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I am a part-time author of dollarbinhorror.blogspot.com...short story and novel writer. I've found true love with the one I love.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Stardate 0917.10

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Fall is in it's infancy. The leaves are falling. Damn! Damn! Damn!




Another Descent Into...
Steelers Recap-Week One
So let's say you lose your two-time Super Bowl winning QB for a period of time due to his stupidity. What do you do? For the Steelers, the answer was easy, go back to basics. Grit, the run game, and badass D was the key to Sunday's 15-9 overtime win over the Falcons.

For almost the entire game it was a classic slugfest against a team many consider to be on par with the Saints in football superiority. If you ask me, the Steelers could have won this game in regulation if Bruce Arians would have done some proper offensive coordination and Jeff Reed hadn't missed a fg with less than a minute to play.

Nevertheless, I will praise Arians for Rashard Mendenhall's 50-yd td run to seal the deal for the black and gold. I think the Steelers will be ok for the next three weeks.

Week 2 vs. Titans-
Which leads us into this week's game against the Tennessee Titans. Led by current running back gawd, Chris Johnson, the Titans are coming off a victory against the Raiders and really want to run it down the Steelers gullet. Guess what? Ain't happening! The Steelers D is going to be very tough, so tough in fact, they will keep Johnson under 100 yards for the first time in twelve game. On the offensive front, I look for Dennis Dixon to finally get into a rhythm and actually throw for a td. Steelers 17 Titans 7

It Can't Happen Here-
I love books about possible scenarios involving America and a change of the political  and social guard. Sinclair Lewis's 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here is a fine and timely example of such a story. Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a charismatic and power-hungry politician, is elected President of the United States on a populist platform, promising to restore the country to prosperity and greatness, and, more importantly, promising each citizen $5,000 a year Once in power, however, he becomes a dictator; he outlaws dissent, puts his political enemies in concentration camps, and creates a paramilitary force called the Minute Men who terrorize the citizens. One of his first actions as President is to make changes to the Constitution which give him sole power over the country, rendering Congress obsolete. This is met by protest from the congress as well as outraged citizens, but Windrip declares a state of martial law and, with the help of his Minute Men, throws the protesters in jail. As Windrip dismantles democracy, most Americans either support him and his Corpo Regime wholeheartedly or reassure themselves that fascism "can't happen" in America.


The few who openly oppose Windrip's regime form a secret protest organization called The New Underground; establishing a secret propaganda periodical under the alias the Vermont Vigilance. Doremus Jessup becomes a major contributor to these publications, writing editorials decrying the state's abuses of power. Shad Ledue, head of the state police and Jessup's former employee, terrorizes him, eventually putting him in a camp. He also goes after Jessup's family, attempting to seduce Jessup's daughter, Sissy. Eventually, however, Ledue falls out of favor with Windrip, and he is put in the same camp as Jessup, where he is murdered by the angry inmates he sent to the Camp. After his friend bribes a guard, Jessup escapes from the camp, rejoins his family, and goes to Canada to join a resistance movement.

In time, Windrip's hold on power begins to weaken; the economic prosperity he promised has not materialized, and more and more people are fleeing to Canada to escape his government's brutality. Windrip's lieutenants stage a coup; Secretary of State and Windrip's number two man, Lee Sarason, becomes president and has Windrip exiled to France. In the ensuing power vacuum, they fight among themselves for control, setting the stage for the regime's self-destruction. After another coup, ousting Sarason in favor of General Haik, the Corpo Regime's power slowly starts seeping away and the government desperately tries to find a way to keep the people happy with the Regime. They decide to stir up patriotic fervor by slandering Mexico in the state-run newspapers, deciding an all-out invasion of the country will rally the American people around the government. But the resulting draft of 5 million men for the invasion splits the country into factions: those pro-war and loyal to the Corpo government, and those anti-war who now see that they have been manipulated for years.

With this novel, you have to take it in very slowly. The prose and dialogue is ripe with mid-30s vocabulary and expressions. The main thing I was disappointed with is this is not a multi-character tale. I feel it would have worked better. I mean, a major upheaval such as this is bound to be rich with other people's actions. If it hadn't been for this novel, there would have been no original V  and no cornerstone for my imagination. That much I'm thankful for. Pick this up. 8/10

The Cinema Snob-
Mr. Snob will be away for a few weeks filming a movie so no new episodes for awhile. However, it doesn't mean there will be no fun at the end of my post. Oh no. This week I dig into the archives and pull out a peculiar porn featuring-guess who-ROCKY!!!




