Rare common sense

Sometimes instead of complaining I gotta give credit to someone who finally does the right thing.

Olympic officials said Tuesday that Iraq will be allowed participate in the Beijing Games, reversing a previous ban on the country.

Good for them. It was stupid in the first place to ban them. The reason? Because their Olympic committee was appointed instead of elected.

Keep in mind that they were always accepted under Saddam. Anyone think he didn’t appoint and/or influence the elections?

But kudos to the decision reversal. It would seem that allowing Iraqis to compete in the Olympics alongside other nations (including I would assume Israel) is exactly the spirit that the games are supposed to support.

Read the whole thing

I didn’t REALLY mean it

So, two days after griping about the Los Angeles policy on fast food restaurants in minority neighborhoods and wondering when an earthquake would send California into the sea, LA gets hit by an earthquake.

Sorry about that. Glad there were no serious injuries or damage.

For my next wish, I hope Jessica Biel’s car breaks down in front of my house.

Watchmen Trailer

Need I say more?

Waiting for that earthquake

That sends California into the ocean, or at least sends it towards Japan.

I feel like I woke up in the wrong country today after reading that Los Angeles passed a ban on new fast food restaurants but only in minority neighborhoods.

Are you kidding me?

Gas costs were the problem? (updated)

I just read this article on MSNBC talking about the problems commuters are facing as they deal with rising gas prices and the information given about this couple just ticked me off.

For Brian and Ronda Mitchell, the combination of high gas prices and a housing market downturn has forced them to make the difficult choice to allow the home they have owned for seven years to go into foreclosure.

Sounds bad, doesn’t it? But read further:

It doesn’t run on water

India’s Tata motors (pause while everyone makes their own jokes) has developed a car that runs on air. Seriously. OK – it’s compressed air but it runs about 200-300km, which is roughly 12-190 miles on a fillup which costs about $2. As a bonus, the only exhaust output is air, making the cars essentially zero-emission. I could find no info about the availability of air conditioning but, being India, they might need it. Also if they plan to sell any in Alabama. Still, it’s pretty cool.

Tata Motors to introduce Air Car – Is it the next big thing?

If these become popular it will be funny to see how the Feds complain about the loss of tax revenue from gasoline. Don’t think they’ll still find a way to tax air?

One last before I go

I’m taking off for some much needed R&R so I’m leaving you with this for entertainment.

Just remember the cake is a lie…

Back Monday!

A bit of humor

Max Payne Trailer

The first official trailer for Max Payne (the movie) is out. Max Payne is going to be based on the computer game, which means it will probably stink but I’m somewhat hopeful. For one thing it’s not being directed by Uwe Boll. For another it seems like it could lend itself to a movie. It’s also my second favorite game of all time (and I might have to post about my favorite but let’s just say if you know what Black Mesa is you know my favorite game).

The game itself focuses on you, Max Payne (yes, that your name) who’s just an average police detective until he comes home one day to find that drugged-out street punks have killed his wife and baby. The game jumps forward until you get a break in the case only to have your best friend killed and you framed for that murder. So you do what anyone would do which is to tear through the New York underworld, racking up a body count that would make Total Recall envious until you go through the bad boss’s building to face her on the roof.

OK – so nothing major but the game itself is like a John Woo shooter if combined with Matrix bullet-time so it has a chance.

Anyway, here’s the trailer for those who care:

To get an idea of what the game was like, here’s the official trailer for it as well:

Burn Notice Season Two Premiere

I watched the season two premiere last night in the hopes that the show would remain good. I can say that, one episode in, the formula is still working.

For those who have never seen it, get the DVD’s or watch online. It stars Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westin, a spy who was cut loose in Miami and, having no work history or money, works helping people get out of jams using his spy knowledge. Think A-Team but not so cheesy. Gabrielle Anwar plays his barely intelligible ex-girlfriend and Bruce Campbell plays the FBI agent assigned to watch him (Bruce usually helps him in his “missions” since if he’s helping he’s watching). Michael, meanwhile, is trying to figure out who got him cut out of the spy business.

Last night’s episode started with Michael in a truck trying to meet up with the person with the knowledge of what happened to him. Instead he ends up with another mission to help someone but this time the mission came from the government. He has to steal some data from a “security” company so that the government will let go of his “client”’s wife and kid.

All in all, a good start to what I hope will be a good second season.