The Boondock Saints

Writer guy

Last night I saw one of the finest films of 2000 four years late. In fact, almost everyone missed the theatrical release of The Boondock Saints because it was an independent film that played for just 10 days, peaking on 5 screens, grossing less than 31,000 dollars worldwide.

That would be the end of the story, only it was a monster DVD hit; the stuff legends are made of. Priced to move at 9.99 it really did.

Boondock Saints is a rare combination of intriguing characters, smart cinematography and a story that pushes the complex heroes to their limits. Chock full of vignettes that could only happen onscreen, it’s an intriguing peak inside the burgeoning conflict between the Russian and Italian mob. Set in Boston, virtually every shot is on location giving the film a gritty, real look.

The film explores the premise of whether it’s a bigger crime to witness violence and do nothing, or to intervene.

A rounded cast that includes Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly add the necessary star credentials to the production. Dafoe’s character as an FBI agent is particularly twisted, even for the Green Goblin. Don’t try and say I didn’t warn you.

True, this is not for everyone and it’s rated R for a reason. But if you’re of age and like the mob genre, give it a whirl.

Software, hardware, nowhere!

Writer guy

Recently Steve Ballmer sent a memo to every Microsoft employee. One short snippet of the very long memo caught my attention.

“We must also work to change a number of customer perceptions, including the views that older versions of Office and Windows are good enough and that Microsoft is not sufficiently focused on security.”

Let’s consider this compound sentence in more manageable pieces, shall we?

“We must also work to change a number of customer perceptions…” Translation: Our customers have their own ideas about our products. Perhaps they tried to use them recently.

“…including the views that older versions of Office and Windows are good enough…” – Translation: Microsoft ships beta. Our products are disposable and meant to be replaced frequently.

“..and that Microsoft is not sufficiently focused on security.” Translation: Was it the rampant virus attacks, or the never ending stream of updates we release on a daily basis that clued people into the issues with our software?

Microsoft is a maturing company in a maturing industry. And the greatest challenge they face is not their competitors, but their customers.

Rocky, is that you?

Writer guy

Here’s what I learned about writing this week:

1) The hotter it gets outside, the harder it is to concentrate.
2) Provided I’ve eaten and loaded up on coffee, I can hit my mark in 2 seconds. Hitting the mark is a term lifted from acting. When an actor hits their mark it means the director is about to call Action! and they have their game face on.
3)There is a point each day to walk away from the PC. When the eyes start twitching, it is past that point.

Check for a special letter to Buddhapuss next Tuesday.

We call him Mister B Part II

Writer guy

This is part 2 of the 2 part blog promised yesterday. Oh, did I mention the blogs are only related by title?

So my father-in-law is an uber RC ( remote control ) master. Few could love flying model airplanes more than this guy. He belongs to a RC club that has an arrangement with the parks system that allows every member access to one of the fields. If you want to fly your plane in that field, you need to be a member of the club.

This is for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important one is so that each remote is set to a different frequency. Otherwise one guy could take over another guy’s plane. And that would not be cool, since most airplanes require a lot of time and money to build.

Weeks ago there was a guy and a kid flying a plane in the field, standing far off the main course. Apparently, they were novice pilots and wound up losing their plane in the woods. By sheer coincidence, the president of the RC club was there as well as a park ranger as witnesses to this violation of the policy. Recognizing this stranger was not a RC member, both the president and the park ranger stormed over to inform him of the situation.

Yes, they had a plan. Only drawing closer, they discovered the interlopers were Bruce Springsteen and his son. In the end, the park ranger helped THE BOSS find the missing plane in the trees and wished him a nice day.