We did get our Force Awakens tickets…finally

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Steve

Yeah, I wasted three hours Monday night contributing to all those server crashes on Alamo, trying to get anything. A couple times, I was close but I’d get really close and the site would time out.

I swallowed my annoyance of Alamo farming it out to Fandango (I really dislike them), succeeded in scoring three contiguous seats at Village on the Friday night, 11 PM, 3-D with the cool Mondo drink glasses. The downside, we’re sitting in the second row in front of the screen. I need to do some neck exercises. This better not be a repeat of The Phantom Menace too.

Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment

Happy Birthday Evie! (late!)

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Steve

Once again I’m late for not-so-little Evie. See, I always remember the Martinez Anniversary first, then realize I have forgotten her birthday despite her birth being the night before Nancy and José got married.

Man this kid is growing up rapidly. I just hope she’ll never outgrow having fun with her parents and other goofy adults who enjoy spoiling her with Playmobil and Legos. Why? Well, according iffy-to-reliable sources, girls are hitting the fashionista age sooner and sooner every decade. I wish they’d get to enjoy being a kid a while longer, being an adult rather blows at my age. On the other hand, kid status has its downside.

As for Evie, my wishes for her are to have a great day at school, a kick-ass party either this evening or upcoming weekend and may it be a fantastic year filled with joy, friendship and age-appropriate adventures.

Posted in Birthday, News | Tagged | Leave a comment

Happy 8th Anniversary Nancy n’ Hoser

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Steve

Not much else I can say. Jose (aka Hoser) was the friend I had in college who wanted to get married (Paul and Helen already were) and I didn’t. Then bam biff pow, I got married before him. It wasn’t a race, just funny how life pans out.

Congratulations to them and may they have a nice dinner to celebrate. Probably on the weekend, then they can enjoy one of José’s nice craft beers he has been making for the last few years.

Posted in Anniversary, News | Tagged | Leave a comment

Italian #35: Charles (Carlos) Ponzi

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Steve

Although the crime most associated with Charles Ponzi wasn’t new when he was arrested for it in 1920, somehow it stuck to him which was more likely the Media’s racist tendencies against Italians. Remember, a century ago, Italians occupied the same scapegoat roles Mexicans have in America today. I would prefer to rename what the Media lazily calls a Ponzi Scheme to a Madoff Scheme or maybe more appropriately Reaganomics since it does involve the trickle-down myth.

Charles Ponzi came to Boston around 1903 seeking his fortune. He had to since he allegedly gambled away what little money he had on the voyage. For a few years, Ponzi worked odds jobs to get by until he left for Montreal in 1907. In Canada he became a teller at Bank Zarossi which was the equivalent of a payday loan scammer because it preyed on Italian immigrants with its high interest rates. Obviously the bank collapsed leaving Ponzi on his own again. After a brief stint in Canadian prison for forgery, he turned to smuggling Italian immigrants across the US-Canada border. This earned him time in a US prison.

Upon his release, Ponzi returned to Boston in 1918 to go legit…maybe. He married Rose Gnecco and went back to earning money through odd jobs including his father-in-law’s grocery store.

This period of his life is where the debate amongst Historians becomes a little contentious. One day Ponzi received a letter from Spain containing an international reply coupon (IRC). What were IRCs? They were coupons for priority airmail stamps in another country. They’re extinct now thanks to the Internet and America’s Post Office stopped selling them two years ago. My personal experience with IRCs was through GDW’s international audience and Crowded House’s fan club based in Australia. For example with the latter, you’d join the fan club by sending a letter to an address Down Under and include two IRCs. I think they used to cost 80 cents each in 1992. The guy who ran the club (Peter Green, I met him once in 2004) would go to the Australian Post Office and receive the exact postage to send me my membership stuff. If sending a letter from Australia to America cost more than $1.60, hooray for Peter and me, IRCs were a good deal and boo! if it were the opposite.

Ponzi realized he could make a profit by buying IRCs and only exchanging them in countries where the postage cost more than the original purchase. He’d then turn around and resell these stamps. I’m guessing his customers were people who had relatives back in the “old country” and they wanted to set up international SASEs (self-addressed-stamped envelopes, showing my age with those TV shows requesting them). Where he went wrong was turning a small-time crime or oversight into a full-blown business with investors. He promised ridiculous returns like 50 percent in 45 days. If you studied the details of Madoff’s case, you know that Ponzi “succeeded” by giving investors other investors’ money since there wasn’t much real profit in IRCs. Recall my earlier mention of Historians arguing a tad? The debate is whether or not Ponzi was deliberately breaking the law at the beginning. On the podcast Stuff You Should Know, hosts Chuck and Josh’s sources claimed Ponzi thought he discovered a legitimate goldmine through IRCs. When he expanded, he got in over his head and then the lies escalated. Others say, no, Ponzi was  always looking for an angle.

