Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Movie Monday & a pesky computer virus
Not that I was ready with Knitting Friday, last Friday, but I was ready to post the 10+ sweaters I knitted this summer (Yes, 10+, I can't believe the amount. I know I knit in my sleep but this is ridiculous!) on Saturday morning.
So, I wake up at 1:30 am Saturday with a dull but still bearable headache. My pictures were uploaded and I was ready to go but this is an unholy hour to write a blog so I start to cruise VERY RESPECTABLE (yes, I am touchy about this, considering what happened) sites.
By 4 am, I'm starting to get these pesky pop-up warnings saying that my computer is not secure/I may be unprotected. You know the type. I've gotten them before and they're ads to buy an anti-virus program. So I check my anti-virus program and seeing the "Secured" notice, I just toddle merrily along even though a professional-looking pop-up ad for Anti Vir Solution Pro appears and I can't get rid of it.
At 4:30 am, I opened a .pdf and it kept closing on me while the pesky pop-up boxes were impossible to close. I decided to re-start and the computer booted up again in the dreaded black screen - you know what you get in safe mode (but I wasn't in safe mode.)
At which point, my computer expert was awakened with: You better come look at this. But I didn't do it.
Long story made shorter: Anti Vir Solution Pro was not an annoying pop-up ad. It was the virus and was it nasty! Thankfully, we have a laptop (or else we would have been SOOL) and connected to the internet there. While we ran two full anti-virus scans taking 9 hours and producing zero infected sites, we were able to research this bugger and find a fix which was legitimate and free. (I love the internet!) One of the biggest problems with fixes is that they can be as bogus and deadly as the virus you're trying to eliminate.
Cut to the chase: Anti Vir Solution Pro does not get picked up by normal anti-virus programs. The program which finally wiped it out found 11 infected files and did the job in record time. I'm back in business.
And now, the movie review: A Boy and His Dog
OK, truth in blogging: I didn't see the whole movie; that I'll accomplish when it's back on in a week, probably in the dead of the night again. And I know from reading some comments that I missed some important stuff.
This is an oldie, 1975, with a very young Don Johnson (way before Miami Vice), and Jason Robards and Charles McGraw (among others) in clown make-up. Additionally, it's a cult classic and deservedly so.
I'm not wild about 1970s movies. They have a sleazy/cheesy, artificial, quirky look and even good actors seem to be playing shtick in them. But A Boy and His Dog is based on sci-fi type novella by Harlan Ellison and sleazy/cheesy, artificial, and quirky work.
I picked up the plot when Vic, our hero, played by Johnson and his talking dog, Blood, (yes, a talking dog and he really makes the movie) are trying to survive in a post-apocalypse world. Blood is a tremendous help to Vic as he fights marauding gangs. Unfortunately, when a nubile female appears and the hormones kick in, Blood is unable to convince Vic he may be going to his doom.
Which takes Vic without Blood into a fundamentalist Christian world called Topeka which exists underground in a missile silo and looks just like "mom and apple pie" small town America. But, of course, it isn't.
Just last week, I saw the original Planet of the Apes (1968) and thought: Wow, this is applicable today. I had the same thoughts with this movie. Of course, one explanation is that the authors of the source works, Boulle and Ellison, provided excellent futuristic-themed material. These movies were not pieced together by a committee of Hollywood screenwriters. (Though Rod Serling was a screenwriter on POTA - not too shabby.)
When we get into the underground world a lot is going on and this section needs at least two viewing to absorb it all. Here, the viewer is trying to figure out who these people are (not to mention why they wear clown make-up), what's really happening in this world, and what plans do they have for Vic and the girl who lured him underground. Outside of normal dialogue in these scenes, you have a loud speaker voice-over giving recipes, event schedules, etc. - just like a bizarre summer camp or cruise trip.
Once Vic learns of (and participates in) these underground dwellers' wacky reproductive plans for him, he's out of there. His escape looks like a cheap shoot-out worthy of porn movie acting.
The escape takes us to the final controversial scene in the movie. While Ellison's original work was changed throughout the movie (as always happens), this scene even drew ire from Ellison. (Apparently, it was left in because the audience loved it.)
