I’ve never taken the time to write a review of a movie, but I felt compelled to start.
Through my pre-paid streaming video service I found a little gem called, ‘Mary and Max’. This film is as visually beautiful and moving as it is funny and dark. I rarely tear up watching human actors, let alone claymation, but this film had me laughing out-loud and dabbing my eyes at the end.
A beautifully crafted film that depicts a couple of unlikely pen-pals who meet strictly by chance. Mary a young girl in Australia who has no friends, finds Max’s name and address in a phone book and writes to him, initiating a long-term friendship. Max is a middle-aged man with Asperger’s Syndrome who also suffers from the lack of friends.
The film is kinda black and white, with occasional shots of color to highlight a tongue, or a dress, or some other item.
It has a sad kind of mood yet still makes you laugh. The character development was great and the story was entertaining.
If you like dark art and comedy that makes you think, this film has everything for a perfect movie night.
Thanks for checking out my first installment of , “Steve Watched A Movie”. Next Tuesday Ill be reviewing the film, ‘Gramma’s Boy‘, I’ve heard its funny.
We haven’t had a chance to interview Jimmy @ Skate Thru Life yet so I just grabbed the mission statement off the Skate Thru Life site:
The Mission of Skate Thru Life is not only to further the positive image of the sport of skateboarding, but to do so by helping to build free community skate parks. Skateboarding is an activity that runs into problems at times with local business owners and police, etc. I love banzing down a huge hill just like the next guy, or skating a cool parking lot, but not everybody else loves it when skateboarders are present. Given the reality of this situation, the solution is to build more free skate parks. Almost every athlete has a place to engage in their respective sports provided to them by their cities. More and more municipalities these days are recognizing the need for free community skate parks, and more and more of them are popping up all over the place. We as community members, however, have to make things happen. If we don’t do anything, almost no city is just going to up and build a free skate park.
Check out the Tony Hawk Foundation for more information about becoming active in your community in terms of getting a free skate park built.
Add Skate Thru Life on FaceBook
The cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore woke up early this morning, taking time away from their otherwise arduous schedule of tanning and drinking, to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Reports that Anthony Stockholm, the first president of the exchange, was spinning in his grave, could not be confirmed.
MILWAUKEE — NASCAR team owner Jack Roush was in serious but stable condition after walking away from a plane crash in Wisconsin on Tuesday night. “There are injuries. Possible surgery,” Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith said in a text message to The Associated Press. “But he walked out of the plane.”
According to the EAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that two occupants on board were Roush and Brenda Stricklin of Plymouth, Mich.
“Each exited the aircraft following the accident,” the statement said. “Both were transported to local hospitals, with Roush in serious but stable condition and Strickland with non-life threatening injuries. The NTSB is leading the investigation into the accident.”
The Beechcraft Premier jet pancaked onto the runway and broke in half and no flames or smoke were seen, according to the aviation news website AVweb.com. Jason McDowell, an aviation photographer who was at the airport, tweeted a photo of team co-owner Jack Roush exiting the plane with a bloody face.
From Politics Daily… Veterans will not be punished for using medical marijuana in the 14 states where it is legal, according to new rules announced by the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Under the revised policy, veterans who are prescribed and are using medical marijuana will no longer risk being prosecuted or lose government benefits, Reuters reported.
Under the new rules, which expire in 2015, VA doctors cannot prescribe medical pot and it cannot be used at any VA facilities. Also, the VA will not pay for pot prescriptions.
The department said medical conditions associated with the use of medical marijuana include glaucoma, chemotherapy-induced nausea, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain, according to Reuters.
The 14 states permitting use of medical marijuana are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
In true Swasted fashion, over at Exercising While Intoxicated they decided to try running the San Francisco Half Marathon while consuming a beer per mile. 13 beers in 13 miles. Why anyone would want to subject themselves to this kind of punishment is beyond me but I have to admit, it’s awesome. I’m down for some buzzed bike riding or something like that but running doesn’t sound very fun.