Before his downfall in 1920, Ponzi made a small fortune. It was enough for him to buy a mansion in the Boston suburbs with high-tech amenities: a heated pool and AC! Legends say he was making $250,000 a day, this would be $3 million today. He went from bum to multi-millionaire in just two years.

The Boston Post thought his returns seemed fishy so they investigated. This led to a run on the company and his inevitable arrest for mail fraud. Ponzi pleaded guilty, got 14 years but it probably absolved him of the $7 million he owed, $81 million today.

Posted in History, Italians | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Goodfellas: 25th Anniversary Dinner Screening

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Steve

goodfellas25

Goodfellas is the ultimate and best Mafia movie made in recent years. Primarily due to the film being based upon the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi which as we all know was about Henry Hill’s three decades in Paul Vario’s crew. Why Scorsese and Pileggi changed the names (other than Henry’s) is beyond me. The events were altered somewhat for storytelling purposes since the truth can be rather unpalatable with general audiences. Given some pieces I discovered during some quick research for this post, I will definitely make plans to read Pileggi’s book; Vario had an affair with Hill’s wife at one time, it might explain why Hill testified against his former capo other than a death threat.

Despite the artistic license taken in Goodfellas, it remains great due to how gritty and violent the story is. Namely what organized crime does, true thuggery and it’s a grind. Donnie Brasco did a good job showing this too. Personally, I always found The Godfather “saga” to be crap. It had an unnecessary, flat third movie and the “good” two were just a lame Greek tragedy romanticizing the Mafia. The acts in Coppola’s flicks also inspired dumb mobsters to emulate those actions.

I chose to see the 25th anniversary screening at Alamo Lakeline for several reasons. Firstly, I was in the middle of trying to graduate from Marquette, seeing new movies wasn’t an easy accomplishment, I always wanted to see it on the big screen. Secondly, this was a new digitally restored 4K copy. Lastly, the ticket came with a four-course, Italian-inspired meal. See click on the menu below to see it up close! I did enjoy it. I’m not a very good Italian though, I couldn’t eat anything based upon olives. Blech!

goodfellasmenu

I won’t go on a limb to say this is Scorsese’s best film though. I haven’t seen enough of his work to make an informed judgment. Yes, I’m part Italian and I’ve only watched Taxi Driver, Kundun, The Age of Innocence and Goodfellas. I will gamble on this being in the director’s top three.

The movie and story continue to hold up. Great performances from everybody, from the leads to the minor supporting characters. New revelations:

  • I didn’t know Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Corrigan were in this.
  • Scorsese modeled elements of Goodfellas after The Great Train Robbery, primarily the ending with Pesci shooting the camera/audience.
  • Paul Sorvino didn’t want to do this movie until his agent convinced him to reconsider for a day.
  • Scorsese originally didn’t want to make another Mafia movie when someone gave him a copy of Wiseguy in 1986-7. He changed his mind after reading the book, then called Pileggi directly. The two went on to make Casino years later.

Other things? Well, the famous walk through the kitchen entrance of the Copa Cabana is a signature move by Scorsese many have imitated (Swingers, Jon Stewart’s last The Daily Show with Scorses making a cameo in it). Did he invent it? No idea. I’m going to guess, he probably didn’t. I did acquire a book on Marty by his close friend Roger Ebert. I stupidly thought it was a bio, nope, it’s a collection of essays/reviews. Still going to read it. Scorsese will receive his due on my site next year. Plus, I continue to replay the “Layla” piano coda in my memory to the montage of dead associates being found.

If you haven’t seen Goodfellas in a while, I think it’s time to check it out again. All the principal players have passed away except Hill’s wife Karen.

Alamo Extras: Scenes from The Great Train Robbery set to the Rolling Stones live; a little interview with Scorses on AFI; Trailers for Westerns Red River and Shane; Trailer for The Tales of Hoffmann (inspiration is my guess); a Fellini movie trailer (no idea what, it wasn’t 8 1/2); clips of the Animaniacs’ “Good Feathers” cartoons; Joe Pesci’s appearance on David Letter when David didn’t have gray hair yet; Young Russians dancing in a park; the “do you think I’m funny” scene played to animated animal heads; and SNL‘s The Joe Pesci Show when Alec Baldwin did his spot-on DeNiro caricature.

Posted in In Theaters, Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Austin’s first cat cafe opens today!

