Man from U.N.C.L.E. Review

By C. Moffat.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the new Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie - in contrast to my girlfriend who refused to even go see it, so I went alone. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

The film was excellent and without ruining the plot I would say it was one of the best / funniest spy thrillers / action films in recent memory. I would rank it up next to the last James Bond film, "Skyfall".


I had never watched the original TV series Man from U.N.C.L.E., but having seen the new film I now want to.

Film remakes of spy thriller TV shows are sometimes pretty hit and miss. Here are two examples:

The Saint (1997) = Awesome. 5 Stars.

The Avengers (1998) = Pretty dismal and ridiculous. I give it 1 star.

I should also note that sometimes even James Bond films are pretty dismal - and sometimes get worse over time. Let me give you an example:

Goldeneye (1995) was an awesome film when it first came out, and did well financially, but over time you start to realize all the plot holes and some parts of the film are downright boring after you've seen them X number of times.

Various other James Bond films also suffer from a touch of the boring, especially "Thunderball".

Which brings me back to Man from U.N.C.L.E. and why I gave it 4 stars. It was a great film. Thoroughly enjoyed it. However will it stand the test of time now that I have already seen it and know the plot twists??? Hmm. Not so sure.

The film did set itself up for sequels however and I would watch those too.

Maybe someday someone will redo the Matt Helm series (originally starring Dean Martin). The Austin Powers series is basically a rip off of Matt Helm, but I think a more sophisticated actor could do a better job.

Boat Maintenance Supplies

Why People Have a Lifelong Fascination with Water

For some people, their connection to boating and to the water starts when they are a child and their parents take them out on the boat to go fishing, to go wake boarding, or to take an inner tube out on the water. For other people, their love of boating started later in life once they were able to reach a level of financial success that allowed them to purchase their own boat. Regardless of whether a person’s love of boating and love of the water started at a young age or started when they were an adult, everyone agrees that there are certain aspects of boating that make it attractive.

One of the reasons why younger and older individuals love to be out on the water is because water is tranquil. Humans have a natural draw to the water. More than likely, this has something to do with the fact that human bodies are made up of more than 70 percent water. So when people are out on a lake or when they are out on the ocean, they feel at home. They feel a natural connection to the water.

Of course, having a boat and spending time on the water does require some expense and some effort on the part of the boat owner. Thankfully, a person can shop online now and purchase repair parts for their boat as well as snacks and other things to take out with them on the water from places like MMI Marine Manufacturers for example. This takes a lot of stress out of the maintenance and upkeep of the boat. In many cases, a person can simply go online, buy the part they need for their boat, and within a couple of weeks have the part delivered to their home. Then they will be able to repair their boat and get back out on the water to enjoy themselves.

Additionally, the constant movement of the water can have a semi-hypnotic effect on a person. Staring out over the vastness of the lake or the immensity of an ocean is mesmerizing. It can temporarily cause a person to forget the problems or frustrations they have in their life. Couple this with the gentle rocking motion of the water and it is clear to see why many people visit the lake or visit the ocean when they want to relax.

Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover

Purchased "Tide To Go" Instant Stain Remover today.

Why? Spilled ice cream on my new shorts from the Hudson Bay. Brand new shorts. Seemed like such a huge waste to already have a stain on them.

So I figured I would try the stain remover product to see how quickly and easily it removes stains.

So far so good. The shorts are currently drying after being treated with Tide To Go. The stains appear to be gone, but we shall see and confirm after the liquid cleaning solution dries.

Terminator Genisys Review

By Charles Moffat.

I will be adding a review of Terminator Genisys later tonight or tomorrow. I will be seeing the film later today and then updating this post with my review. I have been waiting patiently for almost a year to see this film, so I hope it does not disappoint.

In the meantime here is the movie trailer.



UPDATE - Okay, I am giving Terminator Genisys 4 stars out of 5. I was even tempted to give it 4.5 stars, so let me explain why.

