Entry 57: "Back in Green"

Yo!

This entry title goes out to AC/DC.

Don't want to go through changing the template to match the real lyric, but you get the joke.

Well, I'm getting back into the flow of things these past few days... Those two weeks I was overseas were a real eye opening experience. I did not know the currency exchange rate was that bad for American money. It's almost exactly two U.S. dollars for a single British pound. That means a $0.79 pack of M&Ms costs about one-and-a-half dollars (give or take) over there! They're also five hours ahead of America's east coast, and STILL searching for Madeleine McCann! It's been almost a month now, and the only major lead I at least heard about was that she may/may not have been spotted wandering around in some gas station mini-mart in Morocco or Portugal, I forgot where. Excuse me for being slightly pessimistic, but this four-year-old girl has been, as I just said, missing for almost an entire month! I admittedly haven't been paying much attention to this story since I stopped watching British television the night before I boarded the flight back to the U.S., mainly since good old American newsmedia is focused on the important topics, like Rosie O'Donnell holding a grudge and Lindsay Lohan getting a DUI, and the dreaded "super-flu."

God bless America. Oh, how I missed thee.

....or is it "...thou?" I'm not sure about that grammar.

Sarcasm aside, it's good to be home. The big Memorial Day holiday has come and gone, and summer 2007 is finally officially here. Break out the sunscreen and fire up the barbecue! The movies just keep on coming for arguably the biggest film season in the history of time, and--- Oh, right I promised you guys another toteboard!



Buckle up, people... It's gonna be one heckuva summer...

...But that's just me.

-D.

Entry 56: "The World! The World! The World is on Fire!!!"

Yo!

It's that time yet again... Time for thing one and thing two. Thing One: This entry's a little special, since I'm posting this from London, England. That's right, I'm on-location in the Queen's territory this week and next, visiting some long-lost relatives of mine I only found out about after my dad passed away in late 2005, but enough soap opera plotlines. Of course, I'm doing the full tourism thing while I'm here, giving my Kodak a run for its money. I'll be posting some of my favorite shots here at the end of the month, around entry 58 or 59. Thing Two: The area I'm in right now is a tad unforgiving with unsecured wireless networks being in-range, hence my giving up yesterday and going farther outside today to send this thing out (I was actually done on-time for once, around 7:45pm EST)! So this time, my tardiness was REALLY out of my hands, but I apologize anyway.

Moving on, things are a little climatologically chaotic back in the states, apparently. Catalina Island, an area off the coast of California which has only 22 miles of landmass has, as of Sunday night, about 5,000 acres dead as the dodo. That's four thousand (*American) football fields' worth of very serious tanning right now.... and counting. Plus, according to the L.A. Times, despite the area's condition, tourists are getting allowed in even as the local firefighters are still trying to keep things under 450° Celsius. The Weather Channel has some On-Demand video on the blaze in Georgia/Florida's Okefenokee Swamp that's also causing some sweating foreheads for more than one reason, since some high winds are about to push the fire over the containment areas and toast even more land if that hasn't happened already as of this typing, as if the quarter-million acres thus far wasn't enough. On top of that coverage, Bloomberg.com is simultaneously talking about yet another wildfire, this time in a wilderness area in Minnesota.

Oh, if only we could've seen all this coming somehow.

Holy crap, global warming has finally exploded onto the forefront of national discussions lately! Forget Al Gore's visual-aid-filled movie, it's another thing entirely when the frightening climate shifts and effects on everyday life are happening for real, isn't it? Suddenly, Roland Emmerich's Atlanti--- Sorry, Manhattan underwater sequence isn't that unrealistic visually anymore or all that unpleasant to have happen locally, right Florida? It looks like we're getting cooked first before we drown, and the igniter seems to be just about anything warm that's near certain flammable--- Lucas, for the love of God, put down the magnifying glass and leave those ants alone! Phew... Sorry, readers. Lately, you can't be too careful about being fire-safe. On a serious note, America's understandably on-edge with pyrophobia, and I really can't sum this week's topic up any better than by saying my thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters out there who certainly have their work cut out for them this week. I mean, when I left America after boarding my flight Thursday afternoon, I knew it was a little humid, but I didn't think things would get this bad nationwide! God, I leave you Americans alone for four days, and... I know, some of it's Mother Nature, but let's not forget who forced her hand. If there was any doubt before this week, U.S. Congress, rest assured, global warming is real. Period.

The Bottom Line: Only YOU can prevent forest fires. Oh, wait. That's been done. Never mind, just remember the usual stuff... Dress lightly before going outdoors for long periods of time, wear sunscreen, drink plenty of water, I can't believe I'm going all PSA here with heat safety and it's still technically spring! Here's hoping when I get back home, America won't be more burned out than a stick of Nag Champa during a really grooooovy outdoor concert, maaaaaaaannnn.....

Hey, is it warm in here.... or is that just me?

Stay safe.

-D.

P.S. London is mostly overcast and freezing right now, in case you're wondering. Just thought I'd add that bit of info.

P.P.S. Apparently, it's not "just me" at all.

Entry 55: "Roll with the Punches"

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Blog for the following Summer movie trilogy gro$$-so-far scoreboard (Click to enlarge):



Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Blog, already in progress.

Yo!

So, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. took down the Golden Boy on Saturday night. And then retired. Split decision. Not well liked by the audience, apparently. Here's the site. Given that I don't have a cable box that supports Pay-Per-View, or one at all, and a video of the crucial 12th round of the fight is harder to find than a post-Griswold "National Lampoon" movie worth renting, so I apologize for the lack of... um, clippage.

...Darn you, HBO lawyers....

Personally, I've never really been into boxing very much... In fact, the last boxing match I happened to catch a glimpse of was that one where Mike Tyson put a little more protein in his diet, in mid-fight. Yes, it's been almost ten years already. But anyway, the New York Times' web-article puts it bluntly: Retirement promises by boxers in their prime are about as useful as Confederate currency. They almost always come back. Heck, even Rocky got back in the game and----- Oh, holy crap. Eric Balfour just got killed off of 24 just now as I'm typing. They brought him back from season one just to get rid of him just a couple weeks before the finale of his first appearance in five years. Last trace of the original cast besides Kiefer and they just blow him away. Oh, sorry. Got slightly distracted. So now that the dust has settled from what's now known as Cinco de Mayweather, how long until the comeback, or more likely, the rematch? Oscar vs. Floyd, Part 2?

Bottom Line.... This fight apparently lived up to the hype and apparently about 50% of all expectations. I was working all Saturday night too, by the way, so even if I did have the right hardware, my malfunctioning DVD recorder timer would've lived up to its expectations and crapped out on me, so HBO would've enjoyed some free money anyway. You readers who saw that fight are so lucky. I really wish there was a free video of this thing somewhere that I didn't have to fork over $54.95 to see, just for what's now old news!!!!!

....But that's just me.

See ya next week, with a more in-depth, personally relevant topic I can go into a bit more about, I hope.

-D.