August 2009

From AngryAsianMan.com: red dawn: the chinese invaders are coming

They’re remaking Red Dawn, the cold war movie that starred Patrick Swayze.

For those who are unfamiliar with the original Red Dawn, or perhaps too young to remember, the movie’s about a group of midwestern teenagers who band together to save their town when Soviet forces invade the United States. Remember, this movie was produced in the middle of the Cold War, and probably scared the crap out of a lot of people back in 1984.

Only this time around, the foreign invaders in the remake are — of course — the Chinese (with Russian assistance). Not really surprising, considering all the rhetoric out there about China and its two billion people taking over, well, everything. I’m with Jen, who wonders if there’s any way to do Red Dawn with a Chinese enemy without it being totally racist?

How would you feel if a Chinese company remade this movie with American soldiers invading a Chinese city with Chinese high school students fighting back and killing American soldiers?

Between the United States and China, which country has a recent history of invading other countries? 

Streetcar in Jersey City.  I’ve been taking photos of streetcars when I see them while traveling.  This is part of a 2.2 billion dollar investment across the river from NYC.  Mass transportation is a way of life in cities on the East Coast.

Support Streetcars in Cincinnati

 
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

From RottenTomatoes.com: Toying With the JOEs: How Do the Characters Match Up?

A look at how the GIJoe movie characters look compared to the old action figures.

From Merriam-Webster.com

Main Entry:
Re·al·tor
Pronunciation:
\ˈrē(-ə)l-tər, -ˌtȯr, ÷ˈrē-lə-tər also rē-ˈal-tər\
Function:
collective mark
–used for a real estate agent who is a member of the National Association of Realtors

rē-lə-tər

This seems to be saying that “re la tor” is a correct pronunciation of this word.  I grew up saying it this way, but I’ve been trying to change to “real – tor” because I feel dumb pronouncing it with an extra syllable when there isn’t one.  I wonder if this is a case of enough people pronouncing a word incorrectly that it becomes a correct way of saying it.

Did you know that not all real estate agents or brokers are realtors?  Only those that belong to National Association of Realtors.  According to Wikipedia there are 1.3 million realtors and 1 million licensed real estate agents.

From CS.Slacker.com

The Zerg used to give me the creeps when I played Starcraft, but this is a very cool cake. It’s pretty amazing that Starcraft was released over 10 years ago.

RadioShack: Our friends call us the Shack

When I think of “shack” I think run down little building of ill repute.  Actually, I think that works…

From NYTimes.com: In Sister’s Book and Father’s Scrawl, Music Thought to Be Mozart’s

Since the 1760s, the fragmentary works sat scrawled at the back of a music book used by Mozart’s sister to study keyboard. They were in the hand of their father Leopold, but no composer’s name was attached.
…
Mr. Leisinger said in a telephone interview that the pieces were most likely composed in 1763 or 1764, when Mozart was 7 or 8. If truly by him, they would serve as an important link between his simple earliest compositions and his first major works, Mr. Leisinger said.

Listening to the music, it seems impossible that it was written or even played by a 7 or 8 year old.  But, I have never been in the presence of genius like Mozart.

You can hear the two new Mozart pieces played here.

From NYTimes.com: Shuttle Returns to Earth With a Special Passenger

Among his scientific duties and routine maintenance chores, Dr. Wakata also tested bacteria-killing, water-absorbing Japanese underwear designed to be worn in space for weeks at a time.

“I wore them for about a month, and my station crew members never complained,” he said Thursday. “So I think the experiment went fine.”

From TheTVAddict.com: 10 Things You Might Not Have Known About BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Star Michael Hogan

A nice interview of Michael Hogan, Colonel Tigh.