It snowed today.

We had some friends over last night for dinner, conversation and classic SciFi Movies! We watched The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet on DVD.

Brenda made an excellent dinner and I bought an excellent cheesecake!

--Mmmmm Coffee...

Love in the small things...

So I was sitting on my couch in my bathrobe this cold Saturday morning, drinking coffee and watching This Old House. I couldn't find one of my slippers last night so I was sitting there barefoot. The wind hammers that corner of the house. The evil drafts lick at your feet.

Unbidden, Brenda comes up from downstairs and with a kiss on my forehead and hands me a pair of soft socks fresh out of the dryer. Still warm.

--No word exists that could describe the Love I felt at that moment...

Fahrenheit 911 Frozen Out of WGA Noms

Michael Moore is getting the cold shoulder in Hollywood.

His movie Fahrenheit 9/11 failed to garner a Best Picture nod or anything else when Oscar nominations were unveiled on Tuesday. Now, the fat-assed filmmaker has been sidelined as the Writers Guild of America announced the list of nominees for its inaugural Documentary Writing Award.

--The only reward he has deserved is the Bush re-election.

He Chickens out and 11 people die.

Juan Manuel Alvarez, the California man who parked his car on train tracks, faced multiple murder charges on January 27, 2005 in the deaths of 11 people in a fiery chain-reaction crash after a commuter train struck his vehicle. Officials signaled they might seek the death penalty in the case.

--Brought to you by Hell Labs, Ironic Punishment Division

So I watched the movie: THE CORE

You probably didn't see the movie. It bombed at the box office. It was your standard hero-scientist-saves-world-and-gets-the-girl plot.

It got me thinking though. Thinking as I get my children ready for bed. As they hug me around my neck...

What would I do if I knew the world was about to end? What if the planet killing asteroid was on a collision course with Earth? What if the plague was sweeping the land clean? What if there was no place to run?

I would probably make milkshakes. And get more hugs around my neck...

What the Hell are you smiling about?

Someone at work asked me today why I was so content and happy all the time. It's because I am a wealthy man.

I do it by wanting less, in stead of obtaining more.

--I always want more friends though.

Hot women in their 40's are taking over.

Have you noticed all the new shows that are full of beautiful women that are in their 40s. Even before Desperate Housewives there was the original CSI that has Margi Helgenberger. Battlestar Glactica even, I can't even think of them all right now. Movies too.

What made me think of it was that I was watching a new show tonight called Point Pleasant. A totally whacked show but has very hot moms and former prom queens.

--Life is good.

"Da Vinci" To Film in Louvre

The Code will be unlocked—in the Louvre.

French officials are close to giving Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard the final go-ahead to shoot scenes of his big-screen adaptation of author Dan Brown's best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code in the famed museum, according to published reports.

"There is really a very strong desire to see the movie for this book, which has world renown, shot in the Louvre," the Louvre's director, Henri Loyrette was quoted as telling France-Inter radio. "It is a yes in principle from our side."

As just about everyone knows by now, The Da Vinci Code follows globe-trotting Harvard art historian, Professor Robert Langdon, on his quest to decipher clues found in Leonardo Da Vinci's famous paintings that unravel a centuries-old conspiracy that threatens to bring down Christianity.

Tom Hanks signed on to play Langdon in November and Howard's production team has since been busy gearing up for the shoot.

--I now have hope for this movie...

I hate the News these days.

I was reading today that Katie Couric is going to replace Dan Rather as anchor of the evening news. What the hell is wrong with these people? Look, Katie is fine on the morning show. She is perky and sickly sweet and a completly open about being a very liberal democrat. I would have thought that they would have tried to repair their journalistic credits. In Stead, we get a girl that can "Tell us about that plane crash with a gleem in her eye."

I was also surprised to discover that more people now watch FOX News than ALL the other News channels COMBINED! Conservatives now own talk radio and TV News.

--Walter Cronkite, where have you gone when we need you so...

Who's the Man!

Sci-fi legend, American icon, acting genius, national treasure, all around great guy--all aptly describe god among men, William Shatner. Now, Big Bill can add another: Golden Globe winner. Shatner Sunday night took home the gold with his win in the Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor (TV) award. He received the trophy for his portrayal of the happy go lucky Denny Crane on TV’s Boston Legal.


