When Uncle Ken mentioned the movie The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming I thought, Hey! I saw that when it came out! So to determine how well it withstands the test of time I found it online and watched it again, hoping it would be as good as I remembered. Sadly, it's not too good, although it does have it's moments. I thought it was pretty flat, almost dull, and not very entertaining.
The "good" version of Moby Dick is a different story; I got half way through it before I screwed up and lost the connection but what I saw holds up very well. A little scenery chewing by some of the actors at times but it still an impressive film, even with the 1950's era special effects. I'm convinced that a few whales were killed during production. And you can never go wrong with a screenplay that was partially written by Ray Bradbury.
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The Big Bang Theory is one of those shows that I avoid at all costs but if Mr. Beagles and the hypothetical wife enjoy it, well, more power to them. I find the laugh track particularly annoying, which is why I like shows that forgo it like Veep, Silicon Valley, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I think one of the first comedies shown without a laugh track, as opposed to shows filmed before a live audience, was Malcolm in the Middle, but I could be wrong on that one.
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All the blather about the Russians is becoming tiresome. Folks are reacting as if the United States has never meddled in the affairs of other sovereign nations but the big difference is the Russians got caught in the act. Isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Mr. Beagles inquired about the situation in the Ukraine and it looks like they are the lab rats for Russian cyber attacks; see this for more info: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-hacking-of-ukraines-power-grid-test-run-for-us-attack/
More imitation, the precedent possibly being the US and Israeli deployment of Stuxnet to screw up the centrifuges in one of those Mid-Eastern countries, I forgot which one.
So we're in a real Cyber War now, and if you follow the money, it leads to trade and the price of oil. Russia is getting nailed because of the low oil prices, and disruption of any kind to drive up the price may be their goal.
But some of the current flap can be traced to the perceived lack of respect given to the Russians. Americans tend to ignore the fact that the Russians had the biggest impact, and lost more people, in defeating Hitler. We talk about the US landing on the moon but forget to mention Sputnik or Yuri Gagarin. Considering their level of technology and manufacturing infrastructure their accomplishments were astounding. They are a proud people and will go to great, often extreme, lengths to achieve their goals. Didn't Stalin once say something like "one death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic?" The US should tread lightly in dealing with those guys; they don't dick around.
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I still enjoy watching Columbo, even if I've seen the episode before, usually many times before. But the programmers know their audience, which is geezers like myself. The ads are mostly for old people stuff: retirement insurance, pills for this or that, and most troublig, catheters. But a new ad caught my eye and I wonder what the world is coming to. For about 20 bucks you can buy the Sockslider, a gadget that helps you put on your socks without bending over. Hell, if things are that bad you probably can't wipe your ass either, but there is surely a gadget coming to market that will solve that problem, too.
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