Dave Easterly’s Bravo Sierra Blog

Narnia – Good, Our local theatre – Teh Suck

I went to see Narnia at our local theatre tonight. The movie, if you can overlook all the Messianic overtones and the religious symbolism, is actually a really fun fantasy story with some of the most beautiful scenery and enjoyable visual effects I’ve ever seen. Definitely 4 out of a possible 5.

But if you I’m writing about something, you know there had to be something to piss me off. In this case, it’s the local theatre. I live in a little town called Twin Falls, ID and if you ever come here in the summer, going to the movies is huge fun because we have not just one but TWO open and operating Drive-in theatres! But if you go to ANY of the larger indoor theatres, they’re all owned by the same flaming douchebags. Why, you might ask, are they flaming douchebags? Narnia is 140 minutes long according to IMDB.com. That’s a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes. Yet the festering herpes sores that pass for theatre owners around here felt it needed an intermission. Not such a bad idea if there are a bunch of children watching a 2+ hour movie. But 5 minutes to take your 7 year old to go dispose of some of that ridiculously priced soda while candy bars dance on the screen and that somehow-not-quite-offensive-even-though-it-should-be cartoon of a hot dog and bun playing “lion tamer” that ends with the hot dog jumping into the bun plays is one thing. Being force fed an additional and unnecessary 15 freaking minutes of COMMERCIALS is entirely another. And to top it off, they interrupt the show right in the middle of a chase scene… no lull in the action, no segue, nothing. And when the intermission ended, the house lights were still up and there was a good 15 or 20 seconds where there was dialog and action sounds, but nothing visible on the screen. To me, that totally screwed up the flow and feel of an entire section of the movie. It was like they let a drunk and half blind monkey with only one arm splice the freakin’ thing. To top it off, these guys are freakin’ assholes. As a movie ends, they herd people out to exits with no restrooms anywhere in sight and a “guard” at each theatre screen’s door and if you just happen to have to piss (as if anyone who just drank a 6 dollar, 64 ounce Coke would need to!) you pretty much have to threaten to piss ON them to get back to the concession lobby where the only restrooms are located. God, they suck with a great and mighty suckiness. So if you’re seeing a movie in Twin Falls, ID in the winter go to one of the two small “indy” theatres – The Orpheum in the old downtown or the Lamphouse. Avoid the Odyssey at the mall, the Twin 12, AND the Jerome theatre since they’re all owned by the same douchebag shitwads.

Death doesn’t go on vacation

Another truly good friend of mine is gone. John Nuckols was the owner of Rock Creek Metal Craft, whose site I happen to host on this server. He was also a fellow member of the Snake River Bros. and a definite “one of a kind” guy. John loved life and lived it to the fullest for most of his years. He rode like an Immortal! To see John take that big Royal Star bike of his down a winding road was absolutely poetic. He knew no fear and no limits. When I decided I wanted to get back into riding, John let me ride that big, beautiful purple bike out in the country past Hansen through Sawtooth. That was the heaviest damned bike I’d ever been on in my life (and I’m no small fry at about 6’1″ and 280 lbs.) but he handled it like it was made of nothing air, smoke, and thunder! I’ve mulled over John’s passing for over a week now, and I’m just now coming to terms with the fact that he’ll never tell me another dirty joke or ask me to come over and fix his computer again. I wish like Hell I could have told him one last time how much his friendship really meant to me. I didn’t see a lot of him over the last year because life has a way of constantly throwing shit at you, and you either keep moving or get hit. I was so busy moving, I missed my chance to say goodbye.

Farewell, John. You’re gonna be missed, dear old friend.

Part of what sucks about Death is that he always seems to come around this time of year and just totally fuck up the holidays — Last year it was Gramma Beulah in Tennessee on the day after Christmas and this year we’ve lost David Cherry and now John. My other big worry is that Old Man Reaper always seems to visit in threes.

Patent-Busting 101

Here’s a quote for you:

Atlantic Works v. Brady, 107 U.S. 192, 200 (1883):

“It was never the object of those [patent] laws to grant a monopoly for every trifling device, every shadow of a shade of an idea, which would naturally and spontaneously occur to any skilled mechanic or operator in the ordinary progress of manufacturing . . .
Such an indiscriminate creation of exclusive privileges tends rather to obstruct than to stimulate invention. It creates a class of speculative schemers who make it their business to watch the advancing wave of improvements, and gather its foam in the form of patented monopolies, which enable them to lay a heavy tax upon the industry of the country, without contributing anything to the read advancement of the arts. It embarrasses the honest pursuit of business with fears and apprehensions of concealed lies and unknown liabilities to lawsuits and vexatious accountings for profits made in good faith.”

There’s a dude who has taken on busting Amazon’s “One Click” patent all by himself! His blog is at http://igdmlgd.blogspot.com/ and is definitely worth a visit. He needs to raise about $2500.00 US to pay the USPTO for the “reexamination fee.” Put a few coins in the old Pay Pal jar, and let’s help this guy erase the stain of Amazon’s ridiculous patent on a blazingly obvious technology!