--He deserved an Emmy for that last CD also!! hehe Has been

Some asshole hacked this website.

I found 396 occurrences of a piece of JavaScript that auto launched a pile of pornsites! And not even GOOD pornsites!! It took me three hours to clean up the mess!

Oh The Humanity!!

Sorry world, if you stepped on that land mine!

--The Bastards!!

First 'Survivor' Winner Dodged Taxes

BOSTON - He survived one of the toughest tests of reality television but now Richard Hatch, the first winner of the U.S. TV series "Survivor," is facing his toughest challenge yet.

Hatch failed to report the $1 million he won on "Survivor," federal prosecutors said on Tuesday as they charged him with filing false tax returns.

The 43-year-old Hatch, whose brash strategizing propelled him to victory in 2000's "Survivor" series on CBS, is charged on two counts in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Providence, Rhode Island.

Prosecutors said Hatch not only failed to report his $1 million winnings in federal tax returns but also left off more than $300,000 that a Boston radio station paid him to co-host a program in 2001.

Hatch, who lives in Newport, Rhode Island, could face up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted on both counts, prosecutors said in a statement. He was due to be arraigned on Monday in Providence, they said.

--That guys sure has FNF brass ones.

Me, Movies and Martin Luther King.

It was yet another excellent day. Brenda was working and I had MLK day off. So I stayed home and watched movies ALL day!

Terminator - ("I'll be back" - Oh so true)
Shawshank Redemption - (An excellent Steven King movie)
The Hunger - (A very 80s erotic Vampire flick)
Goldfinger - (Where to go for Pussy Galore)
Live and Let Die - (When I was young and my heart was an open book)
Bourne Supremacy - (He was Bourne pissed off)
Boston Legal - (Captain Kirks full Court press!)

--My sofa is my friend...

20 hours of my life... saved!

Last night we watched The Village. A movie I loved from 2004 that Roger Ebert had in his top ten worst movies of 2004 list. It was in my top ten list.

Just to be different here is Martys Top Ten list of movies I'm glad I didn't see.

The Passion of the Christ - (Where is Mad Max when you need him most?)
Fahrenheit 9/11 - (Michael Moore wins the election for Bush)
Starsky & Hutch - (At what point did this seem like a good idea)
Mean Girls - (I so don't care about this over told story any more.)
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed - (They won't stop paying these people money.)
Garfield - (Just because we have the technology doesn't mean we should)
White Chicks - (Sorry I just threw-up in my mouth a little)
Saw - (If I want snuff film I'll watch CNN)
You Got Served - (South Park did a better version)
Fat Albert - (My God. Are there no movie ideas left in Hollywood?)

--I love movies so much, I can't believe the shit they make. The shit people pay to see. The shit that makes hundreds of millions of dollars.

I was betrayed by Tivo!

My technology failed me! It got the behind the scenes portion of Battlestar Galatica but not the series premiere!

Oh the Humanity!

--I was denied by my own Season Pass Manager...

Life is Good

It's Friday, it's a holiday weekend, it's payday, the first payday that includes my raise! Tonight has a new episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. Brenda has booze in the blender and I have a $150 bottle of scotch for sipping! Tomorrow I am spending the whole day with Brenda, my love. We are going to the pool then spending a wonderful Saturday planning our wedding (it will be a rockin party). My big screen TV has been fixed! I have a pile of DVDs to watch and friends coming over tomorrow to help me watch em! On Sunday we are even going new car shopping! Gotta blow that new raise!

Now if only it would snow us in!!

--Life is very good.

Babylon 5 Movie Gears Up?

Production Weekly reported that a feature film set in J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 universe will begin production in April in the United Kingdom. Straczynski wrote the film, The Memory of Shadows, which will be directed by Steven Beck (Ghost Ship), the publication reported.

In Shadows, the technology of the ancient and extinct Shadow race is being unleashed upon the galaxy by an unknown force, and Earthforce intelligence officer Diane Baker, whose brother was recently killed in a mysterious explosion, sets out to find out who is behind the conspiracy, Production Weekly reported. Joining her is Galen, a techno-mage who has been charged with keeping the technology out of the hands of those who would abuse it.

