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Iron Man 3 & Star Wars movie reviews,
2004 Vote For Change concert review,
the center of the universe, comedy heaven

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skywriting in LA - How do I Land?

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the frog says Hi

Tuesday Frog



Hopes and Dreams

movie review
Iron Man 3two stars
May 14, 2013

Iron Man 3 was a good movie but not a great movie.  It suffered from baggage and multiples.

In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark (Iron Man) is dealing with anxiety attacks and insomnia stemming from the events of last summer's Avengers movie. He's not focused. And maybe that explains why none of his multitude of Iron Man suits are as good as the first red and gold armor. His armor falls apart repeatedly throughout the movie. We see Tony Stark unarmored more than we see him in the armor.

That's the good part of the story.

But the rest of the 
movie had too many disposable Iron Men and too many disposable villains. The film played Villain of the Moment so much -- showcasing one villain after another -- that when many of the villains were in one scene, they became less menacing.

When the Iron Man armor becomes disposable, it becomes less significant, less valuable.


Iron Man 3 (2013)

Music Association: Black Sabbath - Iron Man
Disney's Marvel film unit has three superhero films this year: Iron Man 3, Wolverine, and Thor: The Dark World.




40th anniversary of Skylab
Skylab's 40th Anniversary
May 13, 2013




Hopes and Dreams


Concert History
A Galaxy of Stars
May 10, 2013

ESA scientists study the black hole at the center of the Milky Way

I was being pulled down by gravity into dark nothingness surrounded by an oval of dim lights.

It was about nine years ago, and I was uncharacteristically late but in no hurry. I didn't have tickets for the 2004 Vote For Change, but I approached a guy in the empty space in front of the Xcel Energy Center. He had tickets. I was unsure. I asked him what kind of seats they were. They weren't seats. That couldn't be good. He couldn't get words out fast enough to tell me how good they were. I had yet to be impressed. Two cheap tickets.

Inside, a band was already playing. A yellow windbreakered security guy shined a flashlight at my ticket, chuckled, and pointed us down to the deep black center. We passed by thousands of seated people, being stopped to show our ticket after every seven or eight hundred. At the end of all the seats, at the first row of seats, a security guy stopped us to really look at our tickets. He was amazed that we could go through.

At one end of the giant crater was the stage. Not much more than two hundred people were standing crammed up in front of the stage (it doubled later). Otherwise it was dark emptiness in the black hole. Pairs of giant speakers were at the edge pointed outward every two hundred feet to deafen the people with the expensive seats.

Crossing the giant expanse of nothingness at the center of the Xcel, I understood what the excited ticket guy in the empty space outside couldn't explain. None of the people who bought seats were allowed in the center. It didn't matter if they bought the tickets from the DFL or Ticketmaster or anywhere.

There was so much empty space in the middle -- like a black hole trying to pull in the turned-neck seated crowd -- that the event people could've rented out the center of the arena to another event (an event within an event).

I didn't know the first band, Bright Eyes, but the rest of the lineup was R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with special guest John Fogerty, and unannounced guest Neil Young. A galaxy of stars. Bright Eyes performed seven songs; we only got to hear a few and spent that time studying the dimensions of the black hole (while being studied by distant observers). Then came R.E.M., who were solidly great.

R.E.M. performed a full CD of greatest hits:
The One I Love
Begin the Begin
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
Leaving New York
So Fast, So Numb
Final Straw
Country Feedback (welcoming surprise guest Neil Young to the stage)
Walk Unafraid
I Wanted to Be Wrong
Losing My Religion
Bad Day (with Bruce Springsteen)
Man on the Moon (with Bruce Springsteen)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took the stage. The next week, a City Pages reporter said that Springsteen never went so far as preaching for change. Yeah right. When someone from New Jersey suddenly has a southern Evangelical accent, it's preaching. The southern Boss performed:
The Star-Spangled Banner
Born in the U.S.A.
Badlands
No Surrender
Lonesome Day
The River
Souls of the Departed (with Neil Young)
All Along the Watchtower (with Neil Young but no Bob Dylan)
Johnny 99
Centerfield (with John Fogerty)
Deja Vu All Over Again (with John Fogerty)
Fortunate Son (with John Fogerty)
The Promised Land (with John Fogerty)
The Rising
Because the Night (with Michael Stipe)
Mary’s Place
Born to Run (with Mike Mills and Peter Buck)
encore
Proud Mary (with John Fogerty)
Rockin’ in the Free World (with R.E.M., John Fogerty, Neil and Pegi Young)
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (all of them)
People Have the Power (all of them)
Neil Young and Springsteen, Vote For Change 2004 Xcel Center, St. Paul MN
At about midnight, the 
brightest, best moment of the concert (topping Born To Run), was Rockin' in the Free World by Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M. and John Fogerty.

