I got a very nice compliment today from a fellow writer at Gunaxin. It wasn’t even something directed at me, but everyone who reads his blog. I just happened to see that he listed his blog post on his Facebook page and it had my name on it. Check it out.
My Smartest Investment
Over the years I took tons of advice on investing my money, only to watch the stock market play games with it over the past ten years. It was supposed to be a sure thing – invest for the long term and make money. But after what’s happened in the past decade, who’s to say it will do any better in the next 30?
Last June, I was searching Craigslist and met a guy who inherited a storage bin full of Lord of the Rings items. He knew what they were worth, and I knew what they were worth, but he obviously didn’t want to do the legwork. So I bough the items, loaded up my car – twice – and started selling them on Amazon and Ebay. Less than two months later I had already made my money back, and everything after that was profit. I’ve already tripled my money on the initial investment, and I’ve continued to search Craigslist, Ebay and Amazon for rock-bottom deals that I can turn around for a profit. And it’s worked.
To think that if I had just concentrated more on collectibles instead of stocks of companies that I have no idea about, I would’ve fared much better over the past ten years.
You can check out my Amazon.com store here.
The Stanley Cup
I know the Capitals haven’t won the Stanley Cup yet, but this was my chance to get my photo taken with it and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. Check out my article on CapitalsOutsider.
Grand Canyon, Phoenix, and Seattle
I Hate Fantastic Mr. Fox
Being a fan of animated films (and stop-motion animation, for that matter), I knew I had to check out Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was nominated for Best Animated Film at the 2010 Oscars. There are few films such as this that I have anything bad to say about because so much care and preparation goes into them, and they rarely disappoint.
Within three minutes of watching, I knew I was in for a long, bumpy ride.
But how could that be? This film has earned nothing but praise. All the critics say Wes Anderson did a fantastic job.
Here’s why: Only those who get Wes Anderson humor went to see it. The rest of the world either didn’t consider seeing it, or were so disoriented after the first few minutes that they walked out of the theater. Those remaining sang its praises to the heavens for all to hear.
By the way, the film flopped at the box office, barely regaining its budget. While that’s not necessarily an indication of its quality, it should be considered because those who apparently don’t get Wes Anderson would trash it if they stuck around long enough to finish watching or even bothered to show up to the theater.
Here are some reasons I believe it sucked, which may be the same reasons why some people think it’s good:
- Stop-motion animation is creepy. Parts of this film resembled a bad Saturday morning cartoon (particularly the parts where they are digging). It doesn’t matter how much time and care goes into its creation, the unnatural flow of movement is distracting and often sloppy.
- I couldn’t figure out if this was a movie for kids. According to many Anderson fans, it’s not. Therefore, kids won’t ‘get it.’ In that case, it’s made for adults – but only those who like Wes Anderson since most stayed away from the theater.
- The voice actors are bland, and sound as if they were reading without knowing they were being recorded. Yes, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and George Clooney were all bland. Great actors do not necessarily translate into good voice actors for animated characters. Anderson fans again will defend this and say it fit the style. To me that’s like dressing everyone up in plaid clothing and congratulating Anderson for great costumes.
- We’re supposed to root for a fox who steals and kills chickens? Sure, the owners would kill ’em too, but seems strange that we’re supposed to like an ending where these rodents burrow their way into a grocery store and live happily ever after. At least in Ratatouille the rats make peace with the humans. There was nothing to be learned in this tale.
- It starts off with “The Ballad of Davey Crockett”… because why? There are also Beach Boys songs in it (for a film about foxes stealing chickens), because why? The score, which was nominated for an Oscar, sounds like outtakes from Raising Arizona.
In the end, I felt as if I had just watched a film with its head up its own ass and heard nothing but applause. And that is why I’m writing this – I am extremely jealous of those who stayed clear of it altogether, and therefore weren’t qualified to pass judgment. Let the Anderson fans give it five stars, because apparently if you didn’t love it, you didn’t get it and shouldn’t have seen it.