The run started at the Embarcadero around Fisherman’s Wharf and the Marina, across the Golden Gate bridge, back across and down to Golden Gate Park. See below an excerpt of the adventure…
From Exercising While Intoxicated:
Several of you told me that I was “going to die” if I drank 13 beers while running the San Francisco Half Marathon. I did not die.
I puked three times, blacked out for miles 11 and 12, and needed five hours to finish. This is my story.
This blog declared its intentions to drink 13 beers over the 13.1-mile SF Half Marathon. Realize that it is not possible to run a half marathon while carrying a 12-pack of beer. Sure, you could try… but the beer would get shaken up and explode upon opening each can. And then no one gets to drink any.
So I bought three beers at a time, and poured each 12-ounce bottle or can into a 36-ounce water jug. Holding the jug while I run, I can keep that fucker pretty steady — far more so than water bottles strapped on to my belt.
Although Sunday at San Diego’s COMIC-CON International can be a little light on the freaks and geeks which populate the earlier days of the convention, Swasted’s lone CON correspondent is bringing you the best of what’s left in the following series of shots which also serve as an unspoken criticism of the iPhone’s indoor photo capabilities. Enjoy!
Gizmodo recently posted another Photoshop fail from BP. Similar to the image released a few days ago, its another amateur Photoshop job they posted to their site dedicated to documenting the cleanup efforts. Gizmodo goes on to point out the numerous inaccuracies like the horrible masking around the pilot on the left, an air traffic control tower in the upper left and instrument readings showing an open door, lowered ramp and engaged parking brake.
The image has since been removed from BP’s site, but that hasn’t stopped people from sending in their own hilarious parodies…
Click to See Photo Parodies
Last week California’s senior senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein cosigned the ballot argument against Prop. 19, The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative of 2010, which would allow adults 21 years or older to privately possess and cultivate marijuana for personal use.
Senator Feinstein’s public opposition is hardly surprising. After all, if there is one thing about marijuana we are certain of it’s that the public is well ahead of the politicians when it comes to the issue of enacting common sense cannabis law reforms. But that doesn’t mean that Feinstein’s fear-mongering — and yes, that is exactly what it is; at one point the senator claims that the passage of Prop. 19 will ‘require’ employees to sell marijuana laced cosmetics (huh?) and candy bars in the office — doesn’t warrant a public smack down. This is the same bitch that voted for the patriot act and internet censorship, should we really be surprised?
For the full scoop on Feinstein’s misguided opposition, visit, L.A. Times
Local, News, North County, San Diego
California, cannabis, Feinstein, Green Team, L.A. Times, marijuana, NORMAL, Pot, Prop. 19, weed
Oakland’s City Council late Tuesday adopted regulations permitting industrial-scale marijuana farms, a plan that some small farmers argued would squeeze them out of the industry they helped to build.
To address concerns from smaller farmers, the council pledged to create regulations on regulating small- and medium-size marijuana farms this year. Council members and proponents of marijuana cultivation regulation viewed the proposal as smart public policy: It would generate revenue, ensure that fire and building codes are enforced, keep neighborhoods safe from robberies, and further position Oakland as the center of the state’s cannabis economy.
“It’s really important for Oakland to be a vital part of that growth and development for licensed facilities,” said Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan.
But many of the folks on the front lines of the young industry say it will change the culture of what they’ve built.
They say industrial farms will turn a grassroots economy into a corporate one, driving down costs but also eroding the quality of the marijuana, which state voters defined in 1996 as medicine.
The most influential critic was Steve DeAngelo, owner of Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the nation.
His dispensary buys from some 500 different growers, meaning Harborside offers about 100 varieties at any time. Permitting only industrial operations would reduce variety, he said.
“Government should not choose the winners and losers but create a level playing field,” he said. “Some people might prefer mass production, assembly-line cannabis that costs less. Others might prefer cannabis grown by a master gardener in a smaller plot.
“Let the market sort it out,” he said.
The regulations will award permits to four indoor marijuana farms. There will be no size limit, but there have been proposals for farms as large as 100,000 square feet – about the size of two football fields.
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