--Excellent. I have missed J. Michael Straczynski's stuff.

Penn and Teller and PETA

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is against all forms of medical testing involving animals - regardless of the potential benefits to human beings... PETA supports banning the ownership of pets and advocates releasing them into the wild... It's enough to make a vegetarian eat meat!

Penn and Teller have the excellent show on Showtime called, "Bullshit!" No really. I love the show. They had one about PETA that was a hoot. I love the fact that they found out that the animal shelter that is right IN the PETA headquarters put down over 1200 pets last year...

--I Love animals! Especially the tasty ones...

D.C.s Marion Barry is Back

The following were all actually said by Marion Barry, former mayor and recently re-elected city councilman in Washington, DC.

The same guy that was caught on tape, smoking crack, with a hooker.

"The contagious people of Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of increment weather."

"I promise you a police car on every sidewalk."

"If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate."

"First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I'm a night owl."

"Bitch set me up!"

"I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less."

"The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist."

"I am making this trip to Africa because Washington is an international city, just like Tokyo, Nigeria or Israel. As mayor, I am an international symbol. Can you deny that to Africa?"

"People have criticized me because my security detail is larger than the president's. But you must ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill me than who want to kill the president? I can assure you there are." –

"The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice."

"I read a funny story about how the Republicans freed the slaves. The Republicans are the ones who created slavery by law in the 1600's. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and he was not a Republican."

"What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?"

"People blame me because these water mains break, but I ask you, if the water mains didn't break, would it be my responsibility to fix them then? WOULD IT!?!"

"I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man."

--Thanks Dana!

Why does Garfield suck so much these days?

I like to read the comics daily in the Washington Post. This weekend they cut one of my favorites from the line-up, Shoe. OK, I can see why Rex Morgan got cut, it was never going to be Desperate Housewives. But Shoe! Shoe still had lots of good stuff to say!

That brings me back to Garfield. Once it was a favorite. It had spot on humor that would shine a light on the absurdity of life today. Now it is just recycling old shit that wasn't funny the first time we saw it.

The Comics have not been the same since we lost The Far Side an Calvin and Hobbs.

...and now no more Shoe.

--If Dilbert ends, someone's gonna pay...

Some days the news can't get any weirder...

Some days I read the news and it's nothing big. Plane crashes, Fires, Murder, War and other really bad things like the Brad and Jennifer separation.

Then I see a new headline and the world seems to stop for a moment while its axis shifts and I read a story:

"Man Eats Raw Duck Before Undies Save Him"

--And my faith gets restored in the Universe...

It's Time for a Movie Night!

Happy New Year! And nothing says Happy New Year better than a Movie Night at Marty's house!

When: Saturday January 15th, any time after 5pm
Where: 12108 Wallower Way, Bristow VA 20136
What: Food, Drinks, Dinner, Conversation, Movies, Madness
Who: You and people like you
Why: Life is too short to not Enjoy Movie Nights.

RSVP so I know how much food to make, dammit! We will probably be grilling chicken and having salads cause I am on my new "Stop Eating Like a Pig" diet.

See you there!

Ladies, nows your chance...

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston announced Friday that they were calling it quits after nearly five years of marriage. "We have decided to formally separate," they said in a joint statement.

This is a very important story in the news. It was headlined above the War, above 160,000 dead in Asia, even above Elvis's 70th birthday...

--Jennifer, does this mean you are free for movie night next Saturday.

Marty's 2004 Politics Random Roundup.

What's up with the stupid exit polls during the election this year. They are so F'd up Kerry thought he won for a few hours. While I thought it was funny to to watch his elation be dashed on the rocks of despair, I can't help but hope exit polling will be outlawed like campaigning within the polling place.

Dan rather resigns after swearing on a stack of mothers graves that the smoking gun, MS Word document, was done in 1970. What's the frequency Kenneth?

President Ronald Reagan died. I'm not sure how great a president he was but I believed he was a good man.

George W. Bush was re-elected. My favorite part of the entire election was the fact that Michael Moore was humbled. I actually think he won the election for President Bush.

Sandy Berger was spotted by National Archives staff repeatedly stuffing top-secret documents into his undergarments in preparation for defending the Clinton administration's record on fighting terrorism before the 9/11 Commission.

