Warning! Thar' Be Spoilers Ahead!

IF you have not seen "Avatar" don't read this- or at least be warned of spoilers.

"Avatar" 3-D . Okay, so now I know why it did not win best picture. While the movie was 3-D the characters were 2-D at best. A predictable plot I've seen many times. A greedy weak company man, evil military man, noble savages.Was it pretty to look at? Yes. Was it impressive special effects? Made Betsy almost ill a couple of times due to the 3-D. Not sure if that's impressive. It was better than the old re/blue glasses 3-D. But it was still used the same way.
Did 3-D advance the plot? No. If you're going to tell an old story, give it a fresh twist. Have a strong company man who joins in to stop the colonel. Have a colonel who realizes what the company is doing and has a change of heart. Or deepen the plot, make him more evil. How did Jake's brother die? Was it an accident that the colonel just happened to get a former marine, that needed legs, to use as his spy - or was that robbery more than a lucky accident for the colonel?
Or you could have the noble savages be just a little less in need of an outside savior? In all this time had they never captured any weapons? Had they no technology? How about sabotage? Guerrilla warfare? Umm.... wait... weren't those guns that at least two of the good guys had in the final battle? Where did they come from? And how was Jake able to communicate with everyone in that battle? Looked like radio to me. So where did he get them?
And on the subject of plot holes... Jake didn't have his brother's training. Okay, that's a given. But then they take a valuable avatar and throw him in the field without so much as a "this looks deadly, but isn't"-"this looks deadly and is" " Don't touch, eat, smell or step in this" ? Come on folks.
And what about the big blue folks? Why do the Na'vi have breasts and hair? Are they mammals? They have navels ( navi means navel btw) but why?
Okay, I didn't hate the movie. When I was 10 I would have loved it. But I have no particular need to see it again. I've already seen it more than once.

PS As long as I'm in a movie rant mood, why in the Hell remake "Death At A Funeral"? It was a smart, funny, "black comedy". I have liked some remakes which can stand on their own- "Magnificent Seven" and "Seven Samuri" come to mind Looking at the previews I have great fear. If I see it I will wait till it comes to the cheap seats, and then only out of morbid curiosity.

 

 

As I was driving back from dropping Betsy off a work I happend to pass a man standing on a corner, waving a flag. My first thought was "advertisement" as we have many street corner ad men here in Cleveland-some for plumbers, some to tell of liquidation sales, etc. But then as I passed I saw a sign saying "Reilly For Congress" Now I was was struck by how basically American this is. Here is a man standing for office, literally. And though I fleetingly thought it could be a campaigner, I quickly realizesd I was wrong. And I was curious. Who is Reilly? What office? So I turned back, at first just to take a photo or two. But my curiosity and my patriotism got me. Yes, folks, I am a patriot. I know the right-wingers think they have a lock on that but they don't. So I parked and crossed the street, thinking to myself I was being foolish. Who am I to ask what he is doing? I'm not a reporter.
But I also hve the right to ask questions- so I crossed Mayfield Rd. and went up to him. I met Dan Reilly, who told me he is running for Congress for the 11th District on May 4th against Marcia Fudge. She happens to be my current Congresswoman. Dan is ex-Air Force, a union carpenter and a paramedic who is running on a reform ticket. He thinks we have had enough and changes need to be made. He plans to be on this corner and others around the east side 11th district for the next few weeks. If I were a reporter I would have gone for more detail, but as I am not I felt I learned enough for this morning. This is a man who loves his country, who cares enough to run for an office, without the fanfare and hoopla of a huge campaign. I didn't ask if he is right or left. I don't much care. He is doing something folks. He is the quintessential American.

Bill and Me

Bill and Me, originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

King of The Roadtrip and a wannabe. Buzzard Day/Buzzard Sunday March 2008 Hinckley OH
CBS feature reporter Bill Geist.

Buzzard

Buzzard, originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

From our Buzzard Day trip to Hinckley Oh in 2008. See Flickr for the whole set, including some of CBS reporter Bill Geist.

Idle Ramblings

Some random thoughts: Cartoon figures have 4 fingers/toes. I have 4 toes on my right foot hence I'm 1/4 cartoon figure! ( Some would say that's an underestimate). WKSU thanked a listner/contributor "Benjamin of Mogadore" Sounds like a Biblical name to me. The Book Of Benjamin Of Mogadore?

In a few hours it will be "Buzzard Day" in Cleveland. Watch the skies! Alas, as Betsy needs the car to go to work and Hinckley is so far in the opposite direction it won't be a good idea for me to attend. But I'll be thinking of those who'll be there. See our Flickr stream from a couple of years ago.