The View From My Ass

2 things I noticed tonight on my travels through the net that made me want to bash my head through the door really hard until I was blissfully unconscious. Both come back to the same point. People are fucking idiots. Really, truly.

Item #1 On Amazon.com they sell Used playing cards from casinos. One deal is 13 decks for $13 another is 72 decks for $35 or so.

Now here's the deal. Some people myself included collect playing cards from Casinos. I started doing this because I thought hell I dropped enough money here I might as well get a cheap souvenir. Another good thing about collecting these cards is they are reminders of places you have been to. I once took out a deck that I got from Chinook Winds casino and was showing them to The Contessa and it reminded us of the day we spent on the coast in Oregon.

One thing you can not do with these cards is have poker games for money with your friends. When the casino discards the deck and sells it or gives it to it's customers they do so after marking or cutting the cards. this is COMMON SENSE. If they didn't do this then somebody could pocket the aces or a royal flush or a Black Jack and a 10 and walk back in the casino and cheat them. Or at least you would THINK this was common sense. Even though the Amazon description clearly says USED decks of cards from casinos the idiots who have bought them are complaining that the cards are used, marked and can't be used for their poker games.

Douchbags if you want a deck to use for your poker game go to Walgreens or your grocery store and buy a deck of Hoyle or Aviator cards. Used casino cards are for collectors. And if the product description says USED cards from casinos don't bitch because you got used cards from casinos.

I read a review of Angels And Demons in the NY times back when it first came out and honestly and typically I couldn't tell whether or not the person thought the movie was any good. Not that it would have mattered either way. What the reviewer seemed more interested in, and this reviewer isn't alone in doing this, was cracking himself up with his pithy put downs of Dan Brown and wowing us with his grasp of the English language. As is typical with a NY Times reviews I came away convinced the reviewer loved himself and that he didn't actually see the movie he was reviewing. Still how many people read this review and formed their opinions? which leads me to the second thing that got my attention. I was on a Frank Sinatra message board and somebody asked whether or not they should buy Live At The Meadowlands because the reviews he had seen had been average.

Now let's ignore the fact that Since the disk came out on may 5th I have seen 3 reviews for the disk. Two were very positive one was mixed. And also the fact that if you are a Sinatra fan especially one who hangs around a message board you bought the disk that night and didn't have to ask whether or not you should. Why would somebody actually rely on critical reviews or word of mouth from somebody else on a message board to tell them whether or not they should buy a disk or go see a movie? How the fuck would I or anybody else know whether you will like it or not? How about forming your own opinion? Especially in an age when hearing or seeing something before you pay isn't exactly that difficult.

The fact that many people actually base whether or not to see or buy something on a critical review or somebody elses word is to me both highly disturbing and unbelievably lazy. To start with Critics themselves are lazy. Once the first review gets written notice how 90% that follow say the same exact fucking thing? One critic says something the next critic reads it and says...well I don't have to review this thing I'll just slightly reword this thing and then some lazy son of a bitch reads both reviews and says... Well they said it wasn't any good it must not be any good. I am amazed at how many myths get started about a album, a CD, a movie, etc because one critic said it another 10 didn't do their homework and repeated it and then some idiots read it and now the myth is reality.

Having to have somebody else tell you whether or not you liked something just doesn't get any lazier than that does it? If somebody outright relies on word of mouth from others to form their opinions or they allow other people opinions to shape the way they feel about soemthing they should not read reviews or ask other peoples opinions untill after they have actually done enough work to decide for themselves what they think.

Now ask me about Live At The Meadowlands and I'll tell you compared to other concerts I have heard from that time period from Frank Sinatra it's a pretty amazing piece of work that is much better than the other concerts that I have heard from the same time period most of which I have found to be if not prime Sinatra, very good Sinatra. This was great Sinatra prime or past prime. But that's what my ears heard. If you think you might want to buy it but don't know hunt around on the net or go to a store with a listening station and decide for yourself.

As for Angels and Demons I saw it. Sorry to not wow you with my command of the English language but the truth is I thought it was a pretty good movie. Certainly not something I am sure I would go out of my way to see more than once but solid none the less. It was a perfectly acceptable way to spend 2 hours on a hot Sunday afternoon. I thought Tom Hanks performance was sub-par and Ewen McGregor's was quite good. Now if you are basing your decision on whether or not to see it on that opinion you're a damn fool but then that would be the case if I said I loved it or hated it now wouldn't it?

KTF

Count Istvan

Stephen