Wild Tangents
Marc talks about life in Nashville, life as a Catholic and life as a geek.

I recently whined and moaned about the ongoing trend in Hollywood to remake everything thing that comes to mind while complaining about the proposed remake of “The Day The Earth Stood Still”.

Well, I am saddened that three (almost in a row) stories from SciFi Wire are about new plans for remakes. I hate this….

• Goyer Updating Scanners

  Yes, the David Cronenberg classic with exploding heads and Michael Ironside method acting is about to be ruined.

• Get Smart’s First Look

  Yes, the beloved 60’s cult TV show is about to be ruined.

• Barbarella To Be Revived

  As much as I like the band Duran Duran, I never really liked this one. But many folks did. It was a cult classic just like the other two one this list. For all those people that liked it, it’s about to be ruined.

Please Hollywood! Get a new sense of creativity!

Bonus cool points go to anyone who can cite the reference I made in the post title. It’s one of the few good remakes out there.

Technorati Tags: 60’s, 80’s, movies, scifi, tv

If it’s not enough to make us nervous that there are terrorists our there trying to get stuff like this on a plane, now the people who work fork for the airlines are doing it for them. That’s right, some baggage handlers decided they would make some extra money by smuggling guns and drugs on a commercial flight.

The baggage handlers used their employee uniforms and airport identification cards to enter restricted areas, bypass screeners with the bag and board the commercial Delta flight, according to court documents released Wednesday.

While the flight originated in Puerto Rico, it’s scary to me that this happened. Since I fly pretty much every week, hearing this is not what you would call encouraging. I hope these guys go to jail for a long time.

Technorati Tags: airlines, rant, security, stupid

I really have it in for people who make anonymous threats. Brittney of Nashville is Talking fame talks about the sleazy folks that leave nasty messages for her on her blog.

Anyway, there are a healthy number of people who dislike my stylings, but then there are the others. The readers who not only dislike me, but go to great lengths to let me know it. Worrisome lengths. Like, “I know what you drive and where you live, you little commie whore, and I know when your pets go outside,” sorta lengths.

She says it scares her. To be honest it scares me too. I feel for her and her family too. I say that because my wife had a scary situation the other day. My wife sometimes has trouble finding a parking place at Vol State because her first class is rather late in the morning. When she found someone pulling out of a space, she patiently waited for them to clear the space so she could pull in. While she was waiting, someone else drove up and decided that even though she had been there before them, that was their space. Not only did they pull up behind her car and sit their for close to five minutes while she collected her things from the car before getting out, the followed her in their car until she turned down a side walk that does not follow the road. She told me this story and it worries me. I’m the type to worry about sometimes silly things. Hopefully, that’s what this is, a silly thing. Hopefully this pimped out muscle car driven by a stupid coward will never darken the lives me and my wife again. I hope and pray the same thing for Brittney. That these threats she gets are all just silly things that are made by people who are just cowards that are too afraid of their own opinions to even make their names and faces known.

Technorati Tags: Nashville, rant

My mom sent this to me in an email. I told her she’s needs a blog. She replied with, “So post it somewhere”. Since I (almost) always do what “mom” tells me, here you go.

My, how the world has changed!

I graduated from public high school without…

Ever wearing pants to school
Ever riding a school bus
Ever going a day without PE (from track and volley ball to dance)
Ever going a year without either band or chorus
Ever getting a free lunch
Ever going a day without the pledge and a prayer over the “PA” system
A computer
A cell phone
A pager

I graduated from public high school with…

The equivalent of a college education now
4 years of Latin – I actually translated Beowulf from Latin to English
2 languages (French and Spanish)
Algebra, geometry, trig
Biology
General Science
Civics
American and English literature
World history
Tennessee history
American History
Home Economics
Typing
Band and Chorus
4 years of PE
Public speaking

Maybe that’s why I made 28 on the ACT when I finally took it 33 years after graduation.

I started my first job ….

Still couldn’t wear pants – skirts and dresses only
No copiers – Mimeo??? I still remember the smell. Reports were done on an IBM selectric typewriter using mimeo stencils. You actually had to use a razor blade to scrape the ink off if you made a mistake.
No faxes – we used snail mail
No desk top computers – only terminals from the monster that was kept in the air conditioned ninth floor…the whole ninth floor.
Can you say key punch???
No word processing software – IBM selectrics??
No spreadsheet software – Graph paper…
No ten-key adding machines – comptometers. I must admit that the 10 key came out shortly after I started working.
At my first job I made $2.53 per hour and thought I had died and gone to heaven.

New words to my vocabulary over the years.
Computer
Personal computer
Cell phone – I actually had one of the first. The battery was bigger than a bread box.
Byte and all the mega, giga, etc., that goes with it.
Microwave oven
Cable TV
Remote control – Yes we actually had to walk over to the TV to change the channel or adjust the volume.
Garage door openers. If you had a garage, you had to stop, get out of your car, pull open the door, drive your car in, then pull the door back down. Why do you think so many houses were built with carports?
Terrorism – It was a word, but it didn’t have quite the same meaning as today.
Blow Dryer
Curling Iron
Microdermabrasion
Illegal alien – People who came into this country from all over the world were immigrants…and the vast majority were legal.
Politically correct – I’m really tired of this word and all the angst it causes.
Cruise control – Hard to get in a 57 Chevy
8 track player – Couldn’t get that on a 57 Chevy either
DVD – Again, 57 Chevy may not be the perfect venue
Compact disc
VCR – If you wanted to see a movie, you actually had to go to a movie theater
Digital anything
Interstate highway…the “long and winding road”…usually two lane
The Beatles – speaking of “long and winding road”
The Rolling Stones
The British Invasion – of the 1960’s
Flower Power
Hippie
Yippie
Groovy
Cool
Anything that plays music other than a vinyl disc called a record album.
Significant other – Either you were or you weren’t
Paradigm change– duh??? Please.
Peter Principle – Seen a lot of that
Employees as associates – Again with the PC-ness
Quality management – assumes you have quality to manage in the first place
Watergate
Iran-Contra
Sex – as Bill Clinton defines it.

