Posts tagged waste
“A Good Day to Die Hard” a Video Game of Mass Destruction
Mar 10th
“Video Game of Mass Destruction”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
A Good Day to Die Hard is the fifth in the series of movies starring Bruce Willis as wisecracking action hero John McClane, which began in 1988, and of all the movies in the series, this one is the most recent.
In other words, if you can see only one of the five movies, don’t start with this one.
Yes, there is plenty of action, yes, there are plenty of explosions, yes, there is plenty of gunfire, yes, there are plenty of McClane wisecracks, but no, there is no plot.
Unless you call McClane going to Russia to shoot it up and blow it up to help his estranged son a plot.
McClane hasn’t heard from Jack in years, doesn’t know what he has been doing lately, and yet McClane says, “He could never get out of his own way, he had a lot of problems, but he’s still my kid.”
So, when McClane hears that Jack is on trial for murder in Moscow, McClane decides to go to Russia and help Jack in whatever way he can without even being asked.
And let the mayhem begin.
Jack is willing to testify under oath that another man on trial, Yuri Komarov ordered Jack to kill a third man, but the real purpose of the trial is to force Yuri to hand over a sensitive file he has to authorities.
McClane arrives at the courthouse just as all hell breaks loose, there are explosions, Jack and Yuri escape and seem to be working together, and then McClane joins them to Jack’s obvious displeasure.
McClane and Jack are estranged, remember?
So, now the three of them try to keep from being captured or killed, retrieve the sensitive file, get Yuri’s daughter, and all escape the country.
There are foot chases, there are car chases, there are truck chases, and there are even helicopter chases, all with an excessive amount of gunfire and explosions and even a double cross or two.
Oh, and don’t forget that McClane and Jack will obviously reconcile whatever problems caused their estrangement.
In other words, there is a lot of blithering blather in the movie, too.
A Good Day to Die Hard is nothing more than a video game of mass destruction, and I say don’t waste your money on this sorry excuse of a movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
News & Notes – March 1, 2013
Mar 2nd
Event set for Saturday, March 2 @ 4:30pm
The Junior Service League of St. Augustine’s Lighthouse 5K & Fun Run, held in conjunction with the annual St. Augustine Lighthouse Festival will affect traffic in the Lighthouse and Davis Shores Neighborhoods. The event is set for Saturday, March 2 starting at 4:30pm.
The race starts at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum on Red Cox Dr. and then follows a route along Carver St. E., Lighthouse Ave., White St., Magnolia Dr., Ocean Way, Anastasia Blvd., Comares Ave./Inlet Dr., St. Augustine Blvd., Zoryada Ave., Flagler Blvd., Comares Ave., and returning to the starting point by the same route. A map is available online at the event’s web site at www.lighthouse5k.com.
Traffic will be detoured or momentarily interrupted during the race, so drivers in the affected areas are asked to use caution and expect brief inconveniences.
Bike plan open house scheduled for Wednesday, March 6
Residents in Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns Counties will have one final opportunity to provide input for the North Florida Regional Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan Study being conducted by the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization (North Florida TPO). A series of five open-house walk-through public meetings with multiple stations will allow attendees to review and comment on the plan’s draft elements.
The meeting for St. Johns County is on Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm – 8:00pm in St. Augustine City Hall’s Alcazar Room, 75 King St. To view and print a handy flyer with all the meeting dates click here.
This week on The Break Room: CRA 101
With the recent series of public meetings and presentation before city boards egarding the proposed creation of a Lincolville CRA, or Community Redevelopment Area, Mark Knight, Director of Planning and Building stops by The Break Room this week to discuss and explain the process for creating a CRA.
Each week the friendly and informative style of The Break Room offers the community an opportunity to
know a little more about how their city works by getting to know those who do the work every day. The Break Room airs Wednesdays at 5:30pm and Saturdays at 8:00am, and each program is archived at www.breakroom.info as podcasts available for download anytime. To listen to this week’s program immediately, click here.
Super Community Collection Day set for Saturday, March 9
The St. Johns County Solid Waste Management Department will host a free Super Community Collection Day from 8:00am until noon on Saturday, March 9 at Murray Middle School, 150 N. Holmes Blvd, St. Augustine.
County residents are encouraged to bring household hazardous waste, electronics, and tires for disposal. Household hazardous waste items acceptable for collection include paint, motor oil, gasoline, pesticides and insecticides, aerosol cans, and solvents and thinners. Acceptable E-waste items include monitors, keyboards, computers, desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones, radios, and video cassette recorders. In addition, up to ten tires per household can be disposed of free of charge. Yard debris, garbage, construction waste and other items generated by commercial activity will not be accepted.
To view and print a flyer that includes the time, date and location of the collection as well as a list of acceptable items, click here. For more information or an inclement weather update contact St. Johns County Solid Waste Management at 904.827.6980.
