Thursday, January 7, 2010

NIckM of "Counting Cats" has seen Avatar

NickM has a blog called Counting Cats.

They're having unseasonably cold weather in England. I think Nick's car is snowed in, and he can't make it to work. The boy has time on his hands.

The Times has published a silly review of "Avatar". The review shrugs off the cold weather, laments the death of superstition about Global Warming, then tries to explain why James Cameron's film will do more for the planet than the failed Copenhagen travel junket.

Captain Oates was an English Antarctic explorer, known for the manner of his death, when he walked from a tent into a blizzard, with the words "I am just going outside and may be some time".


That's all you need to know. Go here.

I'm in the Starbucks at I-30 and Hulen, laughing out loud. Well done, sir. Very well done.

10 comments:

Browncoat Libertarian said...

Thanks for sharing that! I just love the British snarck...LOL

Browncoat Libertarian said...

"What happened to movies where Bruce Willis wore a dirty vest and blew shit up? "

Awesome line from his blog post. However, I DID like Avatar, even though I was keenly aware of the enviro-preaching I was being subjected to.

JT said...

Excellent use of the word 'twat' and its variants. Laughed out loud, as well.

BTW, enjoy your leisure time at Starbucks, some of us have been graced with the presence of our school-aged children for the day. I know, I know, you did your time. Meh.

Dr Ralph said...

Gee...I'm slightly disappointed.

I expected you to do your own venting about the tree-hugging (and by extension, environmentalism) of Avatar. But instead you off-shore it to a cranky Brit, our lovable curmudgeon, NickM (not that I don't find the continuous use of the word "twat" somewhat amusing).\

By the way, instead of over-caffeinating on expensive coffee, I went and gave blood today. But then you knew I was a bleeding heart type, right?

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Browncoat,
We miss you in The Party Of Reason. I hope you can find some way to forgive our doctrinal impurities and come back to us.

Harper,
I stop at the I-30 and Hulen Starbucks for about an hour, every morning of my life. If you are wondering how I used to accomplish that off with a small child, it was easy. I taught her to drink espressos. You'll get to meet The Aggie one day, and she'll confirm this account.

Doctor,
There have been so many reviews about the politics of Avatar....there's no need for any input on my end, except to point out one little fact that no one else has mentioned:
That movie looks like a 2-hour advertisement AGAINST Bell's V-22 Osprey. If big lizards can fly into those tilt rotors and bring one crashing to earth, then taxpayers don't need to be paying for the project.
One other thing about Avatar....a lot of people are pointing out that the military guys in the movie are a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Bidness and Big Government. Is it really that way? And second, is there a name for that kind of system?
(Just joking.)

TarrantLibertyGuy said...

I tend to like smaller, quirky Cohen Brothers/Charlie Kaufman movies - but I REALLY liked Avatar. First, it was super cool to look at and I was totally ready to not like it since it was 'so huge'.

However, besides cool visual effects, the characters (even the fake blue ones) were engaging and the story was compelling - pretty much - and I really dug my cleats into the 'Non-Interventionist/Anti-Imperialism/Anti-Corporatist message" and didn't let the Enviro-preaching distract me.

Dr Ralph said...

WS: while saying "twat" every other word may be amusing, it doesn't show a lot of deep insight. If I say "fuck" a lot does that give me more credibility? BTW - since when has the fact that most of the blogosphere has mouthed off about some topic ever stopped you? Besides, I look forward to your unique insights.

Re: the military guys in Avatar -- I believe they were all private contractors, sort of like Blackwater: a security service. I didn't pick up on a government ownership connection. But then my 3-D glasses might have distracted me from that subtlety.

Finally, I must reluctantly recuse myself from commenting on one of your other points, given my personal situation. All I'll say is, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Doctor,
NickM's occasional forays into gynecology don't even qualify as the paprika on his deviled eggs.

I thought you would get a kick out of the V-22 reference, and know that you prob'ly have an appropriate Ralphaelite response warming up in the bullpen. The world is a sadder place without your response.

Oh, and you, Fembuttx, and people from the U.K. are the only ones allowed to drop F-bombs in my comment fields. Dunno if you've noticed that or not. I don't think profanity or obscenity implies wisdom, either. But as Mark Twain once said, "Sometimes there is a relief in profanity that is denied even to prayer."

Dr Ralph said...

WS - I humbly bow in appreciation to the indulgence you allow me. I only hope I don't abuse the privilege. The percussive power of the well-placed fricative "F" wears thin with overuse.

NickM said...

I erm... Haven't actually seen the movie. I was merely fisking the review thoroughly crapulent review in The Times of London. I have no desire to sit through three hours of eco-twaddle.

Not least because if humans have mastered interstellar flight then a bunch of blue guys with bows and arrows aren't going to be a problem really.

In 2001 I saw some beardy-types massing on the Afghan-Pakistan border. They wanted to kill American infidels. One who was the wrong side of fifty was brandishing a little mashie as a B-52 flew serenely past at angels 30. Best of luck chum.

I couldn't believe it. I am of partly Viking ancestory and even they gave-up twatting each other with fucking axes (or any other kind of axes) several hundred years ago. I mean shortly after the time that twinkly old git waved his hatchet impotently at the skies the RAF had several fighter pilots in Nevada flying MQ-9 Reaper drones through the skies of Helmand and firing Hellfire missiles at him and his pals.

The last war when the arrow was used in ernest was the one of the opium ones between the British Empire and the Chinese and the Chinese got a Martini-Henry .45 calibre pasting. So starships vs. arrows... Is Cameron indulging in his Ewok fetish?

And I know for a certain fact he has a collection of Steiff's (with the button in the ear) specially modified to receive his baby gravy.

Some of them are ribbed and vibrate for his added pleasure.

I mean... At the end of the LoTR you've got Dunedain and the Rohirrim and the like standing before the Black Gate. In 300 you have Spartan warriors trained from childhood for the kill and in Return of the sodding Jedi you have an Evil Empire tumbled by stuffed animals.

I fucking hate Ewoks.

I mean fuck me rigid with Al Gore's hockey stick. You got star-destroyers and super-star-destroyers and Sith Lords and a space-staion that can level planets and they are beaten by the teddy bear dept. of FAO Schwatz!

EPIC FAIL