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Steve

I’ve read all about these places in Japan and then larger American cities (NYC, LA) starting them and now we finally have one. I think it’s awesome but I won’t make it there today, probably within a month since east side requires a little planning to visit (I’m not super familiar with its geography). On the surface, as the article mentions, I would agree, Austin does share the over Texas bias toward dogs…all the parks for them play and publicly shit in despite the rule saying owners need to pick up after them. Yet under the veneer, Austin does make accommodations for felines yet all the original local shops which used to have shop cats are fading away as gentrification pushes them out. This cafe is nice compensation since the only shop cats I see anymore live at Dragon’s Lair.

Posted in Austintatious, Cats | Leave a comment

Kathy the Unicorn!

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Steve

kathyunicornoct

One goal achieved in Las Vegas was finding a unicorn hat for my co-worker and friend Kathy! I think it’s a mandatory accessory for being a DJ, her other passion. I found it walking through Excalibur (where else?) while on my way to collect the winning from the Packers opener, the game in which they beat the Bears’ collective ass as expected.

Kathy is a funny and witty person. However, she’s cooler than a unicorn as this coloring book page explains…

unicornjudging

Posted in Pictures | Tagged | Leave a comment

Luna, the singing cat!

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Steve

I didn’t know cats could sing in Spanish!

Posted in Cats | Leave a comment

Cat’s pajamas returns!

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Steve

catinpjs

That cat is really pliable and/or patient. Our cats freak out, get all super antsy whenever we try to make them wear costumes. I don’t care if this is fake, it’s too funny.

Posted in Cats | Leave a comment

Happy Birthday Helen

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Steve

Still looking good after all these years as per her FaceBook post. I think she did that to show off the new ‘do.

Let’s hope she has a good time while I celebrate by checking out a 4K digital remastering screening of Goodfellas with a four-course meal at Alamo.

Posted in Birthday, News | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Martian: Must See

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Steve

themartianfilmAnother rare case of the film telling the story better than the original novel. If I could do it all over again, I’d still read The Martian before the movie’s release because Andy Weir’s interview on Inquiring Minds made the book compelling. However, it was his first foray into writing so I’m hoping he’ll publish again and his sophomore work won’t be a race to finish versus quitting.

The synopsis is the same but director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard moved some things around. They begin with the astronauts gathering samples, checking their experiments, then NASA tells them to get into the habitat and eventually to evacuate back to the mothership Hermes. In the book they bailed after six days, the movie put it at 18; nothing major. Watney is left behind since an object hit him, took him out of visual and radio range, and his suit’s life signs flatline. Watney regains consciousness within a day to start his several-year odyssey of surviving until NASA can rescue him or the next landing happens.

I enjoyed how they managed to keep most of the Science intact: the potato garden, cracking water from hydrazine, using an RTG as a heater in the rover and communicating through a hexadecimal system until a faster method is developed. Oh yeah, plus the time delay in reception between Earth and Mars…so much for the speed of light. It was done without destroying the movie’s pace too. Even the most Science-averse viewer won’t be bored to death.

The casting was another triumph: Matt Damon was a good choice. Jeff Daniels as NASA’s director, Kirsten Wiig as the Media Director, Sean Bean on Flight Control, Chiwetel Ejiofor head of the Ares missions and Donald Glover as the astrophysicist were great. The astronauts were so-so, Jessica Chastain and Michael Peña have personalities, the other three, namely Kate Mara (the poor-man’s Kristen Stewart for mastering the “who farted” look) are just placeholders.

What I give Scott and Goddard a huge round of applause on was cutting out the novel’s boring last third. Watney’s drive across Mars, the dust storm and tiresome log entries were wearing on my patience. If I hadn’t promised myself Star Wars: Aftermath as a reward, I probably would’ve stopped, waited for the movie.

So go see this. It’s a very good take on what life on Mars would be, especially if you were stranded. There remain some inaccuracies but we learn more and more about our planetary neighbor every year.

Alamo Extras: A music video with an astronauts of sorts; An animated history of our obsession with Mars, narrated by Daws Butler; Trailer for Mission Mars starring Darren McGavin; Trailer for Abbott & Costello go to Mars; Trailer for Robinson Crusoe on Mars, the original inspiration for The Martian; Trailer for Angry Red Planet; Funny commercial for a product you’ll have to clink on the link to see; Spanish-speaking kids singing about outer space or something; Discussions about space stuff dubbing over footage of food-eating competitions; and a Swiss job-finding service commercial.

Posted in In Theaters, Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Happy Native Americans AND Columbus Day

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Steve

For the last several decades, it’s popular to rag on Columbus Day. Why? Probably a handful of reasons yet I have a counterpoint to all the Politically Correct assholes who go on and whine and whine.

