn off adblock).  I’ve already ordered mine and release date is in March.

What Do These Songs Have In Common?

1. Mistletoe and Wine, Sir Cliff Richard (1988)
2. Blue Christmas, Shakin' Stevens (1985)
3. Christmas Wrapping, The Waitresses (1981)
4. Little Saint Nick, The Beach Boys (1963)
5. All I Want For Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey (1994)
6. When A Child Is Born, Jonny Mathis (1972)
7. Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End), The Darkness (2003)
8. Do They Know It’s Christmas? Band Aid 20 (2004)
9. Merry Christmas Baby, Mae West (1960)
10. Wonderful Christmas, Paul McCartney (1979)

I guess it depends on your taste in music.  But these were the ten finalists in a most hated Christmas Songs contest held in 2013 by the British coffee house chain, Costa Coffee.  I ran across this list because I was looking up some information on song number one, Cliff Richard’s Mistletoe and Wine, a Christmas tune I was unfamiliar with but was going to add to my collection which tells you a lot about my shitty taste in Christmas Carols.

The prize for the winner of this dubious distinction was banned from being played in all of Costa Coffee’s stores. 

Sir Cliff Richard's singles may be as synonymous with Christmas as turkeys and tinsel, but you won't hear them in Costa Coffee during this festive period. The British coffee house chain has banned Sir Cliff's yuletide number Mistletoe and Wine from their 1,600 stores after the 73-year-old's song was named the most hated Christmas song of all time in a poll. Songs by Sir Paul McCartney, Shakin' Stevens and Band Aid 20 also made the top-10 list, based on Costa's survey of 3,000 Brits. Kevin Hydes, Costa's UK retail marketing director, said the song would be banned from all Costa's in-store playlists over the Christmas season because "the festive happiness of our customers and staff is our upmost priority".

In an effort to rejuvenate familiar Christmas songs, Costa has given £10,000 to Youth Music, a charity which gives young people the opportunity to make music to overcome personal challenges in their lives.

How popular was Mistletoe and Wine at one time? Damn popular I guess until the Brits got tired of overplay and it became more like Stilted toes and Whine than anything to do with Christmas.

Mistletoe and Wine became Sir Cliff's 12th number one single when it was released in 1988. It spent four weeks at the top of the UK chart, and sold over 750,000 copies that year. It also secured the 1988 Christmas number one spot. Sir Cliff's other Christmas hits include Saviour's Day and Millenium Prayer.

Sir Cliff Richard's singles may be as synonymous with Christmas as turkeys and tinsel, but you won't hear them in Costa Coffee during this festive period. The British coffee house chain has banned Sir Cliff's yuletide number Mistletoe and Wine from their 1,600 stores after the 73-year-old's song was named the most hated Christmas song of all time in a poll. Songs by Sir Paul McCartney, Shakin' Stevens and Band Aid 20 also made the top-10 list, based on Costa's survey of 3,000 Brits. Kevin Hydes, Costa's UK retail marketing director, said the song would be banned from all Costa's in-store playlists over the Christmas season because "the festive happiness of our customers and staff is our upmost priority". In an effort to rejuvenate familiar Christmas songs, Costa has given £10,000 to Youth Music, a charity which gives young people the opportunity to make music to overcome personal challenges in their lives.

Mistletoe and Wine became Sir Cliff's 12th number one single when it was released in 1988. It spent four weeks at the top of the UK chart, and sold over 750,000 copies that year. It also secured the 1988 Christmas number one spot. Sir Cliff's other Christmas hits include Saviour's Day and Millenium Prayer.

But maybe you love the song and can’t get enough of it. If that should be the case you can buy it at Amazon and Maybe I’ll make two or three cents. Use the ad link, turn off your blocker to see it. Merry Christmas

Quill Pen How Do You Brighten Up My Day?

You write up a pretty good takedown of the Ebola of Texas known as Rick Perry, and the state of Texas that continually gives refuge to these diseases.  I have no regard for Perry at all, and damn little regard for Texas at all.  Funny how a state that likes to talk about how big they are is the stomping ground for so many backwards thinking small minded politicians and the people who keep them in office.