By the time the concert ended, it was no longer Tuesday, October 5, 2004, which should prove to astrophysicists that a black hole is a form of time travel (traveling forward in time, and at the same time, back in time to classic rock -- I bet the physicists didn't expect that one... or Neil Young).

The concert may not have changed voters, but it was an outstanding concert, one of my top three.

Music Association: Neil Young - Rockin' in the Free World
Politics and Civil Rights: Hats off to the Minnesota House of Representatives for having a dignified debate yesterday and passing House File 1054 expanding the definition of marriage.
Law-making is usually such a disgusting process that they are called engrossments.








Heaven
May 7, 2013

Johnny Carson asks, “What did you want to do but didn't get the chance to do?

Sam Kinison replies, “What do you mean Johnny, get another divorce? It's funny -- we both ended up married.

Rodney Dangerfield asks, 
To each other?!?

Mitch Hedberg leans back in his cloud and says,
I always wanted to be a racecar passenger...

George Carlin asks,
A racecar passenger.” He acts like he's looking out a window, Are we lost? We've been by here before.

Mitch says,
I'd just bug the driver.  Say man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down. Why do we keep going in circles? Can I put my feet out the window? Man you really like Tide.

Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005) from Minnesota

Music Association: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here  "So you think you could tell, heaven from hell?"
Ten years ago I went to an awesome comedy concert. It was Mitch Hedberg, Lewis Black, Dave Attell, and somebody else at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis in 2003. It was hilarious. I remember that they had Mitch on after Lewis Black and Dave Attell, and he ruled the place. I'd like to know the date of the concert, but after ten years I can't find the ticket, and this was before I started the Twin Cities Calendar.









Which Way Is The Universe?
May 6, 2013

Staring up at the night sky, the Milky Way galaxy of stars stretches across. Within the band, in the constellation of Orion, are some of the most interesting galaxies and nebula we have seen.

Is that the center of the universe?

Yes and no.

We are the center of the universe. They are also the center of the universe. Everywhere that you are is the center of the universe.

Seriously.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble found that galaxies are flying away from us in every direction. That might make this the center of the universe, except the universe is everything -- it has no edges. Space itself is expanding. Every point sees the same expansion. Every point is the center.

Some would argue there is no center point, but that would be pointless.

Music Associations: Harry Nilsson - The Point (Me And My Arrow) & The Beatles - Across the Universe

The Universe has no edges (corners? maybe)




Hopes and Dreams

Star Wars Problem
May the 4th, 2013

The Death Star is a classic movie problem. That's no moon. It's a space station. It is an insurmountable threat that is ultimately easy to destroy. Easy? You call that easy?!? Once the Death Star's tractor beam is turned off, it can't be just turned back on again.

Get out the manual, call tech support, and find someone who can make some decent coffee. The stormtroopers keep burning it. It's as if they can't see a thing in those helmets.

The Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter to be any threat, or they'd have a tighter defense. An analysis of the
plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station.

Special rules apply to the Millennium Falcon

During the course of Star Wars IV A New Hope, the Millennium Falcon approaches and leaves (retreats) the Death Star twice.
1st - Approach. The Millennium Falcon gets caught in a tractor beam.
2nd - Retreat. The Millennium Falcon leaves. The tractor beam is off. The Empire lets the Falcon go.
3rd - Approach. Not shown. Is the tractor beam still off?!? Are special rules still in place for the Falcon's free passage? Are the Death Star command people still just pushing the useless Tractor Beam button, so they don't think of the laser cannons?
4th - Retreat. The Millennium Falcon leaves.  Everyone on the Death Star is still too busy either pressing buttons or cursing tech support to notice.