  • You wouldn’t be here to piss and moan without the events that transpired unless you have a time machine.
  • Columbus and his crew were typical 15th Century Europeans, namely Spaniards who just spent decades fighting the Moors. So they were just a little belligerent. Isabella and Ferdinand used expeditions keep these ex-soldiers busy because the alternative was civil war. A common problem with demobilization. Do you think the Aztecs would land on European shores and not do the same? Humans overall are frequently inhumane to each other.
  • The connotation of discovered being a sticking point with these douchebags. The Spanish and other Europeans had a good idea there may be another land mass present. The Vikings had failed colonies in New England before 1000 AD; there’s the legend of St. Brendan of Ireland getting to America before the Vikings; and two American Indians washed up in the Netherlands around 50 AD where they became minor celebrities to the Roman court. By this line of reasoning, numerous Scientists never discovered electricity, penicillin or radiation which are naturally occurring things.
  • They need to be ready to condemn the foundation of Israel which has imposed its own apartheid and slow genocide upon the Palestinians; the Turkish conquest of Constantinople; the “pilgrims” had a genocidal approach in New England but Thanksgiving remains on the calendar. Human history has a book filled with these horror stories. Columbus is only one chapter.
  • He’s a dead white male, not a dead civil rights leader who cheated on his spouse with a score of other women or a dead pacifist that slept naked next to underage girls to “show off” his willpower.

I’m not a fan of Columbus’ actions. He serves as a reminder of what not to do…be a Capitalist Christian. HG Wells and Stephen Hawking have warned us how aliens could do the same to the Earth given such a technological gap. Yet Columbus began the vanguard of Western Civilization’s conquest (cultural as well as militaristic) to another hemisphere. You know, where many of us live.

But all this PC bullshit and wanting to change the holiday is as pointless as taking away Penn State’s championships. Those victims weren’t suddenly cured and the sexual assaults magically undone. Ergo, stop wasting your energy and maybe focus it instead on how 9/11 transformed into a national “holiday” in America while conveniently forgetting that on that day 27 years earlier, the US toppled the legitimate government of Chile.

A compromise is fine. Share the date with the American Indians (native is a stupid moniker, three generations of my family were born here, technically we’re natives too). Just get over this flawed line of reasoning, I hate being in the same camp as The Economist with social issues.

All I do is this. I remember that October 12 is the day Columbus landed in North America and planted the seed of European colonization. It didn’t go well for the Arawakans since gold was what the Spanish expedition was looking for. I hope that when we humans go to the stars, find another world with less-developed inhabitants, we WON’T pull such a dick move. I don’t go pick a fight with the American Indians to rub their noses in it but I don’t ask for forgiveness, I am not my ancestors. I want to get along, find a compromise we all can live with, see what we can do to repair the damage. Revoking the holiday won’t achieve shit. Black Americans are now referred to by the PC crowd as African Americans and they’re still mistreated by the cops.

Posted in History, Italians | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Italian #34: Franco Grillini

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Steve

If you’ve ever followed Italy’s national politics, especially after World War II, they appear to be chaotic compared to America’s. Unlike our entrenched Congress which oddly is always in campaign mode, the Italian Parliament (Parlamento) averages an election a year which I’m not going to delve into. All I will say is that there used to be a happy medium between Italy (too many) and America (too little) called Canada but their dictator Stephen Harper with his Conservative majority passed a law locking the Great White North into an election cycle of four years; thus making it harder to dislodge him for doing un-Canadian actions.

Anyway, the point of this post is show how Italy has its own battle for equality on the LGBT front. Besides being the home of the Pope and a very conservative denomination for almost 2000 years, Italian culture shares the French, Spanish and Latin-American discomfort with people who don’t fit the traditional binary sexual identities. Sure, the Italians are rather areligious (distrustful of the Church) from being under the yoke of numerous Popes when they had an army and actual government until the 19th Century. This doesn’t necessarily make them open-minded or the American definition of a Liberal (pronounced Librul by Texan Teabaggers).

Enter Franco Grillini. Currently Italy’s most prominent gay rights activist, or at least the main one I’ve heard about. He certainly took a huge risk being public over his orientation… in 1982! Remember, Harvey Milk was shot in 1978 for being openly gay and was an elected official of San Francisco, the most-renowned city in America for gay residents.

He got into politics in the Seventies with the Proletarian Unity Party and then the Communist Party around 1985; keep in mind, in France and Italy, their Communist parties were legitimate, viable organizations independent of the Soviet Union. It was likely the only party to take him in too. The Christian Democrats? Not a chance. Grillini was elected to the national parliament in 2001 with the Democratic Party of the Left (the Communists dissolved in 1991) and re-elected in 2006. I don’t know if he remains in office. European governments are confusing plus their legislators often are allowed to hold other real jobs or positions.