This entertained me so much, I just had to share.  Here are some highlights but you can read this essay “No Texas Messiah: A Requiem for Rick Perry” in its entirety at Politics USA:

Governor Rick Perry is another in a growing collection of Republican banditti, though one with less personal integrity than his more famous counterpart across the border, Pancho Villa, who at least was fighting for more than personal aggrandizement.

Pancho Villa actually cared about the future of Mexico. Rick Perry cares only about his own future. The United States does not enter into the picture. In the old days, the Texas Rangers would have been hunting Rick Perry down. In today’s Texas, he was their boss.

It must be remembered here that Perry (and this is to take nothing away from Perry’s complete lack of a moral compass) is a symptom of a greater ill: Texas. Under Republican governance, Texas has produced not only Rick Perry, but George W. Bush, and now provides refuge for Allen West, who couldn’t summon sufficient IQ points to qualify as a Floridian.

Texas is also a state in which Perry’s successor as Governor, the equally unethical Greg Abbott, can meet with a “patriot” militia leader (and shake his hand) days before his arrest on weapons charges, and still win election to governor.

And I haven’t even mentioned Rick Perry’s mythical “Texas Miracle” yet: In Two Sentences Team Obama Shatters The Myth Of Rick Perry’s Texas Miracle. That’s right, there is no Texas miracle, unless you’re a corporation, in which case you can blow Texans up with impunity…….


…………That’s right, you can check all the boxes: Rick Perry hates immigrants, hates women, loves himself some Religious Right theocrats, and hates gays. He’s a Republican all right, bona fides confirmed. And that doesn’t even get into his gun infatuation (because everybody needs a grenade launcher)………..

……..at a big speech he forgot what state he was in, or when he said America’s ally, Turkey, is our enemy. Here we had Bachmann fearful of the Soviet Union, two decades gone, and Rick Perry who wants to attack our allies.

And then there was the time Gaffer-in-Chief Rick Perry thought Solyndra was a country. Considering he once wanted to invade Mexico (a dream he shares with fellow GOP border bandit Sheriff Joe Arpaio), Solyndra should be worried……..

………And I’ll just let Rick Perry’s belief that he can pray away drought and other problems speak for itself. The thought of a president who thinks he can pray away problems also speaks for itself.

Perry is leaving center stage now, and thinking about a bigger venue – President of the United States – which is pretty funny because the secessionist tenther once entertained the idea of being President of Texas. Of course, if Texas Republicans get their way, he may still get that chance.

Which would negate my earlier concerns about Santa Anna’s generalship.

But Rick Perry’s ego is bigger than his prospects will ever be. A new bandit has taken his place in Austin, and Perry wants to take his crime spree to the nation’s capital. But stature-wise, Perry is nothing more than a male version of Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann.

As I said, you can read the article in its entirety at Politics USA and it’s well worth your time.  You will be entertained.

Fifty Shades of Grey–Hot or not?

I’m still leaning towards not.  I think someone chickened out when faced with the reality of the explicitness of the Fifty Shades of Grey novel.  Whether it was Universal Studios (my guess in an attempt to hedge its investment) or the actors or the director, or choose your own culprit(s).  If it was Universal, the irony will be that they could possibly have actually hurt themselves more than help themselves.  Ask anybody who has read the book: Cleanliness is not next to Godliness in this case.

Possibly at least one actor could be a fly in the ointment as well which makes you think that because of Charlie Hunnam’s unexpected departure, they were forced into signing Dornan with not much time to consider too many alternatives. 

In a recent interview Jamie Dornan came off as a stodgy really uptight prude to the point where he had it written in the contract not to show his penis on film.  So he’s going to have to be one helluva actor to be convincing as Christian Grey.  In a key role, Dornan may be a huge mistake.

 

Dakota Johnson on the other hand, at least has a hint of being Anastasia Steele and appears to be willing to go the distance. 