According to the Death Star Wiki, the space station has 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors. It also has a labor problem. One guy runs all of it, and his aim is so bad, he can't hit anything smaller than Alderaan.

like shooting a womp rat in a T16 back home

Music Association: Meco - Star Wars  (Excuse me, where do you carry your Galactic Funk albums?)
Video Association: Harrison Ford refuses to answer Star Wars questions
Star Wars to do lists







Hopes and Dreams

Kindness of Strangers
May 3, 2013

A woman came up to me in the grocery a couple of days ago. I wasn't doing anything, just being polite. She said, “God bless you.”

I smiled and said, “And you also.”

She was wearing a Muslim hijab. I wasn't. And while I hadn't sneezed, my sneezes are memorable, so that could've been it, but I don't think so.

It was just a good moment between strangers.

Music Association: Dionne Warwick - Say A Little Prayer For You
Other grocery recollections: Nestlé recalls some California Pizza Kitchen and DiGiorno frozen pizzas.






Hopes and Dreams

more honey newsPearson's Candy buys Bit-O-Honey
Bit-O-Honey
May 2, 2013

Yesterday, Bit-O-Honey was purchased by St. Paul's Pearson's Candy Company. Pearson's Candy is famous for its Nut Goodies, Salted Nut Rolls, Mint Patties, and Bun Bars. Bit-O-Honey was created by the Schutter-Johnson Company of Chicago in 1924 and had been owned by Nestlés from 1984 to 2013.

The production of Bit-O-Honey might move from Bloomington, IL to St. Paul, MN, if incentives are available.

The top ingredient of Bit-O-Honey is high-fructose corn syrup. Honey is the eighth of thirteen listed ingredients. It really is just a bit of honey.

Music Association: Honeydogs - Rumor Has It





the Beez Kneez honey delivered by bike
Honey Delivered On Bicycles
May 1, 2013

The Beez Kneez is a Twin Cities delivery program for real, raw, local, pollinated honey.

Beez Kneez honey is delivered on bicycle and is available at certain Minneapolis coops. They have big plans for a Beez Kneez Honey House complete with pedal powered honey extractor. (Does that lead to dizzy bees?)

A bill before the Minnesota Legislature is right up their alley. House File 595 would establish a program for honey bee habitats on state lands.


Music Association: The Beatles - A Taste Of Honey






TIL Bees Are Fed With High-Fructose Corn Syrup
April 30, 2013

no high-fructose corn syrupPicture bees in the hive. Buzzing away. Some beekeeper comes along and takes big chunks of honeycombed honey from their honeycomb hideout. The beekeeper substitutes the honey for a slop of high-fructose corn syrup. Do you think the bees noticed?

We've secretly replaced the fine coffee they usually serve with Folgers Crystals. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.

Researchers have noticed the worldwide collapse of honeybee colonies (Colony Collapse Disorder) and are wondering if the high-fructose corn syrup is the problem.

Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm. Do ya think?

Winnie the Pooh and honey Honey is shelf stable. High-fructose corn syrup is not. Chemically they are similar except that honey has pollen and high-fructose corn syrup does not. And it's the pollen in honey that has antioxidants, enzymes, and other health benefits.

Some companies filter out the pollen from their honey. Why would they do that?

Pollen tells where the honey comes from. China has been found to add illegal antibiotics and dilute the honey with high-fructose corn syrup. (The antibiotics preserve the corn syrup.)

In one instance 11 years ago, contaminated Chinese honey was shipped to Canada and then on to a warehouse in Houston where it was sold to jelly maker J.M. Smuckers and the national baker Sara Lee. By the time the FDA said it realized the Chinese honey was tainted, Smuckers had sold 12,040 cases of individually packed honey to Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Sara Lee said it may have been used in a half-million loaves of bread that were on store shelves.John Belushi (SNL) King Bee

The honey you've been eating probably isn't honey, according to this study. Yes, even the honey in the plastic bears. 

Music Association: John Belushi - King Bee  "Buzz Buzz"

The European Union has banned the nerve-agent pesticides blamed for the dramatic decline global bee populations. The moratorium restricts the use of imidacloprid and clothianidin, made by Germany's Bayer, and thiamethoxam, made by the Swiss company, Syngenta. The ban on use on flowering crops will remain in place throughout the EU for two years unless compelling scientific evidence to the contrary becomes available.







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