Abu Graib became the most famous prison since Attica.

Saddam was captured and was glad to discover that we are not as bad as he said, or as he was.

--My election predictions were correct. Good or Bad they were right.

Andrea Yates' Murder Conviction Overturned

HOUSTON - Andrea Yates' murder conviction for drowning her children in the bathtub was overturned by an appeals court Thursday because a psychiatrist for the prosecution gave erroneous testimony that suggested the Texas mother got the idea from an episode of "Law & Order."

Yates, 40, is more than two years into a life sentence after a trial that stirred national debate over mothers who kill, postpartum depression and the legal definition of insanity.

The appeals court ruling turned on the testimony of Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist who consulted for "Law & Order" and helped prosecutors land a conviction in 2002. Dietz testified at the trial that shortly before Yates' crime occurred, "Law & Order" ran an episode about a woman who drowned her children and was found innocent by reason of insanity.

But it turned out that no such "Law & Order" episode existed.

"We conclude that there is a reasonable likelihood that Dr. Dietz's false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury," a three-judge panel of the First Texas Court of Appeals said.

--This is so whacked? NOBODY denies that she did it. SHE IS CRAZY! Off my planet!!

Jury Finds Wal-Mart Worker Poisoned Boss

Thu Jan 6,12:09 AM ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A Miami woman was found guilty Wednesday of poisoning her boss by putting rat poison into his soda can.

Femesha Foster, 37, was caught on a hidden camera dropping the toxic mix into Mark Caruso's drink in 2000. The pair were co-workers at a Wal-Mart store in Pembroke Pines.

She said was only trying to force Caruso to go home sick, that she had recently discovered that he knew she had written checks from his account. Caruso was taken to an emergency room, where he was treated and released.

Foster's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 20. She faces up to 30 years in prison on the jury conviction. In May, a state appeals court overturned Foster's previous conviction because she was charged with "attempted poisoning," which was not a specific crime under Florida law.

--Another Wal-Mart related incident!

TiVo Upgrade Shifts TV Shows to Computer Laptop

NEW YORK (Reuters) - TiVo Inc., maker of television recording technology, on Monday said it has started shipping "TiVoToGo," a service upgrade that allows some subscribers to view recorded programs on a computer or laptop.

TiVo, the best known maker of digital video recorders (DVR), said the upgrade is free, and will be available to standalone customers who own the "Series 2" version of its set-top box.

--TiVo is my friend... my prescious...

Breast Enlargement Contest Draws Fire

By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - Radio giant Clear Channel Communications has come under fire from women's health advocates over a Christmas contest in which stations granted breast enlargement surgeries to women in four cities.

In the "Breast Christmas Ever" contest, 13 women were awarded the procedure after writing essays to the stations explaining why they wanted larger breasts. A Tampa station claimed to receive more than 91,000 entries.

--The people that have the time to complain about this contest need to go to Asia and help bury bodies...

A new look for 2005

My friend Kim Munroe has inspired me to update the look and content of my website. Over the next few weeks I will be spending a little extra time in here fixing stuff up.

You can now make comments on my posts!

--Enjoy. Don't bust nothin!

Let me over simplify with a stupid analogy:

Let's say you had a neighbor across the street that has a wife and nine children. Day after day you see him beating his wife and children. He's been doing it for years. You keep calling the cops but all they do is talk about it and send him letters. A couple times they send in social workers but they still do nothing.

One day, in front of the whole neighborhood, he breaks into the neighbors house and kills a bunch of their children and tells everyone he's keeping the house. The cops come, chase him out, but be kills more of the kids on the way out and sets the house on fire. He gets chased home all the way into his bedroom and then all the cops just leave. He's so pissed off he beats his wife and kids worse than ever. He oldest sons join him in beating the others. The cops send more letters, but he doesn't stop. He doesn’t let inspectors come any more.

One day you see him raping and murdering his own children. He threatens his neighbors too. Even you and your family.

You call the cops and they say they'll send a telegram this time but cant risk sending a social worker because its too dangerous.

By the way, you work for the police department, you are a policeman, but have been asked to do nothing. It's not your family or your business.

That's how I feel about Iraq and Saddam. I don't care who it pissed off. I'd have to stop him.

--Over simplified, but that's how I feel.