Announcing it, actually might be a fairly good tactic…since it was election time posturing and “gloom and doom” that started the thing in the first place.

So…it’s official. The “great recession” is over. Y’all get out there and spend money. It is…I gather…your patriotic duty to do so (they announced that too).

And…just in case you need a suggestion… (click).

Me? Get out and spend? Well…I can’t. I’m too busy scraping every spare penny I can together for the mass of taxes and insurance bills that are due at the end of the year.

Y’all be safe!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

One-hundred-thirty-five people, including one on the ground, lost their lives. It was a horrific scene and is still indelibly burned into the memories of any who saw the images from that day.

Twenty five years. Wow. I was working that night (in the news production biz). It was a career changer for me.

I “had the con”. It was a hellish night. Frantic, busy, emotional, and the tasks set before us were impossible. It was important. We did it, and did it right. Up against the tragedy of the lost lives it’s not something we ever expected or sought recognition for. It was enough that we got the job done.

It was then that I decided I liked what I did…it mattered. It was then that my bosses decided they liked how I did it.

But…twenty-five years? Where did it all go? Have I accomplished anything? Will the next 25 vanish just as quickly and with as little consequence?

Will they matter?

A solemn day for solemn thoughts.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Check ‘em out. Give ‘em some traffic. Buy 3.2 million dollars worth of Life Is a Road books!

(worth a try, yes?)

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Editor Matthew Cardinale says Springston was asked to leave APN last week “because he held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News.”

Source.

I’m just…boggled…

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

As far as movies go anyway…specifically, sci-fi and fantasy.

I’ve said this once before…you young-uns won’t remember when.

In 1977, the original Star Wars hit the big time. Sci-fi movies before it were boring, preachy, and astonishingly stiff, slow, and one-dimensional. Oh, there were some gems to be sure, but overall it was a dismal offering.

When I left the theater astonished and breathless, that day in 1977…I knew that a new standard had been set. THIS…was what I’d been waiting for. In one fell swoop Lucas raised the bar…clean into a galaxy far-far away.

Oh, yes, there were holes in his story…it’s basically a western (most good sci-fi is), but the characters were fairly well developed (even the bit parts) and the worlds and ships were “whole”. You got to see things that weren’t immediately related to the story. The settings became real. The sound, sets, and effects blew past previous efforts so far and so fast as to call what had been the current state of the art, laughable.

Again, you young-uns may not realize…since there have been many good films since using those techniques and technologies…but seriously, Star Wars changed everything.

Avatar does the same. Yep, there are holes to be found in the story…it’s basically a western (most good sci-fi is)…but the characters are complete and the world is astonishingly seemless. The creatures and mechs are amazing and the complete world they flawlessly interact with is flat-out gorgeous.

It’s worth the viewing just to get a gander at the powered armor. Then there’s the ships, horses (sort of), dragons (sort of), and half naked blue-chicks with tails.

Avatar is as much a step up as Star Wars was in it’s day. The bar has been raised again. Cameron blew it clean into the next universe. I can’t wait to see this technology applied to more stories.

It makes me excited to wonder, “What’s next?”

A word about the 3-D. It’s not necessary. It’s done well in this movie…as in, not thrown about just to show what they can do…but the glasses etc still, to me, are a distraction. I’ve seen this movie in 3D and not, and it was just as gorgeous in the non-3D format.

Go see it.

I’ve loved Cameron’s work in the past. Intensely detailed. He builds complete worlds to set his stories in. His characters have depth. He’s rather (in)famous for not compromising on the acting or production values.

His creations have been…from the basic definition of it…art.

He states that this is a story he hasn’t been able to tell before because the “state of the art” in movie making was not up to the task…

Until now.

Should be fun.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Worth watching!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Link to news

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Ya’ll remember…whether your candidate wins or loses today, it’s really not the disaster so many would make it out to be. Our system works, and works better than any other place on earth.

Don’t like how things are going? Work constructively to change them. You’re allowed, and it’s the basis of our system.

It’s about us, not them. It’s about “We the People”.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Anyway, he said something on national tv that really resonated with his audience…and had never occurred to me. I’m not sure of the implications of it in personal men/women relationships simply because, if true the playing field can never be level…there truly is no common ground or shared basis for relating. Basically the core is so far different that even when we agree, we really are not viewing things even close to the same way.

What he said, and his audience agreed, was about our core fear…the one that oversees everything, even if we aren’t aware of it…the one that often drives us:

Men, at our very core, fear that women will laugh, scorn, or reject us.
Women, at their very core, fear that men will kill them.

I know beyond question that men and women are fundementally different creatures…but are we that different?

Food for thought.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer