Holy crap! If you’re in need of an abdominal workout, don’t go to the gym, go to the movie theater and watch Shoot ‘Em Up, starring Clive Owen.

When the opening scene involves delivering a baby in the middle of a shoot-out, and then shooting off the umbilical cord, you know exactly what you’re in for.

This movie makes no pretenses about what it is: an over-the-top action film with non-stop shooting and almost no discernible plot whatsoever. Just like snakes on a plane, the filmmakers didn’t waste any time or money trying to justify the movie… they simply made it and said “there it is, in your face.”

The stunts are impossible, the body count is immeasurable, the dialog is terrible, and the laughs are a mile a minute.

“Curve: The loveliest distance between two points.” -Mae West

“Absence may or may not make the heart grow fonder, but it certainly freshens the eye.” -Stephen King

This is a photo I shot last week. It was one of those days when I was just leaving work and heading for the train station. It was just starting to rain a little bit, so I wasn’t trying to dilly-dally, or lolligag, or any other nonsensical word for taking your sweet-ass time.

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City in the Sky

As I was walking, however, I happened to look up and catch the sun reflecting off of the buildings to the west. I ended up crossing the street and doubling back for an unobstructed view. It only looked right from one specific position, so I had to move around a bit to find it.

For me, this just underscores the importance of always keeping a camera with you. Great photographic moments happen with or without you. You may have to stand in the rain, and you may have to catch a later train, but do what you must to get the shot.

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.” -Anna Lappe

Geometry question:
Q. When does a pentagon have only four sides?
A. When it intersects a plane.

Football question:
Q. What is Osama bin Laden’s favorite football team?
A. The New York Jets

Physics question:
Q. How long does it take to fall 107 stories?
A. The rest of your life.

Well, there it is, dear reader. It’s been six years, I think it’s time to make some jokes — that’s how we deal with things. When we can laugh about it we can move on.

I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian!

Two wrongs don’t make a right… but three rights do make a left.

“Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel.” -Che Guevara

There haven’t been many films coming out this year that I’ve wanted to see, but apparently, they were just saving the best for last.

Aliens-versus-Predator Requiem looks to be much better than the first AVP. If I got the right impression from the trailers, this one promises to be more in a horror style rather than the straight action format of the first one. Can’t wait!

And coming the weekend before Halloween, the fourth installment of the Saw movies. The Saw movies always manage to raise the stakes, and I can’t wait to see how they’ve done that with both Jigsaw and Amanda dead. Who’ll be the next Saw? And how much more elaborate the games?

There hasn’t been a good horror franchise since the ’80s. Thank you Saw movies for changing that. Jigsaw’s puppet certainly brings a modern and timely presence to the list of horror icons that included no less than Michael Myers, Freddy Kreuger, Jason, the Phantasm balls, Chucky, and the Hellraiser box.