Help With Multiple Sclerosis

Good afternoon dear readers. I am going to ask for your help today. This won’t be like last time where I pimped some DVDs on you, no today is a little more serious.

Multiple Sclerosis was something I was completely ignorant about until a few months ago. Sure I saw the telethons and I even made my donation to the cause, but now it has made a personal impact on my life. Don’t worry I’m not asking you for money. Let me also clarify that I do not actually have MS myself.

What I’m asking for is your help to reach 100,000 signatures on a petition that will allow for a clinical trial on Low Dose Naltrexone here in the US. This drug (taken in pill form) is cheaper ($30 vs. $1100 montly) and less painful than daily injections. Current MS treatments feel almost as bad as MS attacks themselves.

Help me spread the word and ask your friends and family to sign the petition. Here is the direct URL that you can copy to an e-mail message:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/110785607

Thank you.

This isn’t your father’s prom date…

Today’s current event isn’t all that current, but it was brought to my attention as I listened to The Morning Edge on the drive to work this morning. In February a 12yr old girl was beaten into a coma simply for being kissed by a boy at someone else’s birthday party. The news story quotes the mother as having told her daughter to “handle her business” at which point the violence ensued. Teenagers & adults at the party kicked the girl into unconsciousness (what kind of chaperones were they?).

Girl violence is nothing new, but I must admit I’m not sure if I find it all that appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I have an appreciation for strong, fiercely independent females (just ask Michelle). I enjoy Alias and thought Buffy was a kickass heroine, but is aggressive behavior something we should encourage from women?

Maybe I should organize my thoughts better before I continue. I know I’m generalizing quite a bit, but girls historically are known for their psychological methods of dealing angst & woe. Girls quite frankly can be mean and while guys can attempt to be mean, we are clumsy amateurs when compared to the deft skill women have developed. An art form not unlike the “Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique” there is a reason why hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned.

I hate to resort to the “back in my day” scenario, but girl fights were always more vicious than guy fights growing up. Most guy fights were about immediate pain and a quick display of macho-chest-beating. Girl fights in contrast were about complete & total annihilation. It wasn’t a good girl fight unless somebody had a fistful of clumped hair and an eye gouged out. Of course, nobody brought a handgun to a knife fight back then either.

Not sure what happened to my point, but I guess I never expected a movie like Mean Girls to be considered educational material.

Sunday Update

Hello citizens.

There comes a moment when you realize that maybe you bit off more than you can chew. For me, NOW is that moment.

Stopped time and saw three movies over the weekend. 13 Going On 30 is cute, a knockoff on Big, but cute. Man On Fire is definitely a must see with another fine performance by Denzel Washington and great chemistry with up & coming Dakota Fanning. The Punisher was much better than the reviews gave it credit for. I would see it if high action violence is your thing. It had it’s humorous moments and Tom Jane reminds me a lot of Christopher Lambert.

With the week kicking into overdrive I will spend my time attempting to finish 12 projects for school, set up a video contract with a local comedy club, press an order for 100 DVDs (thank you!), complete two website projects all while satisfying the needs of my lovely fiance. Look up “stress” in the dictionary and you’ll probably see a picture of my battered, bloody, smiling corpse next to it.

And somehow I manage to feel unnerved at the idea that I have not been updating the website lately. Now I know I need that drink.

Neverending Spam

Thank you spammers, it’s been a real treat today. Nice to know that MT-Blacklist isn’t working correctly (blame my webhost) and now I’m not even receiving e-mail notifications on comments.

I had a real blog entry around here somewhere, but you killed it. You really did.

Movie Review – Kill Bill Vol 2.

The Plot – “The Bride” has already dispensed with Vernita Green & O-Ren Ishii, but there’s still Budd & Elle to deal with. Already a footnote in her memory, the audience will get a recap of events before the lady is off to Kill Bill.

The Review – As many know I’ve been waiting for this sequel ever since I reviewed Kill Bill Vol 1. The plastic wrap hadn’t even been broken on my DVD yet and Mich3lle & I were at the theatre last Friday for the premiere. Where the first movie was a whirlwind of action sequences Vol 2. firmly chokes up the reigns for a storytelling pace. Here the encounters are even more personal, the deaths seemingly more deserving, the overall tone more conflicted. “The Bride” seems less invincible this time around and we learn a little more of the back story via flashback. We also get to meet Bill.

One has to wonder if Quentin Tarantino might resurrect another career. Anyone catch David Carradine on Alias tonight? He was perfectly cast in this volume. I can’t imagine anyone else pulling off the role of Bill. Maybe you remember him as Kwai Chang Caine on the Kung Fu TV series, but I recall he played a sly villain opposite Chuck Norris back in 1983. And who could forget Death Race 2000 or Shane? No apologies for being a cult film guy.

The fact this isn’t the hack & slash fest the first movie is might throw some people, but I felt it complimented the overall story very well. It had predictable moments, but I thought the delivery by its cast well done. The kung fu training sequences were a humorous nod to that genre and yours truly is probably one of a few people that owns Shogun Assassin which was a character favorite in the film. (Imagine this totally geek moment – OMIGOD I HAVE THAT DVD! I KNOW WHAT DVD THEY’RE PLAYING!) Once again, no apologies for watching late night kung fu theatre as a kid.

Grade: B+ (It did have some slow moments)

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