#1. It was a good solid plot, {SPOILER ALERT} capitalizing on the recent rise of social media and exploring alternate timelines / time travel. (It even gave a nod to the Terminator Chronicles TV series. Fans of the TV show will recognize that nod when they see it.)

#2. Excellent acting from all parties.

#3. The pacing of the film was excellent, just the right amount of action, excitement and plot development.

#4. Excellent graphics. Some people prefer the graphics from the 2nd film of the franchise, but it is all good in my opinion.

I am tempted to give an extra half star just because {SPOILER ALERT} they left it open for another possible film at the end.

Renovating and Waterproofing Bathrooms

Is Your Floor Stable Enough for that Large Tub?

When renovating the bathroom, some people don't consider how much weight the floor needs to sustain in order to remain intact. This is especially true when considering large tubs or hot tubs. Gallons and gallons of water used to fill these comfortable additions can weigh quite a bit, and an older floor may be too degraded to sustain the weight.

Water Damage from the Past

Hiring a bathroom renovation specialist can help you determine if the support beams for the floor are sound enough to sustain additional weight from a tub upgrade. Over time, water damage can rot support beams reducing the capabilities of each one. This damage could have come from overflowing toilets, water from the shower, bad sink drains and much more. Until you tear into the floor itself, you may never know just how degraded these beams can be.

Water Sealants

When installing new fixtures, it is important that the edges be sealed with a waterproof substance. This is usually done with a sealing calk that prevents water seepage under the floor. Over time, this sealant can be compromised leading to the water damage of floor boards and support frames. Even a few droplets of water each day from each shower taken in the home can eventually lead to rotten wood or mold growth.

Before you put that larger tub in the bathroom, seek the advice of a professional. Without proper support, the extra weight from the additional water could cause your bathroom to cave into the space below. While this might not be a overly damaging prospect in a single level home, multiple levels houses could have a great deal of damage done from an upstairs tub sinking into the floor.

Gibberish in Advertising

Have you ever noticed how television advertising is often about using certain words and phrases that are ultimately meaningless?

Examples:

Affordable
Best
Call now
Cutting Edge
Cyberspace
Dealer pricing
Employee pricing
Excellence or Exceptional
Final weeks to save
Finest
First Annual
Free Gift
Friendly
Great Deal
Giving 110 Percent
Going out of business sale
Hassle Free
Home of the ______
Honest Truth
Huge Savings
Information Superhighway
Largest Selection
Last Chance
Loaded with options
Nearly Flawless
Networking
New and Improved
Once in a lifetime
Outside the box
Pass the savings onto you
Premium
Pre-owned
Professional
Prompt Service
Qualified
Quality
Quality of Life
Quality Workmanship
Service
Setting the standard
Synergy
Take advantage of
Trained Professional
Unique
Virtually Any
Your _______ needs
Zero money down

However on the internet, where keywords are EVERYTHING, these advertising words become filler - complete useless. The primary goal is to use the words for which the website was made for.

So for example lets pretend you were trying to sell car insurance on television. The monologue for a car insurance TV commercial might sound like this:

Are you looking for employee pricing car insurance? Imagine being able to get great deals on car insurance rates, the best service from our team of friendly and professionally trained staff who will fulfill all of your car insurance needs - offering you the best quality and excellence you can expect, all while making car insurance more hassle free and affordable. Get zero money down on your first month of car insurance by calling now!

Now imagine a website that has everything written like that? It would look idiotic. The stuff people get away with in television advertising would look like it was written by an amateur on the internet. The meaningless words shown in print are revealed as such and suddenly any normal person can no longer take the website in question as anything but either an amateurish mistake or a joke, poking fun at the use of meaningless words.

Take for example the image on the right, which shows keywords and which ones are the most expensive to advertise in (and most profitable) for publishers in theory.

Insurance
Loans
Mortgage
Attorney
Credit
Lawyer
Donate
Degree
Hosting
Claim
Conference Call
Trading
Software
Recovery
Transfer
Gas/Electricity
Classes
Rehab
Treatment
Cord Blood

I don't even know what "cord blood" is. I just looked it up. Apparently it has to do with special banks that store blood from umbilical cords for future use in stem cell transplants.

