Someone at the Montana Standard Staff wanted my predictions on the SuperBowl. The following drivel is what they got.

The teams are largely the same. Both have top five QBs, Both have top 5 Run Defenses, Both have mediocre pass defenses, both have good RBs. The Seahawks led the league in sacks with 50, but the Steelers had 47. Both Teams are OK on 3rd down. The Seahawks beat 5 teams with winning records this year, the Steelers beat 6 (including playoffs) But then again, the extra Steeler victory came in their extra playoff game.

In favor of the Seahawks:
They've played one fewer game in the playoffs. Seattle is running better than Pittsburg in the playoffs. Mike Holmgren has been to and won a super bowl before. The Seahawks won their Division. The Seahwaks went 5-2 vs. opponents with winning records as opposed to 6-5 for the Steelers. Pittsburg didn't beat the Broncos in the AFC Conference Title Game as much as the Jake Plummer self-destructed with 4 turnovers.

In favor of the Steelers:
In the playoffs the Steelers are doing better with penalties and turnovers. The Steelers competed in a harder Division and a tougher Conference. The average Steeler victory came against a 8-8 opponent. The average Seahawk victory came against a 7-9 opponent.

The Deciding Factor:
The Steelers run the 3-4 Defense and the Seahawks run the more traditional 4-3. The Steelers have seen 4-3 defenses all year long and have proved themselves repeatedly. The Seahawks on the other hand have seen very few 3-4 defenses and have struggled against them.

Score: Steelers 24 Seahawks 13

If you have any sense you will bet your life savings on my advice alone.

Labels: opinion, sports

Labels: movies, recomendation, review

As I mentioned before, when we bought our new places one had some guy's stuff in it. We picked those up on the one month ago today. The former owner said that he hadn't seen the guy for 6 weeks, and that he had gone in just recently to check for an emergency situation. At that time he cleaned the rotten food out of the fridge.

Flash to Friday when for the 8th time I showed this unit to a prospective tenant. All the stuff still in place. Kids clothing, ashtray on the bed, cell phone on the dresser, portable CD player, pack of Marlboro Lights. Plus it's been re-keyed for a good week or so now.

The unit is clearly (and legally) vacant. The law says we need to store this guy's stuff for 45 days. We can then sell it to recoup our loses.

Word on the street is that he, his live-in girlfriend and (I suppose) the kid that clearly lived with them skipped town in a hurry, and that even their friends don't really know where or why they left. The Police stations said they've gotten no reports and that he wasn't in jail.

Its a bizarre world.

Labels: odd, Silver Bow Properties

Another entirely untimely movie reviews:

The Chronicles of Narnia D
Um... Have you ever been on a date with a someone gorgeous and mind-numbingly dumb? Its kinda how I feel about this film. Its very pretty but your best off packing your ears with popcorn and just enjoying the CG monsters. Just like the aforementioned date don't worry about missing any important dialog. I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie were the main characters are so entirely unimportant to the plot.

Labels: movies, review

Every once in a while something happens that helps us gauge our place in the world. Like when you call the cops and when they get there they at first think your the bad guy.

I had one of those moments yesterday. I went to the bank at 4:45 to talk to my banker. Unfortunately my bank closes at 4 on Thursdays (its open until 5 on Fridays). Yet I got someone's attention, mimed "I want to talk to my banker" (I'm a talented mime.), and was let inside. My banker was still there and jumped at the chance to help. The help involved dropping some fees and granting better terms. It was just one of those moments.

I had another such moment at 3:00 am this morning. Some of my crew got polluted and tuned up some friend/dumbass who provoked them. I was the camp councilor who got woken up by a blubbering girlfriend to lock down the disaster. I had to take one of my dudes to his house and put him to bed, find a crash spot for instigator/victim who couldn't find his keys, and survey the damage. Thankfully Robert and I are only out one really raped door. Rocky helped by taking a massive panic duke on the floor.

Labels: mood

Star Wars is over. Did you notice? This leaves a big hole in the universe of new SciFi content. I don't have TV, so I'm certainly not up on all the latest offerings but I do see a glimmer of a trend. I'll call it Neo-SciFi. Why? well because I want to coin a popular term (though it already seems in danger of being shortened to Neo-Fi). But I digress.

