For over thirty years, I’ve been voting in Massachusetts.  In all that time, I think that maybe two candidates that I have voted for have actually been elected to office.  It’s been a frustrating thirty years, but today may have made it all worth it.

I didn’t have a whole lot of hope for Scott Brown being successful in this election.  My wife had been talking about him for some time and was pretty impressed by him.  Feeling like Charlie Brown with Lucy holding the football, I refused to get my hopes up, fearing that once again my heart would be torn out. 

I was wrong.

Brown was the right person in the right place at the right time.  People have been frustrated with the arogance of the Democrats.  The taxpayers (as opposed to the leaches) have let them know that we did not want the Democrats vision of health care.  We warned them.  We showed up at teapartys.  We wrote letters and e-mails but we were ignored and looked down upon.

The arrogance of Obama is astonishing.  The man has accomplished little in his life yet he still believes that he’s smarter than us and we should just shut up and do what he says. 

That’s not the way that it works Mr. President.  Consider this a warning from the people in charge.  You work for us.  We don’t work for you. Remember that.

Congratulations to …

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Timescapes Timelapse: Learning to Fly from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

If you haven’t already seen this, you should check it out.  It’s a really cool timelapse nature video set against some music by Pink Floyd.

Don’t forget to turn up your sound!

About a year and a half ago, in an effort to get fit, we purchased a Horizon E900 Elliptical from Dicks Sporting Goods in Leominster, MA.

Before I make any major purchase I do a lot of research and for the price we were willing to pay, this appeared to be the best model available.  People that owned it seemed to think highly of it.

The unit has worked well.  On average, I probably use it two or three times a week and although I still weigh more then I’d like, it has done a pretty good of keeping me fit.

Tonight, I was about half way though my thirty minute session when I heard a strange noise coming from the bottom of the pedal arm.  I didn’t stop immediately, as I probably should have, but it didn’t matter because within a few seconds, the pedal arm had jumped out of the track and was moving on the floor.  I got off the unit and knelt down to see what was going on and found that the axle on the inside right wheel had sheared off.  Bummer.

I’m not surprised that something is broken on the unit, because it does take a lot of abuse in it’s day to day operation, but I am surprised by the part that did break.  It seems like it shouldn’t be a high stress area.  The …

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Tom Cruise : Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning : Rachel
Justin Chatwin : Robbie
Miranda Otto : Mary Ann
Tim Robbins : Harlan Ogilvy
Directed by Steven Spielberg

It’s quiz time. Which of the following best describes the reason that Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds was produced:

A. The original movie wasn’t all that good and the new version improves on it.
B. The original movie was good but the director has a new take on the film
C. The original movie was good, but If we put out a new version we’ll make a lot of money

Let’s see it’s not A because the original version of War of the Worlds was actually a pretty good movie and the new version didn’t improve on it one bit.

And it’s not B because the new version tells the same story as the old version; the new version breaks no new ground.

So it must be…

You guessed it C. Dollar signs were apparently foremost on the mind of Spielberg and his DreamWorks buddies when they decided to produce this picture.

It’s not really a bad movie, it just wasn’t really needed. The 1953 movie had already told this story quite well and the 2005 version does absolutely nothing to improve on it.

In the original version, Gene Barry plays …

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James Cagney : Arthur ‘Cody’ Jarrett
Virginia Mayo : Verna Jarrett
Edmond O’Brien : Vic Pardo/Hank Fallon
Margaret Wycherly : Ma Jarrett
Directed by Raoul Walsh

White Heat is one of those rare old movies that actually lives up to the hype. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard great things about an old movie but when I finally get to see it, I end up disappointed. This isn’t the case with White Heat however; it’s just as good as everyone says it is.

The story is about a psychopath, tough as nails gangster, Cody Jarrett, who has a weird, child-like attachment to his mother. Jarrett thinks nothing of robbing trains, stealing payrolls and killing people, but when times get tough, he needs the love and encouragement of his mom.

The story begins with Jarrett and the boys staging a train robbery during which Jarrett brutally kills the train engineers. During the heist, one of the gang members is seriously injured and his later death gives the Feds the ability to link the train robbery back to Jarrett. Jarrett sensing that the Feds now have the evidence needed to put him in prison for a long time confesses to another crime that he did not commit, but which serves as a alibi that prevents him from being implicated in the train robbery.

Jarrett …

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