At any rate, Universal’s Focus Features will try to convince you with this trailer that Fifty Shades is going to be really hot, even if they did clean it up for the mass consumption of audiences while crapping on those who made the book a phenomenon in the first place.  But I’ll let you decide for yourself.  Trailer 2:  Hot or Not.

A Vegas Musical Based on Dork Dynasty? Hold Your Nose.

Las Vegas is going to become a less pleasant place to visit.  Anybody who would spend money to see a play based on these bigoted disgusting holier than thou bearded shitheads  really really need to take a lesson in lifting up their self esteem.  Why punish yourself?

Better that you do something useful like put that money into a slot or playing the roulette wheel.  The only thing you'll get from watch this over glorified crap is the need to immediately head to your hotel room and take a shower to wash off the stench. 

Forget that.  The putrid stink of this endeavor is liable to blanket the entire West.  Keep it up, Uhmer’ca.  Soon, we can go back to living in the age of Neanderthal Man.

So how much are they going to white wash these bigoted homphobic jerks?  Probably a lot.

Variety:

“We’ve enjoyed the process of making a musical alongside the team who is interested in telling the Robertson family story from an outside perspective,” Willie Robertson, chief executive of the Robertson company Duck Commander, told the Times.

“The Robertsons are so unusual, their story so juicy, and theater shouldn’t be limited to telling stories about people you resemble or revere,” said David.

Jeff Calhoun (“Newsies”) serves as the musical’s director, according to the Times, and Steven Morris is a composer.

The news comes nearly a year after the family drew massive criticism — as well as support — for Phil Robertson’s anti-gay comments, made in an interview with GQ in December 2013. A&E suspended him after the remarks went public, though it ended the suspension later that month.

The only good thing about this is inspired me to come up with a new label for stuff like this. File this project under totally worthless crap.

Redbox Mucks Up Their Web Page Some More. I Think I’m Done.

Sometimes, you have to wonder what goes through some the mind of some corporate web designers or the big shot executives who tell them what to do.  Lately, any time Redbox has decided to tinker with their web site, they manage to really muck it up. 

I’ve always had my little quibbles with Redbox.  Many of their practices are hardly consumer friendly and they seem to be totally unwilling to make the effort to change.  Make a complaint and you’ll get a brush off.  Oh yeah, occasionally they’ll try to give you a free rental when what they should be giving you is a refund for their incompetence.

You may know that drill.  You reserve a movie and you go over to get it from the machine a few hours later and the machine is broken and not working.  And since you have no clue as to when it might be working again you can either accept your losses or call the Redbox number where the poor patsy on the other end of the phone will try to shove that rental credit on your ass, even if you have no idea when you might get to use it.

Refund?  That would be too much trouble.  After all they don’t really want to give you your money back even though its no fault of yours the machine wasn’t working.  Because that would inconvenience them, and one thing corporate big wigs don’t like is to be inconvenienced.  Better the customer put up with their lousy policies and bullshit nonsense instead of issuing a damn credit on your Visa. 

I can hear them now:

”Hey what’s the big deal?  We have a few million customers so why does one poor shlub in some hick town matter?  Let him/her get pissed off.  Beside, where the hell else are they going to go?  Blockbuster is no longer around, and Netflix takes forever.  We’re practically a monopoly so why should we give a damn?”

Yeah, I think that’s the same attitude Blockbuster took for years and look at them now.

One time I had four movies on reserve at a particular store that has two Redbox machines.  They were in Machine B.  Of course when I went to pick up the movies, it was machine B that wasn’t working at all.  It had even been unplugged to keep people from trying to use it.

This time I called the Redbox number on my cell phone right there in the store.  Basically their answer was that I was shit out of luck.  Could you switch my movie rentals to Machine A since all four movies were in that machine ready to be rented.  Nope, couldn’t do anything like that.  That would be too difficult. 

Could I get a refund?  Nope, and you could almost hear the person on the other end chuckling to themselves over that idiotic notion.