There’s more to the man than holding office. Grillini has led the charge to fight AIDS, legalize civil unions and ban discrimination over orientation. When he became president of Arcigay (Italy’s equivalent of America’s HRC) in 1988, he called a special session to have lesbians included in the organization. I know, I know, what a “a-duhhhhh!” moment to realize that Arcigay was excluding an equivalent constituency. Again, it’s Italy. They still have patriarchal lapses as the slime trail left by Berlusconi proved. Give Grillini some credit for recognizing the injustice and addressing it.

What Franco is currently doing is hard to tell. His website is in Italian. I do hope he continues the fight in Italy which also can be hard given the old stereotypes. Trust me, if you’re even part Italian, you know all the mean jokes about Sicilians.

Posted in History, Italians | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Stars barely win their season opener in overtime

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Steve

My Stars were off to a rough start as they let the revamped Rampage (now affiliated with the Avalanche) took a 2-0 lead. I feared this would be the kick off to another mediocre season because the only pre-season game I caught showed that their defense was still trying to come together; a problem Dallas shares.

Yes, I know, the opener isn’t necessarily a true indicator for the whole year, especially when there’s over 70 games to determine this. It’s hard to be super stoked after our incredible championship in 2014 and the limping over the finish line this Spring. I’ll probably be more into it later this month. I did have a longer Summer to recuperate.

The Stars did recover, tied the game, then took the lead and eventually the Rampage succeeded with the “pull-the-goalie” tactic in the last minute to force overtime.

This year, the AHL is following the NHL’s rule of just going with a five-minute period of three-on-three before the shootout. Given last year’s four-on-four for three (or was it four) minutes with it dropping to three at the end, one could say the NHL is really following the AHL; the AHL is often the NHL’s place to experiment in rule changes.

It was an exciting kickoff. The Stars tend to lose in OT and until they tied it up, I had plans to bail around the third period to get a head start on my Sunday.

Next up, my Stars spend the week practicing and take to the road to play three games in my old home state of Illinois. One against the Wolves and two with the Icehogs. When they get back, we see them play a foe who’s both old (the Heat) and new, now based in Stockton, CA.

Posted in Austin Stars, Hockey | Leave a comment

Italian #33: Giordano Bruno

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Steve

This year we’ve covered an Italian who affected food/candy and another with art, on to Science. If you watched the new Cosmos, you may remember Bruno’s name. He was the Dominican friar who proposed that the stars in the night sky could be suns which in turn would have their on planets. Therefore there could be life on these other planets. Now Bruno was more than just a friar, he was pretty educated so he’d be on par with a modern-day college professor. Still, what he was saying seemed pretty far out in its day, the Renaissance. I don’t think he was the first, he was probably the first to get it written down. Why do I say Bruno’s hypothesis was odd? Am I not committing some form of the chronological snobbery fallacy? Probably. The Copernican Heliocentric arguments were making the rounds then, Bruno sided with this too; I feel he was getting ahead of himself and/or diving into the realm of Science Fiction. On the other hand, things we once thought were imaginary can sometimes be true or theoretical? The multiverse, a standard trope in comic books; atoms, the silliness of Democritus who lived in a time when Greeks didn’t have even microscopes.

Back to Bruno though.

He pitched this and it ran afoul of the Catholic Church because he lived on the Italian peninsula. Seems rather harmless today but back then, saying life existed elsewhere challenged religious doctrine which I don’t think had an actual position. Somehow Bruno was challenging the existence of god or pitching pagan mindset. Then again, he also disagreed with the Church’s more defined and rigid stances about the Trinity, Christ’s divinity, Mary’s virginity and Transubstantiation. Guess which charges were put at the top of the list?

The Catholic Church didn’t imprison him right away. Bruno managed to flee and wandered various European states for 16 years teaching and researching. Plus remember, the Church’s reach wasn’t absolute on the Italian peninsula, he resided in Venice and Padua without trouble.

Alas his luck ran out with the Roman Inquisition and Venice handed him over. Bruno was put on trial for seven years, found guilty and burned at the stake. His ashes scattered into the Tiber River.

Today Bruno lives on in Astronomical circles through awards and a Moon crater. Plus the Catholic Church has a division of Astronomy which works closely with The Great Courses’ exoplanets’ host Dr. Laird Close of the University of Arizona.

Posted in Astronomy, History, Italians, Science & Technology | Tagged | Leave a comment