Do not perturb Resting Snake

Go ahead and watch, but put down your coffee first.

To Hell with Cable TV

As explained by Tam and Bobbi, in their usual eloquent way.

Review: Need for Speed

This is one of those movies that's about watching, not thinking.  The plot, what little there is of it, was so far-fetched that I had to actively remind myself to watch not think several times.  But after that, there was plenty to watch!  Real stunts too, not a bunch of CGI-only-possible stuff.  Honestly, it had nearly as much of a story and significantly more realistic physics than Gravity, and that was good for what, seven Oscars?  Believe me, the plot of Need for Speed wasn't really that much more far-fetched.

So... see it or not?  It's a car movie, with speed and crashes and hot chicks and fast cars and if that sounds good to you and you can turn off your analytical brain for an hour and a half and just enjoy the stuff, then go full-tilt and see it in 3D.  If you want two and a half hours of gut-wringing cinematic drama that deeply, deeply means something to film critics, it's probably not the movie for you.

Then we get to the Mustangs in the movie.  At times this flick was little more than a Ford advertisement.  If watching new Mustangs be unveiled before adoring crowds, if hearing Mustangs roar through American cityscapes and landscapes, if watching Mustangs going way too damn fast sounds like fun, then this is your movie.

There are a few bad things to say about this flick.  I had to keep reminding myself "watch, don't think."  The plot got kind of syrupy with some sub-plots that nobody really gave a rat's about.  Dunno, maybe it was a try at making it work as a date movie.  A times, the small-town-down-home-American cliches were coming on faster than the cars.  Those negatives have got to knock some points off, so call it all 2.75 out of 4 stars.  I was entertained.

I Want My Blues!

Digging around on Radio Locator today for my local area, I found something really interesting: WHJA, an actual blues station up in Laurel MS.  Just inside of listening range too!

Tried tuning in... nothing.
Looked on Wikipedia only to find:

The station has been silent since August 25, 2008.^[1] According to the station's application to the FCC for authority to remain silent, the station suffered a "massive transmitter failure" and they claim that "repair of the facility may not be economically feasible." The application notes that the financial performance of the station is being assessed "in light of the needed technical expenditures."^[1]

Well dang.  Something like two dozen each of classic rock, country pop, spoits twak, and St. Ronald only knows how many political talk stations are in this coverage area... but south Mississippi can't find room on the dial for one little full-time blues station?

Digging deeper and searching Radio Locator's database for all blues stations in the U.S. turns up a dozen (not counting defunct WHJA), six of which are in MS and four more are in neighboring states.  So this situation is at least not a complete regional cultural embarrassment.  But still.

Meh, at least we've got WQRZ-LP's Blues Tuesday (hyper)locally, and WWCR's Last Radio Playing show a couple of times a week.  After that... time to start looking for internet feeds off of these little stations.  If I find anything interesting over the weekend it will be posted.

In Which Betteridge's Law is Applied

Is DIY brainhacking safe?  Apply Betteridge's Law and see!
Probably smarter to take a software approach here.

Here, have some Retrofutureism!

...and in Russian at that.  Go ahead, click through, it's safe.  Enough.

One More for the Road

The road to work that is.  From over at The Argyle Sweater:

It is good to finally know.