Leave a comment if you think she needs her own blog….

Technorati Tags: blog, employment, family, history, interesting, politics, rant

Get the story here.

Technorati Tags: 30Rock, alcohol, driving, DUI, car, rant, SNL, tv

(more…)

I’m sorry, but this is just dumb.

A man who grabbed a 14-year-old girl’s arm to chastise her after she walked in front of his car, causing him to swerve to avoid hitting her, must register as a “sex offender,” the Appellate Court of Illinois has ruled.

No way…

The trial jury accepted Barnaby’s version of the story, but found him guilty of unlawful restraint of a minor – a sex offense under Illinois law.

Uh….OK….

Trial Judge Patrick Morse ordered registration reluctantly, acknowledging it was “more likely than not” Barnaby only intended to chastise the girl. “I don’t really see the purpose of registration in this case. I really don’t,” Morse said. “But I feel that I am constrained by the statute.”

Give me a break……

This man, who all parties involved including judge and jury say did nothing sexual with the girl being forced to register as a sex offender. If there was a requirement that all people who do moronic things have to register as a moron, that would make more sense. Well, I say that it would make sense in that case maybe. But what would be the point? Wouldn’t everyone be registered? Which leads me to my biggest concern about this case. If this becomes a common occurrence, don’t we run the risk loosing the legitimacy of the sex offender registry?

Go read the story and then come back and tell me what you think.

WorldNetDaily: Man grabs girl’s arm – now he’s a sex offender

Technorati Tags: illinois, law, news, politics, judges, rant, stupidlaw

I keep getting this when trying to leave a comment at WKRN channel 2’s Nashville is Talking blog.

I’m not really sure if I specifically targeted for stating my views, or if this is just random. Either way, this is the firs time I have tried to post a comment on NIT since last night (about 14 hours since). So I just don’t get it. For a site that is trying hard to build community, I don’t understand why they have initiated such unfriendly tactics. I don’t really see where I did or said anything abusive in my comments on the post in question. So really I don’t know if someone feels I did something wrong or if I am just some unlucky SOB that got stuck in a software malfunction.

UPDATE: My comment did finally go through, but I had to re-write it, which was still a big inconvenience.

UPDATE #2:Brittney has posted a response to this post here. My faith in NIT has been renewed.

Technorati Tags: nashville, web

I’ve had something like this happen once before. This time though I got the email three times.

From: Annabelle@telcordia.com
Subject: Careers in US
Date: November 16, 2006 9:42:31 PM CST
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

TSM is the Swiss watch industry’s active trade association, currently seeking administrative assistants/sales support representatives within US to work
from home, to contribute to the sales force and add convenience to our service dedicated to individuals, businesses, and organizations worldwide.

This position focuses on the management of daily, weekly and monthly tasks and special projects pertaining to the sales support for sales in US.
Primary duties include: - Assists the Sales Department in a support role performing special projects, data entry and other duties as assigned - Maintains tracking spreadsheet for purchases and payments - Provides general administrative support including drafting of correspondence, processing purchase orders and expense reports etc.
- Emails correspondence daily
Hours: You can work full time or part time. Your schedule can be flexible. For part time - you will need to spend on average 3 hours per day,
Monday-Friday.
Salary: Base pay for part time is $1,200, plus 5% commission from each successfully completed transaction with a client.
Location: This is a work at home position. All communication will be online. During training/trial period assistance may be provided by phone.
Requirements: You need to have a PC, Internet access, Excel, and motivation.
Costs and Fees: There are NO costs at any time for our employees. All fees related to this employment are covered by the company.

Further Hiring Process: Please send your resume to: sophie.bianca@t-recruit.com. In your email please state if you are interested in a part-time or a
full-time position. After reviewing the submitted applications we respond to successful applicants only. We then offer the successful applicants a position
within our company on a trial period for one month. During this trial period you will be receiving training and online support while working and being
paid. At the completion of the trial period, the supervisor can recommend continued employment, extension of trial period, or termination. After the trial
period your base pay will increase.

Send any questions and your resume to sophie.bianca@t-recruit.com

Thank You,
Sophie Bianca

Permission Settings

If you feel that you have received this message in error or do not wish to receive future messages, please reply to this message with remove in the
subject heading. We will immediately update accordingly. We apologize for any inconvenience.
TSM
Geneva, Switzerland Sophie.Bianca@t-recruit.com

I’m not that crazy. I have a good job. In my search for with keywords from this email, I found a this. It seems to be a blog that documents this kind of crazy email.

Technorati Tags: employment, idiot, crazy

If anyone had any hope that Britney and Kevin would be getting back together, that hope is smothered now.
From the article:

Britney Spears has removed K-Fed from her MySpace friends list.

Being removed from someone’s Myspace friend list is the end of the world. I know this for a fact because I was removed Avil Lavigne’s list. It hurt so bad. I thought I would never be able to move on. But eventually I got to be added to the friend list for Murphy’s Bar in Memphis. Now I can drown all my sorrows in nice pint of Guinness.

Technorati Tags: Britney, K-Fed, music, pop, news

I saw while Congresswoman Pelosi was doing her speech today that Democrats want to (among other things) make sure a college education is affordable.  I just have one request in that matter.  Don’t raise my taxes.  If you do, I won’t be able to afford to continue to pay tuition for the two women I am that are currently in nursing school.  Thanks for your time.