Author: Ken Bolding

MOVIE REVIEW: JUSTICE LEAGUE

Posted by | Nov 16, 2017 | |

JUSTICE LEAGUE starts off with vertically shot cell phone video. And you know how I feel about that. That said, it didn’t suck as bad as I feared. But it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Not unwatchable, but not WONDER WOMAN. And I’m pretty sure I could see where the super-stache was erased. Lots of super powers and talk of wielding super powers. Why or why not? But I barely get a sense of the people inside the costumes. They are super-names and costume-fillers. Like the Broadway show CATS, they parade out, show you their special thing, you...

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MOVIE REVIEW: THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. 

Posted by | Nov 10, 2017 | |

I loved THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. It is dark and funny, full of interesting characters, that are often awful people but who are really human. They have warts, scars, and occasionally brains that are a hair too small. But it makes for an entertaining two hours. I recommend it. ***Stop reading if you haven’t seen it yet.*** OK, this is a is-it-just-me situation. There’s one performance that jarred me out of the film two or three times. An actor started sounding sort of British at one point, and then sort of something else, Russian maybe, but certainly not...

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ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Yin and Yang

ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Yin and Yang

Posted by | Aug 29, 2017 | |

ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Yin and Yang “Pardon me, sir. Would you be able to change a dollar for the bus?” I’m standing at the bus stop on the corner of Fair Oaks and Colorado in Old Town Pasadena. He is older gentleman in slacks and a blazer. I’m not using “gentleman” lightly. He seems uncommonly courteous. The kind of person for whom the term should be reserved. I ask whether four quarters will do, and we make the trade. He then introduces himself, which is not common in such an exchange, and he uses both his first and...

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ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Class, If I’d…

Posted by | Aug 29, 2017 | |

ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Class, if I’d… – by Ken Bolding Some (possibly slightly crazy) Guy: (screaming from across the street) You going golfing? Me: No. Photography. I arrive at the bus stop, and set down my bags. Guy crosses the street and approaches. Guy: What is that? Me: Photography equipment. Guy: (excited) But what’s that sticking out of your bag?! Me: (sigh) It’s a collapsible frame for a piece of diffusion. Guy eyes me suspiciously. Guy: You from JPL? [NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory] Me: No. Guy: C’mon, really? Me: No. Guy stares at me for a few seconds, leans in, and then asks in a conspiratorial whisper, “you classified?” Me: No. Guy: Seriously, are you classified? Me: No. Guy: I don’t know if I believe you… (accusingly) You smell like skunkworks! He takes a moment and then suspects I might have misinterpreted his accusation as a dig against my personal hygiene, rather than as an accusation that I’m a scientist working on secret government projects. Guy: I mean, you don’t actually smell at all. You smell like Purell… And you’re not classified? You don’t work for JPL? Me: No. Guy: Hmmm. (tentatively) OK… You have a good day. Me: You too. Originally published Feb 16, 2014 @...

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Quotations

“All faith is false, all faith is true. Truth is a shattered mirror strewn in myriad bits, while each believes his little bit the whole to own.”
– Sir Richard Frances Burton

“It’s been my experience that most leaps of faith are preceded by a shove.”
-Goldie, “I’m Dying Up Here.”

“Those who would trade essential liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.”
-Benjamin Franklin

“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”
-Groucho Marx