What is this Neo-SciFi you speak of? Its SciFi but with a new direction. Old SciFi is often typified by bad cliches:

• False Drama - "Gads the Robo-Mutant-Aliens are attacking, again!".
• One Dimensional Characters - the Dashing Idealistic Captain, the Buxom Nurse/Doctor/Psychic, or the Brash Loner Rebel
• The Magic Episode Reset Button - "Last week I got my stomach blown out, but this week I'm great!".
• Idiotic and Impotent Bad Guys - Week after week supposedly dangerous bad guys unload massive stock piles of ammunition and take heavy casualties; all while not putting a scratch in the good guys.
• Next Time on a Special Blossom - Uh oh, all the episodes are mostly the same! Better throw in a moral lesson episode. It's wrong to borrow without asking. "Glue, I need Glue!".
• Laser Pellets - Space fighters fly like jets, there is lots of sound in space, everyone and everything has a laser/photon/blaster on it. Lasers shoot pellets instead of beams, All planets are just like earth, all aliens are just people with bad acne.
• Uh, Its The Radiation - All this crazy technology, but because the gewiz-a-ma-hicky could solve everything and leave you with no episode; either we have to conveniently forget we have it or its magically disabled by an ion storm.

It's no wonder that female readers (and a good fraction of the males) probably stopped reading as soon as I said Star Wars. Further, its no wonder I don't have a date tonight.

Neo-SciFi is more drama and less SciFi. Like a good drama its motivated by characters, the interplay between them, the choices they make, the consequences of those choices, and how that forms a feed-back loop to the characters themselves. Further, in a good drama this is largely grounded by some gist of reality. This new trend is typified by Serenity/Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and to a lesser extent Enterprise.

My blurb Here is unlikely to convert anyone. But If your on the edge about sci-fi you might want to add the first season of Battlestar Galactica and the Serenity movie to your Netflix cue.

Oh, and when the first Oscar for "Best Neo-SciFi" is given out you'll remember that you read it here first.

Labels: art, culture, space, television

For the unaware: Postage rates have gone to 39 cents. Which may or may not dismay you. But what has dismayed me is the horrifically ugly Lady Liberty Flag stamp. This stamp is the generic stamp for those who ask for "some of the new stamps". A note to the United States Postal Service: Clearly you need some graphic artists. While I'm not the best I'm clearly better than what you have. Drop me a line. Some free tips: First while the image looks high quality here all this photographic detail becomes a grainy mess when compressed to stamp size. Second the hard edge between the Statue of Liberty and Old Glory has a super fake Photoshop look to it; It's as if the artist wanted to fool us into thinking that the whole composition exists. Perhaps I'm picking nits, but then again this is my website and I like to pick nits.

Lady Liberty, I apologize for the USPS's transgression on your image.

Labels: art, culture, image

It's Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. It's my understanding that the local police don't take Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday as a holiday. (but don't hold me to this.) Rather, they long ago negotiated St. Patrick's Day as their holiday. Irish-Catholics, go figure. Well Good for them. Silver Bow Properties will be doing the same. Our paid replacement holiday will be Friday March 17th 2006. Why? Well the crew wont belly-ache about working today, but likely wouldn't show up on St. Patty's Day at all. We might as well work with them. Happy Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday

Labels: culture, Silver Bow Properties

We've bought some new stuff.

Colorado

At the tax sale we grabbed this fine 3 bedroom house with 1 bedroom mother-in law in the back. Once the stinky carpet is out, the former occupants get rid of their rust-heaps, and that siding comes off it might be a respectable place. The mother-in-law unit in the back will make for a super nifty ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant unit. All this for 11K in change.

Park

Broadway

A fine gentleman has decided to rid himself of these three beauties, Two duplexes and a 4-plex. For those keeping score at home that will amount to 6 one bedrooms units and 2 two bedrooms units for our inventory. And just for giggles I moved into one. There is some renovation to be done but Robert and crew are getting it hammered out quite quickly. One of the units has a guy's stuff in it. No guy, he apparently skipped town two months ago, leaving (among other things) his cigarettes and cell phone. Must have been in a mighty hurry.

Rock House

This is one of my most favorite acquisitions so far; The Rock House. I'll post more pictures once the locks have been rekeyed. As it stands its a 7 Bedroom 2 Bathroom monster with a facade made of stone quarried on the lot (or in the Travonia Mine at the end of the block). We'll refactor it and make it a really nice single family home for resale. Watch for updates at the Silver Bow Properties Blog in the spring.

