Governor Vs Governor

In the first three minutes of this clip, we see a fight to the death between two men portrayed by actors who would later become governors.



Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota, and Arnold Shwarzenegger is the current governor of California. The fight takes place in the film "the Running Man", which was released in 1987 and based on a novel by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, which had a very different ending.

Richards overpowers the flight crew but is shot, suffering a mortal wound. With his last strength, he overrides the plane's autopilot and sets the plane to fly right into the Games Building, home of the Network and "The Running Man". The last thing Killian sees is Richards in the cockpit giving him the finger as the plane slams into the building.

King wrote this as Bachman, and Bachman is not real. The fight scene in the film is a fiction within a fiction, computer generated images intended to trick the audience into thinking Richards (Schwarzenegger) is dead.



This is the cover of the novel, which reads....

Welcome to America in 2025, where the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives.

Schwarzenegger and Ventura were both "running men", in the film and in politics. There has been speculation that both men may someday run for president. If that happens, I'm voting for Jesse.

Cutlery

In the course of a persons life, there are certain household items that are used everyday, but they are taken for granted. Cutlery is one of those things.

When evaluating an item, there are only two things to consider, form and function. If your cutlery performs the proper function, chances are you don’t think about it too much. If the spoon carries the soup to your mouth, what does it matter?

I’ll tell you why it matters. Because it’s the little things in life that go unnoticed, things like cutlery and silverware, that make life just a little bit more enjoyable. Has your cutlery lost it’s shine? Do you have pieces of the set missing? Do you remember how your cutlery looked when it was new, and you took it out of the box and used it for the first time?

Shine new cutlery gives one a feeling of satisfaction and order that extends from the dinner table to other aspects of life. Consider this, when you go to a restaurant, a waiter or waitress will come over to your table and asks “May I take your order?”

(Disclosure: This has been a paid post for which I will be compensated.)

Childe Roland to the Senate Came

I don't trust politicians, but I do like political theater. I just remind myself after I watch it that it's not real, it's just a movie.

Eight days ago, I made this post about the Dark Tower poem by Robert Browning, novels by Stephen King. It's the story of a knight on a quest to find and enter the Dark Tower.

Today, the senate refused to seat Roland Burris because he was appointed by a Governor who is under investigation.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell the senate seat, and the accusation came before the appointment of Burris.

Blagojevich has been tried in the media, and I must confess that my first thought was that "he lied in every word." This is the first line in the Browning poem. But is he guilty? The only thing I know for sure, he is guilty of is having unnatural looking hair.

On December 8, 2008, he called on state agencies to stop doing business with Bank of America in order to pressure them to make the loan needed to pay severance pay to factory workers whose job had just been lost.

Blagojevich threatened to halt the state’s dealings with Bank of America Corp. over a shut-down factory in Chicago. On December 8, 2008, all state agencies were ordered to stop doing business with Bank of America to pressure the company to make the loans. Blagojevich said the biggest U.S. retail bank won’t get any more state business unless it restores credit to Republic Windows and Doors, whose workers were staging a sit-in. Critics called Blagojevich's threat dangerous.

The very next day, he was arrested. And now his appointee Roland Burris is trying to find a way into the senate, just as Roland Deschain is trying to find a path to the tower.

Time 4 Sleep

Our bed is getting pretty old, it squeaks, it’s uncomfortable, and it doesn’t match the rest of the bedroom decor. Having a bed that doesn’t match the rest of the bedroom is discouraging.

For most of us, a third of our lives is going to be spent in bed. I spend about 8 hours of a 24 hour day in bed.

Time 4 Sleep has hundreds of beds for you to choose from, including but not limited to metal beds, wooden beds, and leather beds. It’s an amazing site. If you are interested in purchasing a bed, you could spend hours browsing through the different styles of beds, and not look at the same bed twice. Here are a few of my favourite selections.

The Tuscany Black is a sleek, beautiful, luxurious bed. Looking at the picture they provide, I can imagine smelling the fine aroma of leather, laying in it and drifting off to the land of Nod. It comes in double frame, king sized frame, and super king sized frame.