What they could do was give me a credit and I could rent the movies.  Well, eventually I could.  The problem was that their computer, which must be a Commodore 64 the way they run things, would continue to show me with four movies reserved until that reservation ran the clock out.  And the limit on movie reservations at one time is 5.

Therefore, I couldn’t even use the credit until after 9:00 the next night when I would have no use for the damn things because we in the real world have to work this thing called a job. 

There have been other instances as well and if you do a few searches on the internet, you’ll read some real horror stories.  But honestly, with their latest act of corporate stupidity and uselessness, I think I’m done.  You finally have to draw the line somewhere just to keep your sanity.  You can’t say, “What were they thinking?” because obviously they weren’t, and they don’t.  Sometimes policies are invented just to annoy you.

It used to be when you went on the Redbox web site, after having saved “your locations” you could click on one of them and see what was in that particular machine at that location at that moment in time.  If a movie wasn’t showing either it wasn’t in the machine or all copies were checked out.  If they were all checked out you could scroll to the bottom of the page and see a somewhat faded entity marked “not available.”  Pretty simple.  Then you would just click on one of your other locations (if there was one) to see if the DVD or Blu-ray was there, or just choose something else.

In my case, there are three Redbox Vending Machines within a half mile or so radius from where I live.  One of these is just two blocks away.  After that, you have to travel eight miles to the next Redbox and unless you have Quaker Oats for brains, you’re not going to make that trip.  You’ll just wait for the movie to arrive or be checked in or whatever.

But now you no longer know if it’s in or not because Redbox Executives in their infinite wisdom decided to no longer make it readily apparent whether a movie was at your chosen location or not.  Now, they simply list all their movies available at all locations, whether it’s checked out or not or whether its in the machine or not.   In my town, which seems to be last on the delivery list, this often happens.  What a machine in the big city may get on Tuesday, we may get by Friday, if we’re lucky.

So now when you click on a title that’s not even at the location you are browsing, it says “Find DVD nearby” instead of just telling you the damn thing wasn’t there in the first place.  And just checking one certain movie right now, I’d have to drive 30 miles to get it.  Some recommendation that is.

 

Why the change?  Why not just tell you up front that a movie is not at the location you’re browsing and let you make your own choice as to whether to check a box that isn’t 30 miles away?  It worked for me just fine.

Because like politicians, Redbox thinks you’re too stupid to do that.  And I guess they think somebody’s willing to spend $10 worth of gas to drive to a Redbox and get $1.20 movie so they might as well make that sales pitch for the stupid people.  It’s just idiotic and unnecessary.  And worse, you still don’t know if all copies of that movie are all just checked out or if it even arrived at that location yet.  IF ITS NOT AT THAT LOCATION JUST SAY SO INSTEAD OF ME JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS TO FIND THAT OUT!

Really, I think I’m done.  I’ll just order them from Netflix.  It may take longer sometimes, but at least I can watch them at my leisure and not deal with the frustrating antics of Redbox and their total disregard for customer convenience.  I can only be annoyed jumping through corporate hoops before I change the game plan.  Having helped do Blockbuster in, I don’t think copying that company’s little regard for their customers is a great idea.  I’m sure with all their customers, Redbox won’t miss me.  But I won’t miss them either.

Sims 4: Here Comes The Swimming Pools!

EA has released an update for Sims 4 that brings swimming pools back into the fold.  If you’ll recall, the majority of Sims fans weren’t too pleased when EA in its infinite wisdom (uh huh) decided to shit can toddlers and pools for The Sims 4.   There is nothing so bad in EA world as a Simmer scorned.

The cost is free, and along with it are things that will make your pool experience a happy one with new bathing suits and the ability to put your pools anywhere you damn well please.  Except in the basement.  Because there are no basements and no way to make them.  And there are still no toddlers to swim…oh well, never mind.  Toddlers never could swim in The Sims.

Plus the usual abundance of fixes that will fix some things and probably break others.  So here you go.

From EA:

One of the aspects of pools in The Sims 4 that I’m personally very excited about is the new way to build. For months now, we’ve been talking with you about Build mode and just how easy it is to create homes. All that great technology has now been applied to pools, making pool building faster and easier than ever before.