So back to the example of insurance, an insurance company's websites goal is to show lots of content. Content about every kind of insurance they sell, and in theory they should also be showing consumer stories about their customer experience - talking about how their car got stolen, they needed the car to get to work, and the insurance company was so fast, the service was friendly and helpful, and even got them a rental car while they processed the insurance claim.

This way their website gets lots of content on the topic, includes customer feedback, and customers end up feeling like they were treated like an individual instead of like another number.

Ask yourself which do you prefer: To buy your car insurance from a company full of gibberish or a company which shows they live up to the claims. I know which company I would pick.

African-American Culture and News

Appreciating African-American Culture And Entertainment

African-American culture isn't entirely different from some mainstream cultures, but it's different enough that African-Americans feel an emptiness when they look at mainstream media. They don't see people who look, think, and talk like them, and they detect a noticeable absence of African-American figures in the arenas of politics and business. For those people who want their children to grow up appreciating their culture, and for those African-Americans who want to hold onto their own culture, there are channels that broadcast African American news and issues that hit home with its audience.

News and issues

News and issues focus on central figures in the African-American community that are up and coming on the political scene or that are doing noteworthy things in the community. There are also stories of community news that deal with noteworthy legal issues that might be pressing for the African-American community.

Sports and entertainment

It's not all serious on African-American channels. There are entertainment and sports features that bring home those genres to the masses and give the entertainment an African-American voice to appreciate. This might include musicians, actors, sports figures, and stand-up artists who bring joy to the world through those gifts.

You don't have to be African-American to appreciate the culture. Anyone can tune in, just like African-Americans also watch mainstream networks and news shows that focus on a more causation audience. Diversity in our entertainment broadens horizons across the board for people across cultures.

Water Wars / Boycotting Nestle Corporation

Okay, so I have decided to boycott the Nestle corporation and all of their products.

The reasons why myself (and others) have opted to boycott Nestle vary, but my personal reason for boycotting Nestle is because of the company's stance on the privatization of water.

In the video below the Nestle CEO asserts that water is not a human right and that it is a foodstuff like any other, and therefore should be packaged and controlled by corporations and not controlled by the government providing free tap water to citizens. Basically he wants to make money off selling water (and soft drinks and coffee and assorted beverages) to people and wants governments to stop controlling the distribution of free water.

Now if you are familiar with the Bugs Bunny catchphrase "Of course you know this means war..." then you should know right away that people dying of thirst are not going to take the idea of privatization of water laying down.

So for example in South America, where water supplies are dwindling so much that even the plot of the James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" was about an evil corporation trying to take over the water supply of Bolivia, well, the concept of a war over water supply is certainly a real prospect.

Enter Nescafe - created by the Nestle corporation in1938. Nestle you may recall is a Swiss company that began in 1866, began from humble beginnings selling condensed milk (to be mixed with free water) and instant baby formula. Nescafe is now one of the largest producers of coffee in the world, and Nestle one of the largest corporations in the world.

Nescafe is extremely popular in South America. The name is almost a synonym for coffee.

So what happens if Nescafe / Nestle decides they want to take over South America's supply of fresh water? Package it and sell it. The privatization of everything from sewer pipes, the water you wash yourself with, wash your clothes with, and use to wash your dishes. What happens?

Imagine a system wherein people are charged for the amount of water they use and if they don't pay they are cut off and left to die - and if they try to get their water from another source they discover that Nestle owns that too. Because according to Nestle, water is not a human right and is a commodity. Given time (and government bribery) they would probably even make it against the law to collect rain water or other ridiculous laws designed in an effort to make the Nestle corporation richer.

Now you might think, hey, this would never happen in Canada or the United States would it? Are you so sure of that? The American Midwest is becoming a desert (thanks to global warming) and places like Las Vegas are in such a short supply of fresh water they are piping it in from other regions.

Mark my words, the privatization of water and rising prices of fresh water will lead to riots in the streets and people / nations killing each other for a drink.