Share your artistic impression as part of Ancient City Mosaic
Artists of all ages and ability levels are invited to share their artist impression of St. Augustine by participating in Ancient City Mosaic presented by Michaels Stores®, a project that will showcase the creative talent of the local and regional community.
The 450-piece exhibit, the number of pieces is representative of St. Augustine’s upcoming anniversary, will first be displayed throughout the St. Johns County community at all six St. Johns County Public Library System locations and the St. Augustine Art Association. The exhibit will then be brought together and featured as a grand 450-piece mosaic. The exhibit will first be on display at all six St. Johns County Public Library System locations and the St. Augustine Art Association from May 3 to June 1. The exhibit will then be displayed as a grand 450-piece mosaic from June 15 to Aug. 10.
Registration is available online at www.ancientcitymosaic.com and must be submitted betweeen February 25 and April 15.
Ancient City Mosaic is supported by the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration, Sertoma Club of St. Augustine, St. Johns County Education Foundation, St. Augustine Art Association, St. Johns County Public Library System and St. Johns Cultural Council.
For more information, call the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration at 904.825.1053.
Anderson Circle closed
For the next month Anderson Cir., between Charlotte St. and Cathedral Pl. will be closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The closure is necessary for AT&T to install conduit via a directional bore under the Matanzas River. In order to accommodate traffic along Charlotte St. the loading zone and parking spaces will be used as the traffic travel lane and parking on Anderson St. will be inaccessible.
For more information, call the Public Works Department t 904.825.1040.
Opportunities to serve
The City Commission of the City of St. Augustine is accepting applications for two volunteer boards:
First is to fill a one (1) term vacancy on the St. Augustine Firefighters Retirement Pension Board of Trustees. Interested individuals who reside within the city limits should submit applications by Friday, March 1, 2013. Appointment is tentatively scheduled to be made by the Commission at its March 11 meeting.
The second is to fill two three (3) year term expirations on the Historic Architectural Review Board. Interested individuals who reside within the city limits should submit applications by March 15, 2013. Appointment is scheduled to be made by the Commission at its March 25, 2013 meeting.
For information about the boards themselves, click on the names of the boards above and for the application form, click here.
For information concerning qualifications and applications please contact the City Clerk’s office at 904.825.1007.
Meeting schedule and agendas
The Planing and Zoning Board meets on Tuesday, March 5. The agenda is here.
The City Commission meets on Monday, March 11. When available the agenda will be here.
The Code Enforcement, Adjustments and Appeals Board meets on Tuesday March 12. The agenda is available here.
The Historic Architectural Review Board meets on Thursday, March 21. When available the agenda will be here.
All agenda, minutes and GTV info
Agendas and minutes for all city meetings can be found at www.staugustinegovernment.com with a schedule of upcoming meetings listed under City Calendar. City Commission meetings are broadcast live via GTV (Comcast Channel 3 in St. Augustine) each second and fourth Monday at 5:00pm. Commission meetings are also recorded and rebroadcast as are Planning and Zoning Board and Historic Architectural Review Board meetings. For a current schedule of all programming on GTV, click here.
Source: City of St. Augustine
“Smashed” about Wasted People
Dec 15th
“Wasted”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Smashed is just another in a long line of films about alcoholics going back at least to the 1945 The Lost Weekend with Ray Milland and the 1962 Days of Wine and Roses with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, and the only thing different is that this time the lead alcoholic character is a woman.
You’ve come a long way, Baby.
Also, it is an independent film that was shot in only 19 days; so don’t expect too much in the way of production values.
And the only message in films about the fall and more falling of an alcoholic is “Don’t do this,” which leaves only great acting, marvelous settings, or compelling story to see a movie like this, none of which are contained in this movie.
Kate is played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and she is married to Charlie, played by Aaron Paul. Kate is a first-grade schoolteacher, and Charlie stays at home and writes music, although we find out later that Charlie has wealthy parents who support them.
In fact, when they wake up one morning after another night of binge drinking, Kate makes a reference to the fact that Charlie stays home and writes, and Charlie says, “Yeah, but my real job is to change the sheets.”
Kate even takes a drink from a flask in her car on the way to work, and then when she is in the classroom teaching her students, she throws up into a wastebasket because she is so hung over.
This prompts one of the students to ask Kate if she is pregnant, because the kid’s mother does that when she is pregnant.
So, Kate lies and says yes, which just leads to an embarrassing chain of events when Kate’s principal and other teachers find out.
Well, Kate keeps drinking, Charlie keeps drinking, and Charlie’s brother and their friends keep drinking, too. Eventually Kate admits that she has a problem, and she agrees to attend a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous with another teacher in the school, played by Nick Offerman.
However, a few meetings don’t do the trick, and Kate keeps drinking and worse.
Matters become aggravated between Kate and Charlie, too, even though he makes a half-hearted attempt to stop drinking along with Kate’s attempts.
Smashed is about wasted people, and don’t waste your money on it.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”