In this scene, Vic and the girl escape to above ground and find a sick, starving Blood. It's a short scene and I won't spoil the ending. But, hey, remember the movie is called A Boy and His Dog.
Enjoy.
So, I wake up at 1:30 am Saturday with a dull but still bearable headache. My pictures were uploaded and I was ready to go but this is an unholy hour to write a blog so I start to cruise VERY RESPECTABLE (yes, I am touchy about this, considering what happened) sites.
By 4 am, I'm starting to get these pesky pop-up warnings saying that my computer is not secure/I may be unprotected. You know the type. I've gotten them before and they're ads to buy an anti-virus program. So I check my anti-virus program and seeing the "Secured" notice, I just toddle merrily along even though a professional-looking pop-up ad for Anti Vir Solution Pro appears and I can't get rid of it.
At 4:30 am, I opened a .pdf and it kept closing on me while the pesky pop-up boxes were impossible to close. I decided to re-start and the computer booted up again in the dreaded black screen - you know what you get in safe mode (but I wasn't in safe mode.)
At which point, my computer expert was awakened with: You better come look at this. But I didn't do it.
Long story made shorter: Anti Vir Solution Pro was not an annoying pop-up ad. It was the virus and was it nasty! Thankfully, we have a laptop (or else we would have been SOOL) and connected to the internet there. While we ran two full anti-virus scans taking 9 hours and producing zero infected sites, we were able to research this bugger and find a fix which was legitimate and free. (I love the internet!) One of the biggest problems with fixes is that they can be as bogus and deadly as the virus you're trying to eliminate.
Cut to the chase: Anti Vir Solution Pro does not get picked up by normal anti-virus programs. The program which finally wiped it out found 11 infected files and did the job in record time. I'm back in business.
And now, the movie review: A Boy and His Dog
OK, truth in blogging: I didn't see the whole movie; that I'll accomplish when it's back on in a week, probably in the dead of the night again. And I know from reading some comments that I missed some important stuff.
This is an oldie, 1975, with a very young Don Johnson (way before Miami Vice), and Jason Robards and Charles McGraw (among others) in clown make-up. Additionally, it's a cult classic and deservedly so.
I'm not wild about 1970s movies. They have a sleazy/cheesy, artificial, quirky look and even good actors seem to be playing shtick in them. But A Boy and His Dog is based on sci-fi type novella by Harlan Ellison and sleazy/cheesy, artificial, and quirky work.
I picked up the plot when Vic, our hero, played by Johnson and his talking dog, Blood, (yes, a talking dog and he really makes the movie) are trying to survive in a post-apocalypse world. Blood is a tremendous help to Vic as he fights marauding gangs. Unfortunately, when a nubile female appears and the hormones kick in, Blood is unable to convince Vic he may be going to his doom.
Which takes Vic without Blood into a fundamentalist Christian world called Topeka which exists underground in a missile silo and looks just like "mom and apple pie" small town America. But, of course, it isn't.
Just last week, I saw the original Planet of the Apes (1968) and thought: Wow, this is applicable today. I had the same thoughts with this movie. Of course, one explanation is that the authors of the source works, Boulle and Ellison, provided excellent futuristic-themed material. These movies were not pieced together by a committee of Hollywood screenwriters. (Though Rod Serling was a screenwriter on POTA - not too shabby.)
When we get into the underground world a lot is going on and this section needs at least two viewing to absorb it all. Here, the viewer is trying to figure out who these people are (not to mention why they wear clown make-up), what's really happening in this world, and what plans do they have for Vic and the girl who lured him underground. Outside of normal dialogue in these scenes, you have a loud speaker voice-over giving recipes, event schedules, etc. - just like a bizarre summer camp or cruise trip.
Once Vic learns of (and participates in) these underground dwellers' wacky reproductive plans for him, he's out of there. His escape looks like a cheap shoot-out worthy of porn movie acting.
The escape takes us to the final controversial scene in the movie. While Ellison's original work was changed throughout the movie (as always happens), this scene even drew ire from Ellison. (Apparently, it was left in because the audience loved it.)
In this scene, Vic and the girl escape to above ground and find a sick, starving Blood. It's a short scene and I won't spoil the ending. But, hey, remember the movie is called A Boy and His Dog.
Enjoy.
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