In Canada we have tonnes of water - so much we are already packaging it and sending it overseas as bottled water. But will it be Canadian corporations who make it rich, or foreign corporations who extort our water and makes themselves billionaires while sharing only a tiny fraction with the Canadian government? After all Canada has NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and various other free trade agreements. That means Canada makes ZERO on the export of water and only makes money off the income tax of employees. Water bottling plants are mostly robots, so the number of employees is minimal - and local managers can be paid peanuts compared to what a corporation can make selling Canadian water overseas.

James Bond Vs Spectre

So it was announced recently that the new James Bond film, starring Daniel Craig, will be called "Spectre".

And if you are like many Canadians, you can name most of the James Bond films, you have a favourite actor who played James Bond (mine is Roger Moore, but Daniel Craig is pretty awesome too), and you probably can't wait to see the new 007 film, which is due to be released on November 6th 2015.

So the good news is that Spectre is back - a villainous organization dating back to a time when that hack Sean Connery was playing James Bond (seriously, Connery just says his lines and looks good, he doesn't have any acting skill).

You know what I would really love however?

Jaws.

Bring back Jaws, the villain-turned-hero who appeared in two different James Bond films and becomes a hero by the end of the 2nd film. I know who would be a good actor to play Jaws as well - the guy who played Ser Gregor Clegane or “The Mountain That Rides" in Game of Thrones, also known as Hafthor Bjornsson. The guy is so big he makes Arnold look small, which makes him a great option to play Jaws.

At 6'9" tall, 386 lbs Hafthor Bjornsson can not only play Jaws, but as one of the top 5 strongest men currently alive - and the only one of those who is an actor, he can play the role well. The guy dresses up as the Incredible Hulk just for fun.

But in the meantime, just for fun, lets have a look at the introductory music videos found at the start of the last 3 James Bond films made by Daniel Craig.


CASINO ROYALE



QUANTUM OF SOLACE



SKYFALL

Shoes, Handbags and Free Shipping

Honestly I am not into buying shoes online. I like to try them on in person.

Thus when I see websites like Sole Society I shake my head in disgust. The site in question sells shoes, handbags, jewelry, hats, scarves, sunglasses and accessories - most of which are things you would probably rather try on in the store before purchasing.

For example I have never purchased shoes without trying them on first.

I have never bought a handbag / backpack or anything like that without opening it first and checking out the inside.

Jewelry? Well, if it was a ring for example I need to try it on to see if it fits. Bracelets and necklaces, okay, probably don't need to try it on, but it is still nice to see it in person first. Maybe check to make sure the diamonds are real.

Hats and sunglasses, again, need to try them on and check yourself in the mirror.

Scarves are the only item on the website I would even consider ordering.

In which case, am I that low on stores nearby that sell scarves? I can get to the Eaton's Centre in 30 minutes if I time the buses and subway perfectly. (When I lived downtown I was able to walk there in 10 minutes or bicycle there in 4.)

So I really don't see much benefit in buying shoes/similar items online unless they are ridiculous cheap compared to a store, which I doubt because the cost of shipping must be worked into the price somehow. Or if they are ridiculously cheap, there must be something wrong with them.

For example I know I can go on Alibaba and order lots of super cheap things from China and India. eg. You can buy 100 bamboo arrows from China for $30 + shipping. And the more you buy, the cheaper they are. That is amazingly cheap for a product you can sell in Canada for roughly $5 per arrow. So as long as a person could find plenty of buyers, you could conceivably buy 1000 arrows on there for about $300 + shipping and then sell them here in Canada for $5000.

That is the big trick about Alibaba. Everything is in bulk orders. eg. 50 pairs of shoes, or 120 pairs of shoes - everything is a minimum order of a relatively large amount.

But you won't find reputable brand names on there because you have to purchase those from the manufacturer's distributors. eg. I tried looking for Nike shoes, but the only thing I could find is display cases for selling Nikes on.

So in this case, yes, you can find things for ridiculously cheap prices online. But they won't be brand name and you have to order it in bulk. And the shipping isn't free.