Labels: image, Silver Bow Properties

You can now subscribe to the MikeAbleXray Blog using the link on the left.

What is "subscribing"? If you read multiple blogs, its a cool thing. It allows you to check all those blogs at once without having to go to each website. You'll need a feed aggregator like Feed Demon. Feed Demon is easy to use. Copy the URL pointed to by the subscribe button, then click Add new Channel and the rest will become clear.

But what if I only read your blog? Well soon the companion Silver Bow Properties Blog will have a feed. That's a blog you'll likely be interested in. Once you have Feed Demon you'll probably find a podcast or two you'll like.

Labels: mikeablexray.com, Silver Bow Properties

More entirely untimely movie reviews:

King Kong D
in a word. Barf. Just painfully boring. I'll forgive the predictability of just about any remake but it still has to be an entertaining film. I get the sense that there might be a good version of this movie on the cutting room floor. But at 3hrs and change I bet a lot of non-monkey scenes where cut. The interplay of the characters was far more interesting that the magical bullet-proof randomly scaling gorilla. Pretty visual effects, amusing casting of Jack Black, and Naomi Watts is exceptionally fetching.

Syrina A
Confusing but in an on purpose good way. The characters are real to life. There are no real heroes or villains in this movie, just characters handling things in the way they think they must or at least the best way for themselves. It's a rich a believable film and probably one of the best of the year (2005).

Munich A-
Another great film. What happens to a soldier when you ask him to be an assassin? Its a fun and gritty look into late-cold war covert operations from a non-US perspective. If only Eric Bana had range as an actor it would be great.

Now admit: when you first read the title "Gorillas in the Middle East" you thought it might be some racist thing, yes? Of course you did, Further admit: that my play on "Gorillas in the Mist" is super clever and that I'm a mad genius of no equal. ADMIT IT!

Labels: movies, recomendation, review

Some photos for friday the 13th

The Christmas rush at Blue Glass Enterprises, LLC.

A Logo on a Truck

Labels: Butte, image, Montana

Folk have suggested that these blogs (or blog-o-sphere for the twerps who like that sort of marketing friendly lingo) are a bit incestuous in the sense that they tend to refer to each other heavily. I figured MikeAbleXray wouldn't ever be party to such things as it wouldn't ever garner any readership.

However, shock-of-friggen-shocks, a podcast I enjoy, Pulp Gamer,(podcasts being an audio extension of blogs - sorta) mentioned this crap-hole of a website. Amuse yourself with Pulp Gamer Episode 15 at about 9:35.

A word to those not familiar with the Pulp Gamer podcast. It's a review of games that arn't video games. They often review family friendly and party games, like say non-lame alternatives to Pictionary, Monopoly, or Caboodle. Also they frequently cover card games, pen and paper RPGs, and the like. It's a good listen for those looking for new diversions. Bonus points if you have fond giggly memories of DnD; you'll enjoy the side jokes. It comes out two to three times a month so it doesn't overwhelm you. I listen to it while doing boring spreadsheet work late at night when the non-geeks aren't in the office. The Pulp Gamer feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/PulpGamer

An incestuous word back to the Pulp Gamer crew. Yes I do like your fine "Pulp Gamer" podcast, yes I'm mostly kidding about the "loser" thing. I admire your bravery for embracing your geek-a-tude; a true inspiration to closet-cases everywhere. I enjoy your in-depth reviews and interviews. I appreciate that your analysis and comments have more depth than "uh, dude.. its just cool."; But I quote: "Butt wiping bring us all together"; your not quite going for the Pulitzer, yes? Besides, you'll note that the overall tone of MikeAbleXray is largely negative so I wouldn't take it too hard. Of course if a mention on this blog is a big deal then... well uh; it only can get better from here on out. Er, Keep your chins up little campers! The breaking up of the show up into parts yet keeping the master feed is a wise move (I'll stay with the master feed to insure that I continue to get all the rich PG goodness). And I do find the DnD asides comical. By-the-by, nice segway with the mid-life crisis thing. Keep it up!

PS: I played a little Johnny-grab-ass with the saturation and levels of your FNH logo. If it fills you with seething rage and makes you want to kill indiscriminately then I'll remove it.

Labels: image, internet, mikeablexray.com