JayFublerHarvey.com

Think again…

Let’s put aside the fact that a whopper hit Alaska back in the day. There’s a more massive danger from the grandaddy of ‘em all: a mega-tsunami. Yep kids…thousands of feet high…hundreds of miles long.

I wrote about the possibility of a mega-tsunami hitting the east coast of the US about three years ago. I took the Discovery Channel to task for actually letting the general public know where the island was that could cause this. Take a little evil intent and and add some explosives in the right places, and Oops! Pow! Surprise! The next winner of the Apprentice will have to be gill-equppied in order to get to work.

Now after the destruction caused by the tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, hopefully people will come to realize that not only is the US vulnerable to this too, but that the east coast is in real danger.

(Since the information has already been out there for a while, I don’t mind pointing towards the suspect island. Hopefully it’ll actually scare enough people into forcing the government to do something to prevent it.)

I like to bid a fond farewell to the heart and soul of Law and Order, Mr. Jerry Orbach who passed away last night at the age of 69.

I was always amazed at how a show could be performed so consistantly well over such a long period of time, especially with cast members flying to and fro. Solid writing does have a lot to do with it, but there still needs to be an anchor somewhere. Jerry’s character Lenny Briscoe was that anchor. Lenny became the true mainstay of the series…the character you could always count on to take care of business and leave you with a smirk or two. (Lenny was a fountain-o-wit when it came to his ex-wives).

I’m glad he was able to give his character some closure before the end. I hope he was able to do the same in real life. Kudos to ya, Jerry. Hope the afterlife (or baby crib) is working great guns for ya.

For those of you want help out the earthquake and tsunami victims in Southeast Asia, but aren’t completely comfortable with giving unknown (to you) organizations your credit card number…there’s a solidly safe way with a retailer you’re all familiar with…

Amazon.com is currently giving a direct outlet for people to donate money to the Red Cross! So if you’re comfortable enough giving your credit card info to Amazon, please donate to the Red Cross today!

[Thanks to R. Cary for the what what!]

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is asking for major assistance in order to help all the countries devastated by the earthquake and resulting tsunamis that killed over 44,000 people (as of last count) in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia.

So please, donate today to help out your fellow human begins in their time of dire need!

Update (1/9): Here’s are the major safe places to make donations:

American Red Cross @ Yahoo
American Red Cross @ Amazon
Oxfam America
Unicef

Update (12/28): There’s a special blog for the quake/tsunami situation providing all sorts of information and help possibilities. A Small Victory is also providing donation information possibilities from multiple sources.

A little more than three years ago, many American helped out as much as they could when many thousands of people died all on the same day. This is no different, ladies and gents…at your most humane level, it’s not different at all. So please help!

(If you think this is different, shame on you…)

Time to give a huge WTF to Thomas Quinn, the director of the Federal Air Marshal Service, for insisting that his marshals be restricted to a dress code. Blending in ain’t for these people…it’s prim and proper all the way while you’re waiting for someone to set their Timberlands on fire (or pick you off because you’re dressed with such bullseye flair…)

Fortunately, the marshals are tired of feeling like they’re walking targets and have been happy to tell the real tale of their disgruntlement. Kudos to Audrey and Michelle for helping these ladies and gents out…

A little MSNBC article featuring poll results on U.S views on Muslim-Americans contained this statement:

“Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans, according to a nationwide poll.”

I don’t know what’s worse…the headache that just formed in my temples or sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that this is only going to get worse…

One of these days, I hope the majority of producers, directors, and screenwriters will start respecting the source material they use for their movies. The Sci-Fi channel’s recent miniseries, Legend of EarthSea, seemed to be in real need of more hours to really develop the characters and story, both on screen and off. As the hours went by, you couldn’t help but wonder what those of us that had not read the books were missing…

Plenty, it seems. Author of the EarthSea series, Ursula K. Le Guin, did not like what she saw at all. And had no problem giving the Sci-Fi channel a big smack upside the head. Nothing like getting berated by the original creator, eh? :)

(Side Note: One bright spot for the minseries, the lovely Kristin Kreuk ^^)

Big honkin’ raspberry to the Rock Hall for excluding Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five from this year’s list of inductees…

Your collective asses better come correct before Run-DMC gets theirs…

Ladies and Gents, I commend you on creating an unexpectedly enjoyable movie, full of Christmas fare and more action and suspense than I thought would be allowed for a G-rated movie.

However, my mind…being as it is… (*no laughing from the peanut gallery*) …needs answers to some important questions:

• Why does Santa’s gigantic bag of presents, when suspended in mid air, look like a massive nut sack?
• Are you willing to take responsibility when kids start walking on the top of moving trains? or even start skiing?
  The public needs a condescending parental warning now!
• Who’s the real brains behind this roller coaster ride ad disguised as a movie?
  Six Flags or Cedar Fair? (or Atari?)
• What nightmarish stupor was achieved when deciding to include Steven Tyler as the singing elf?
  (and what I can drink, smoke, shoot up or insert in order to get to that level?)
• Where exactly did you guys come up with such unbridled enthusiasm among the elves during the ‘waiting for Santa’ scene?
  I haven’t seen such mass singularly focused energy since Berlin in 1939…
• Come on…you guys can level with us….
  The original author was influenced by Galaxy Express 999 or Night on the Galactic Railroad, right?

And finally…are any of you really surprised with all the “Creepy” comments that being used by some to describe the way your characters look?

Polar Express comes across the exact same problem that plagued the Final Fantasy movie: No Energy! You can make the characters look as life-like as humanly possible. But if there’s no life behind those eyes…no glimmer of energy…no sign of believable emotion…you get lifeless…you get creepy…you get downright zombie.

Whomever works on the next real-life animated movie, spend extra on developing the eyes. They’re called the window to the soul for a good reason….

Forget the Segway…you’ll look more stylish rolling around in this:

Introducing Toyota’s new i-unit personal mobility vehicle.
(No relation to G-Unit.)

To quote Toyota: “The i-unit is a form of ‘personal mobility’ that seeks to attain a greater balance of meeting individuals’ wishes to enjoy freedom of movement, harmony with society, and harmony with the Earth’s natural environment.”

You hear that drooling fanboys…this wasn’t meant for you. Keep your mitts off of the merchandise. I’m sure you’ll be able to build one from chop-shop parts sometime in the future.

For those interested in its robotic sibling, check out the i-foot.