Tralfaz

Author: geoffand

  • Notes on Perry Mason

    Notes on Perry Mason

    Being an “old fart” I enjoy watching old television programs. Rockford Files was a favorite growing up, and I watched it not long ago on Netflix. Lately, I have been programming my Tivo to capture the old Perry Mason episodes from MeTV. It is a classic, and enjoyable, but there are some attributes from its “era”.

    First, unlike Columbo, you don’t know whodunnit up front. Of course, human nature causes you to speculate, but one thing is certain, the person charged is NEVER guilty, regardless of how bad it looks for them.

    Second, the show ran for 9 seasons, and you can see some very distinct changes. In the early episodes, you would often see Raymond Burr lighting up a cigarette, and then in later episodes, he abstained from the weed. Of course, throughout the run, there was plenty of smoking from the cast and guests. Also, it seemed very common that there was heavy drinking, lots and lots of bottles of alcohol being tippled into tumblers.

    Third, the episodes (with commercials) were an hour, and it is a pretty predictable cadence. An intro, a murder (always a murder), at about the 30 minute mark, you are in court, things look bleak for the defendant, with the prosecuting attorney, Hamilton Burger, zeroing in, and then the “twist”. Paul Drake or Della Street brings in a critical piece of information, and BANG Perry gets the guilty party to confess or act out.

    Fourth, even as adversarial as Mason and the prosecutor, Burger are, they seem to have a jovial, relationship outside the courtroom. I suspect that in real life, there isn’t so much clubishness between prosecutors and defense attorneys.

    Even with this formulaic structure, this snapshot of life in the late 50’s and early-mid 60’s, is amusing, and I enjoy watching.

  • Awful Movies – Death Race 2

    Awful Movies – Death Race 2

    The other night, scrolling through Netflix, looking for something to watch, a “recommended” action and adventure movie was “Death Race 2“. The premise was pretty weak, at a prison, a television crew happened to capture a prison riot, and it had the best ratings ever for the TV station.

    Parlaying this into an entertainment franchise called “Death Match” where the combatants were plucked from the general population, you can imagine that blood and gore lead to increased ratings, and money for the “well endowed” hostess of the show.

    Concurrent to this was a bank robbery gone bad, and the capture of a crime lord’s #2 man, whose loyalty prevented him from rolling on his boss, and finds himself in the Wayland correctional facility.

    Then we are treated to the deathmatch, live, and of course, as with all public spectacles, the initial thrill is gone, and the ratings slip, and the buxom hostess is enraged that its viewership share is dropping like a lead balloon.

    One presumes that to get back the ratings,  this spectacle is extended to cars, and a race (to the death), but honestly, I wouldn’t know, because the movie was awful. So bad, so poorly written, that after 25 minutes, I turned it off.

    The only saving grace was a pretty good chase after the botched bank heist, where the #2 guy does a pretty wicked job of leading a chase by the police in a pretty trick Shelby Mustang.

    Otherwise, this was an absolutely forgettable movie.

  • Movie review – 2Fast and 2Furious

    Movie review – 2Fast and 2Furious

    The other night, Barbara was out having dinner with a friend and her mother, so I was thumbing through Netflix looking for some mindless entertainment. In the “Action and Adventure” category I spied “2Fast and 2Furious”, the second installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. Wondering how bad it could be, I thumbed the select button, and started it up.

    The opening scenes was a street race with 3 racers, and they needed a 4th to ‘go’, so the organizer calls someone to be the 4th, Paul Walker drives out with his GT-R (oops, Nissan Skyline) to fill the paddock.

    The race commences and it is as expected, farcical, reality bending, and breaking all the laws of physics. I was inwardly groaning, especially at the “arcade” like action of bumping and pushing (much like how I race in Forza 6), but it looked completely fake on the big screen.

    Of course, Paul Walker wins, and then gets busted for street racing.

    Yawn.

    Then it gets into the main storyline, the feds enlist Walker to infiltrate a really bad dude in Miami who imports a lot of drugs. The way to infiltrate is, you guessed it, to work their way up by street racing.

    I think I made it to the 30 minute mark before I clicked off and went back to watching Archer reruns.

    Now I know why I didn’t get into this franchise. It really really sucks. Another review for my “really bad movies” section.

  • The X-Files

    The X-Files

    X-Files

    I remember watching the X-Files in the 1990’s when it was first ran, and enjoyed it. The premise was interesting, an FBI agent who believes in UFO’s, extra terrestrials, and other spooky conspiracy things.

    Agent ScullyStarring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, the early episodes are rapid fire, entertaining, and engaging, even if, implausible. Written by Chris Carter, the production was outstanding.

    During the original run, I was a dutiful follower, but sometime in the 3rd season I wandered off. Still, I had fond memories.

    Then I found it on Netflix, so I started watching it again. My early, fond memories of the show were validated, and reinforced, and let’s face it, an early 1990’s Gillian Anderson? Rawr!

    But with the miracle of Netflix, come the ability to binge watch. I raced through season 1 and 2 gleefully, then starting in season 3, it starts to alter direction. The stories are less entertaining, the darker turn to more government conspiracies, the more fabulous the setups, the uh, less enjoyable it became.

    Agent MulderBy the time I got into the 4th season, I was completely turned off. Not even the “are they screwing yet” question could keep me watching the show.

    I can’t help but wonder if they completely jumped the shark, and were on life support long beyond the sell-by date.

    Oh well, one more of my enjoyable splurges is ruined forever.

    (I am typing this watching the episode where they encounter the fetishist who has abducted Scully and is going to harvest her hair and fingernails. Creepy, and part of the “good times”)

  • Jurassic Park III

    Jurassic Park III

    Last night, while scrolling through Netflix, one of their “Recently Added” titles was Jurassic Park III. Since I had re-watched Jurassic Park, and then the less enjoyable sequel, The Lost World, my thumb tapped the play button.

