Archive for February, 2006

Audra’s Post Katrina Pictures

Friday, February 17th, 2006

Audra has got some pretty moving personal photographs of the destruction in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward.

It might be useful to have these an your screen as you watch Katrina hearings.
Chertoff Says He Is Responsible for Katrina Failures
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate panel today that he is […]

Watson Search… It is Working

Monday, February 13th, 2006

Well, it appears that the effort to get the word out on hoaxster Freeman Watson may be working… kind of. Searches for “Chef Freeman Watson” are coming up well on Yahoo. Check it out… Audra’s blog ranked fourth!

Picture of Yahoo Results
Google still leaves something to be desired… but at least the dykstraNet entry […]

Freeman Watson the Super Chef

Thursday, February 9th, 2006

My sister Alexis worked hard last year to make it in Boston. It’s a big, expensive city and she supported herself while doing a semester at Boston University. To do that she was constantly working and looking for ways to make an honest extra buck… taking photography and modeling gigs where she could.
One day […]

Detroit Rock City or Detroit Rock Bottom?

Thursday, February 9th, 2006

I was on the phone with many friends last week back in Detroit in advance of Superbowl XL. Everyone was on and on about how Detroit’s hosting of the big game was showing off a watershed moment in Detroit history.

Photo found on flickr.com posted by umyeah.
Things have been tough since the riots of 1968, […]

Daydreaming about World Travel

Wednesday, February 8th, 2006

Workaday rituals and day-in, day-out routines cause the calendar pages to flip. Then you stumble on images of some foreign land and wonder what life is all about.

What’s the use in working like crazy and seeing the same subway platform every day?

After all, there is a wide world out there to see right?

Check out […]

Pimps Have Dreams Too

Wednesday, February 8th, 2006

Hustle & Flow

IMDB

Year: 2005

Writer: Craig Brewer

Director: Craig Brewer

Length: 116

Category: Drama

Media: DVD

Studio: Crunk Pictures

Distributor: Paramount Pictures/MTV Films

Rating from MPAA: R

Cast:

  • DJay: Terrence Howard
  • Nola: Taryn Manning
  • Clyde: Anthony Anderson
  • Skinny Black: Ludacris
  • Rating: 3 out of 5

    Do you need a little inspiration? You think you’re struggling in life? What if you were a middle aged pimp/drug-dealer in uban-prairie Memphis trying to make ends meet hustling women and weed? In a way, I envy those that hit absolute rock-bottom so that they find the motivation to start climbing up again. Our main character in Hustle & Flow, DJay played by Terrence Howard, is just such a figure. And when he finds out that a local-boy-turned-famous-bling-bling-rapper is going to be back in town on the fourth of July, he finds his motivation to reclaim his old dream of making it in the music business.

    Of course this puts the story-line in dangerously over-trod, hackneyed, played-out territory, joining 8-mile and probably several after-school specials in the “I just gotta catch my big break with my demo tape” genre.

    Hustle & Flow still works and manages to be a bit unpredictable. It’s engaging as a depiction of sleepy, dusty, dead-end south. It is fascinating as a character study of walkers, talkers and manipulaters. And it is evocative for anyone who has reached middle life wondering if they still have a chance to recapture the dreams they had somehow forsaken.
    Hustle & Flow

    Tags: pimp music MTV film review memphis hustle flow

    What the …

    Tuesday, February 7th, 2006

    What the Bleep Do We Know!?

    IMDB

    Year: 2004

    Length: 109 minutes

    Category: Drama

    Media: DVD

    Cast:

  • Amanda: Marlee Matlin
  • Rating: 1 out of 5

    Oh man… I can’t believe I was so excited to see this one only to have it be so aweful. I was thinking I might learn something about quantum mechanics after having seen some good stuff on string theory on PBS. Unfortunately, my bull-bleep meter was going off the charts shortly after this bad movie began. It had me going back and forth for a bit, because I think they did con some real physicists into lending their names to the film. But then some of the interviews came across as sheer quackery. Any doubt was laid to rest when one clearspeak expert uttered the word “mediocracy”. Hmmm, I think your vocab might be a little mediocre there pal. Turns out the guy is a chiropractor. Is that where you want to be getting your physics?

    Check out the script. Search for ‘mediocracy’.

    There is a pretty good point by point breakdown of the science (and lack) here.
    A snip:
    The premise of the film is that quantum mechanics proves a conscious observer is necessary to create reality. The conclusion is we literally create reality with our thoughts.

    Unfortunately the theory of quantum mechanics does not say this. The film makers are confusing the theory of quantum mechanics with an interpretation of quantum mechanics. This is an explanation to help understand what might be going on, but it is not part of the theory because it is not falsifiable: it cannot be tested in such a way that, if it were false, it would fail the test (without falsifying the whole of quantum mechanics, and therefore all the other interpretations too).

    Another scathing review to convince you this movie is bunk.

    Tags: movie bad physics documentary review

    Welcome to Planet Earth Amelia

    Sunday, February 5th, 2006

    Welcome Amelia Campbell Dykstra!
    Hot off the presses on February 3rd, 2006.

    9 pounds, 10 ounces
    20 inches tall (long?)
    Congratulations Erinn and Jay!