First off, we have diagonal pool building! Many of you have asked for this so we’re happy it will now be included in The Sims 4 after you update your game.

I’ve always longed to recreate those visually dramatic pools that are often seen at exotic resorts. Now, players can place windows on the walls of pools to create an infinity-pool aquatic escape for your Sims. And we’ve also added the ability to adjust the depth of your pools by adjusting wall heights.

Rooftop pools! Yes, in The Sims 4 you can now build pools on the ground level, on the second floor and even on the roof!



But what about your Sims? They need awesome poolside outfits. Check out the new line of swimwear in Create A Sim! You can mix and match swimwear pieces or try out the “Swimwear” Styled Looks for today’s hottest trends. Now your Sims can really dress the part before taking a dip.

Your Sims don’t have to swim, they can sit along the pool ledge and chat with other Sims who are in the pool or snuggle close to a loved one. Spectators beware – they could be subject to some splashing from the other Sims in the pool. Watch out for that angry Sim who is cooling his temper by swimming around.  

Of course pools would not be pools without a new death type. Yup, our old favorite, Death by Drowning is back!  And you will see that the resulting ghost may be a little more wary of water than before.

You can read more about this particular update and patch fixes by using the link.  Have fun!

Updated:  Can’t have pools without a pool video can you?

All Fall Down–A Short Indie Horror Film (remastered) by Kyle Riesenbeck.

A relative of mine asked for this to be shared.  So I thought this was the best way I could fulfill that wish.  Let me know (or him) what you think either here or on youtube.

EA Announces New Sims 4 Content including Ghosts, Pools, and……..STAR WARS!

 

Hopefully this will stop some of the whining over the Sims 4.  No, still no Toddlers.  But I’ve been playing the game and I don’t really miss them.  In fact, I thought they were always a bit of a nuisance.   

But if you make a lot of videos or need them for story telling, I could see a problem.  Could I have done without them in my Sims stories?  I think I could have written around that facet of life.  Toddlers were never an integral part of any of them.

But we will get pools soon and as of today, The Sims own version of the walking dead is back. 

And hey, Star Wars crap!  They should have put that in the premium edition.  It would have flown off the shelves.

From EA:

First, a rundown on the October update: October brings the spoooooky addition of Ghosts to The Sims 4. Your dead Sims can now rejoin the world of the living, where they maintain all the attributes they had a as a Sim, but with special new behaviors based on how they died.

Invite them to join your Sims’ household and they can be playable characters; if you dare, you might even find a way to bring your ghosts back to life.

Did you feel that disturbance in The Force? It was probably our new Star Wars Costume Set. Outfit your Sims in Luke Skywalker’s X-wing pilot suit, Leia’s white robes and awesome cinnamon buns, Darth Vader’s suit and, yes, even Yoda. I mean, who out there hasn’t dressed as Yoda for Halloween, right?

Now you can in The Sims 4, too! Community requests like new eye colors are in there, too. I have personally just given all my Sims purple eyes. Because I can. We’ve also fixed a few minor bugs as well.

Next come two more major updates: In November, get your Sim-suits ready (too much pun? Sorry!) because pools will make their triumphant debut in The Sims 4. December is Put-Your-Sims-To-Work Month, as we introduce new Career paths and rewards.

All of these updates will be free for our players in The Sims 4. Just log in to Origin and download the patches as we release them. Each update will be full of great content and some surprises. Think that gnomes only live in gardens? Clearly, you’re not playing enough of The Sims 4.

There's also the usual Corporate suck up to the customers in the article but you'll have to use the link to read that. Hey EA, what about the video of my houses? I thought it was pretty spectacular too! Oh well, maybe next time.

All of this is free so maybe things are looking up for Sims players and this is the new EA.  Time will tell.

Overnight Comedy Moment: Checkers or Chess?

 

 

 

Overnight Comedy Moment: Out With The Old

 

Overnight Comedy Moment: Cheaters