    Ugh, what have I done.

    It starts with a boy and a man (presumed to be his father) going parasailing on Isla Sola, the “Second” JP island that we learnt so much about in The Lost World.

    Of course, this goes horribly wrong and they detach from the tether and glide inland where the Dinosaurs are.

    of course, parasailing doesn’t get you high enough to go in as far as they were int he early filming, but hey, let’s completely suspend belief…

    The next eon is a very slow setup. You see Professor Alan Grant with (whoever Laura Dern played – yeah, that memorable) and kids. You assume that they are married, and it is their family, but oops, her husband comes in. It was just a visit. (more…)

  • Bicycle Maintenance

    Bicycle Maintenance

    Tuesday, I took a break from walking/hiking and got the Mountain Bike down. A modest 10.1 mile loop, including an 800 ft climb to get into the park, and my butt was kicked. There is a big difference in the muscles you use to hike the same trail you ride up, and dayum, it was a brutal day.

    Of course, since this is the first time I had the Specialized Crave Expert out in a while, I noticed that I had been a laggard on my maintenance. Yes, the last time out it was slightly muddy, so the bike was a bit, uh, ugly, but nothing was broken.

    However, it became clear that the shifters needed to be tweaked. After shifting up, there was a slight noise from the derailleur, hinting that the indexing was ever so slightly off. So up on the rack it went. Then I noticed that the chain was pretty dry, so I got out the degreaser, and the wash bucket out, and gave it a good cleaning. After drying it off, and a few trips up and down the street to work the water out of the chain, I liberally applied my latest lube of choice, Purple Extreme, and I noticed that the rear brake pads were about shagged. Less than a half mm remaining.

    Fortunately, I had a spare set, and they were brain dead simple to replace, taking longer to remove and replace the rear wheel than to swap the well worn pads with fresh ones, and I was back on the road. The bonus is that where I thought I needed to bleed the disc lines, the new pads returned the firm feel at the lever. Cool.

    Tomorrow, I will slather on the sun screen and head out for another butt kicker ride. One day, I will finally replace the tires with something more appropriate to our baked, clay-hard terrain. But that is for a different session

  • Sports Ball

    Sports Ball

    Anyone who knows me in real life also knows that I am not really a fan of the “ball” sports (football, basketball, baseball or soccer). Sure, I can sit and watch a game, and I know enough of the rules to follow the game, but I am not a rabid fan. I don’t have a favorite team, and I don’t dedicate my Sundays to the alter of Football like many people I know do. It is all “meh” to me. Of course, during racing season, I watch every MotoGP race…

    This post is inspired by the 2016 NBA finals. Having really not watched pro basketball, well ever, since my wife is suddenly a fan because the Warriors are in the finals, I have been forced to watch a few games. These are my observations: (more…)

  • Jurassic Park

    Jurassic Park

    On the train with Netflix viewing again, Friday night I fired up “Jurassic Park” on Netflix. Released originally in 1993, it was the first movie I recall with this much immersive CGI effects. I did see it originally in the theaters, and I recall being wowed by the cinematography.

    The Premise

    InGen LogoA wealthy “Showman”, John Hammond (played by the amazing Sir Richard Attenborough) undertakes a massive program to bring the dinosaurs back to life for a modern safari park on an island off the coast of Costa Rica (in reality, the filming was done on Kauai). By extracting DNA from fossilized mosquitos in amber, enough DNA was recovered to allow the genetic engineers of the fictional InGen corporation to piece together whole DNA strands to then create the embryos of the recreated dinosaurs (more on this later in the review).

    From there the embryos were implanted in ostrich or emu eggs, and carefully hatched. (more…)

  • Netflix Binging – Battlestar Galactica

    Netflix Binging – Battlestar Galactica

    For some reason, Netflix “recommended” the Battlestar Galactica series to me. Having vague memories of it as a kid, I thought why not, and put it on.

    Star Wars logoThe Pilot is long. I mean, REALLY REALLY long. It is three 1 hour episodes (part 1, part 2, and part 3). Originally broadcast in 1978, it was about a year after the first Star Wars movie, and clearly it was influenced by the blockbuster hit that preceded it. A space opera, with action and special effects to captivate the audience.

    The premise is that an ancient race of cyborgs (the Cylons) are ostensibly engaging with humans to negotiate a long term peace. Of course, they really are planning on wiping out the humans, to cleanse the universe of these pesky life forms.

    (more…)

  • Requiem for a Friend

    Requiem for a Friend

    Last week, I had to say say “goodbye” to a friend. In early 2012, I was on a business trip, which connected through Phoenix. When I got to Phoenix, I was horrified to discover that I had forgotten my headphones. The thought of a week of business travel without tunes was too much go bear.

    Of course, one of those airport vendors had my back, for a price. I bought a Klipsch headset for my iPhone, for way too much money, and went on in audible bliss.

    Turns out they were pretty damn good earbuds. Great sound quality, and a decent microphone for phone use.

    I have had these for over 4 years now. That includes two phone upgrades, and the purchase of replacement ear socks (or whatever you call those silicone rubber things that fit inside your ear). It has been on a few thousand miles of walking/running/gym time, and a couple thousand hours of phone calls and conference calls.

    But last week, on one of my hikes, the sound began cutting out. It appears that the wire near the input jack was having intermittent contact.

    Damn, now it is back to the (mediocre) headset that came with my iPhone. I already miss the ol’ Klipsh’s. (They were S4’s, and actually sounded pretty darned good.)

    I guess $25 a year for great sound isn’t too much to spend