Friday, September 10, 2010

Stardate 0910.10

                                                           Lest We Never Forget...

Another Descent Into...

Steelers vs. Falcons-Wk.1 preview-

And with the Saints 14-9 win over the Vikings last night, we have kicked off another season of NFL football and the start of my weekly Steelers preview. This week is the start of a month-long journey of uncertainty for the black and gold. Big Ben begins his suspension, and backup Byron Leftwich is out with a sprained knee leaving the QB duties to little-used Dennis Dixon coming off an above-average preseason.

Up first is the Atlanta Falcons, a team with a third-year QB in Matt Ryan with considerably more experience. Yet after completing 61.1 percent of his passes and being named the Offensive Rookie of the Year while leading the Falcons to the playoffs in 2008, Matt Ryan was less accurate (58.3) and took a small step backward in Atlanta's 9-7 season. After missing two games with a toe injury, though, Ryan came back to throw six touchdowns in leading the Falcons to their final three victories.

They are up against a rejuvenated Steelers D with a healed Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith at the helm. Which I feel will decide the outcome of this game. I think the Steelers will go back to offensive basics, i.e, run, run, run. The O-line has improved along with starting RB Rashard Mendenhall which will give the Falcons D all it can handle. Look for a low-scoring game in the Steelers favor...Pittsburgh 17, Atlanta 10


Rush-Beyond The Lighted Stage-

I have waited an eternity for a proper story about one of Rock-N-Roll's greatest groups. Rush has never received a Behind the Music episode nor an A&E Biography. It took almost 40 years and director Sam Dunn to bring the story of Rush to life.

Featuring an A-Z bio along with interviews by the band and their fans and peers(Gene Simmons, Sebastian Bach, Jack Black, Les Claypool to name a few). We learn Rush's path to success was often impeded not by drugs or alcohol(though Geddy Lee admits they used drugs during the recording of their awful Caress of Steel album), but rather mainstream critics and so-called musically inclined folk who felt the band was nothing but hot air.

The most heartfelt piece is towards the end of the movie where Neil Peart opens up(a crack) about the loss of his daughter and first wife within a span of the year. If you're a fan of the band, you will love this. If you are not a fan of the band, you will love this. This is a perfect documentary, no doubt about it.  DYK: The original drummer for the band was the late John Rutsey. Neil Peart would join following the release of their debut album.10/10

Rush(self-titled album)
Every story has an origin. In the story of Rush, it begins with this 1974 self-titled debut. Featuring original drummer John Rutsey, this album can be best described as Zeppelin on 5-Hour Energy. All these songs are not in the lyrical depth of their later work(albeit "Working Man" comes close), but you can hear the passion and energy so prevalent in alot of first albums.

We start with the hard-charging "Finding My Way". A great intro, fantastic in-your-face, Geddy Lee-vocal piercing tune. "Need Some Love" is not quite as good, but not bad. Somewhere in the middle. "Take A Friend" despite the get-to-the-point beginning is kinda of a dinosaur slog.  "Here Again" is a slow, bluesy jam which is rather depressing, not in a bad way though. "What You're Doing" is more or less them in Zeppelin tribute band mode. "In The Mood" is a rather naughty kind of song, Geddy putting out there for the girl he's singing for.
"Before and After" is a slow starter but kicks in two minutes in with a variation of the "Over the Hills and Far Away" riff. The album closes with the legendary "Working Man". It's about all of us who work a joe job then want to get back and chill. Ironically, it was Cleveland that first broke Rush, so I guess I'm grateful....7.5/10

Troll 2-


I'm going to be to the point...PIECE OF FUCKIN SHIT!!! Steer clear of this movie. Yes, I'm aware of its cult following as Best Worst Movie ever, but no matter how I tried to see this film, I couldn't get past anything that was bad and I love bad movies! But what I don't like is the dialogue, Jackie Collins could have written better verbiage!. The acting on the level below kindergarten plays. Worse yet, this isn't a sequel to the original Troll!  Yet in the pile of shit, I can at least pull from it one peanut...



1/10. This movie has displaced Titanic as my 2nd least favorite movie of all time. Maybe I don't get it. No wait, I do. It sucks! If you like this movie in whatever context you see it in, good for you!

The Cinema Snob-
Here are the two latest episodes from the SnobMeister himself-
Caligula, Part II-


and the more recent, Violent Sh*t-