Rhea is a bed that sits up a bit higher than other beds, and I like that because it’s easier to get into. The Rhea also has storage drawers underneath it, which would make it easier for me to find my pajamas.

With a scroll headboard and footboard, the Verona reminds me of a royal horse drawn chariot. If you journey to the land of the sandman in this bed, he will be sure to notice you and give you pleasant dreams.

Choose one of these, or one of the hundreds showcased on their site, and you will be well satisfied.

This is not a Job for Superman.

The above cover is the Adventures of Superman #596, published on September 12, 2001. One of the first things I noticed about the cover was that Superman's emblem had a black background, not the traditional yellow. In the sub-title "This is not a job for Superman", we notice the O in not is a miniature sun. Above the sun is the word "Isis". The logo itself is an upside down pyramid.



On the first panel of page two, we get this shot.



Lexcorp's twin towers are partially destroyed, with helicopters swirling about. Anyone who knows about comics knows that they are written and drawn months before the publish date, and this one went on sale a day after 911. The plot of the story is that there has been an alien invasion which has left much of the Earth damaged, and Superman hasn't lifted a finger to help with the rebuilding.



Of course J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter is going to make an appearance. It seems that every time the disaster was foreseen in D.C. Comics, he was there. In this panel he wants to know why Supes isn't helping, and in the background you can see the twin towers. Only in this shot, they are much less damaged. On another monitor to the right you can see the Great Pyramid of Cheops.



Uh-oh! There is a crisis in Antarctica. It seems the ice is melting for no good reason. To the Left of J'onn you can see the towers now appearing undamaged. And of course we must have a shot of the pyramids in this panel as well.



The Weather Wizard is melting the ice in Antarctica, and is putting it on Youtube! While most people would be shocked that a man in bright spandex is standing in the middle of the South Pole, I am more curious as to why a polar bear is 12000 miles away from his home. Everyone knows that polar bears are native to the Arctic, not the Antartic. Everyone except the editors at D.C. Comics it would seem.

Theres not much to tell for the rest of the issue. Superman easily dispatches the weather Wizard, and then saves a construction worker from falling. The construction worker then tells off president Luthor.

So in this comic book that was released on September 12, 2001, we have an alien invasion, 911, global warming, Isis, the pyramids, and weather control. Not to mention my favorite martian. Of course no comic book review would be complete without posting the back cover, as they usually synch well with the rest of the story. I wonder what it will be this time. They could have a bunch of college cheerleaders cheering on bradly tanks and it wouldn't surprise me.



Okay, I lied, It does surprise me. The game is called "Advance Wars". Go beavers! Build that dam!

Need a Generator?

This past fall, a freak windstorm knocked out the power to my town. The wind hit speeds in excess of 60 mph, and it didn’t let up all day. We were without electricity for 24 hours, but some folks were out for over a week. We have had some freaky weather here lately, and I believe the pattern is going to continue.

I can’t help but wonder what would happen if there was an ice storm that knocked out the power during sub-zero temperatures? We could go to our in-laws, but that would mean driving over 50 miles of ice covered roads. If I had diesel or Natural Gas Generators, I wouldn’t have to worry about it. And I could invite all of my relatives that live close by to stay here until power was restored. Of course if I did buy a generator, I would also need to install a Generator Transfer Switch.

If you don’t want to get caught flat-footed, and you are thinking about getting a Power Generator, do a little research on what type of generator is right for you.

Links

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy new year. We live in interesting times, and who knows what 2009 will bring?

I've added some links to the site. You will find them underneath my blog list.

Be Not Decieved is a message board that deals with things of a conspiratol nature. there is some good information there, check it out if you get a chance.

Prison Planet is a site run by Alex Jones. PP covers stories that might not be getting airtime in the mainstream media, and I visit it regularly. The Forum is where I first started posting some of my observations on comic books.

Dial B for Blog is a Blog where old comics are covered, and the guy who writes it is really funny!

Superdickery is a site that once and for all proves that Superman is a jerk, and not to be trusted.

If anyone is interested in doing a link exchange, let me know.