Weatherman: A useless occupation

For those of you who live in the Portland area, I'm sure you're aware of the horrible failures that the weathermen in this area have become. It's not enough that Portland news has to hype itself up to a false standard of importance, now the weathermen are getting paid enough to lead people to delusional standards. I suppose they think we're stupid. In some cases they're right. Unfortunately I fell victim to they're nasty trick, believed that we would have an ice storm. Fortunately I didn't go to such great strides preparing such as getting snow tires after waiting eight hours at Les Schwabb or buy deicer. This "failure of the century" has made me cross lines that I didn't think even existed. I'm not relying on the the weather anymore. It's more useful to me to stick my hand out the window and predict it's going to rain elephants. Hell I'd still probably be right the same percent of the time that the meterologists who get paid to do this false profession are.

And please no one tell me that "predicting the weather is hard." Determining whether it will be showers or rain all day is hard. An ice storm or a bit of rain is like deciding whether a house cat or a grizzly bear will make a better pet. Everyone knows why they predicted this so poorly: ratings. Tell the world the sky is falling and everyone will listen to you. In my opinion these people fall into the same category as the crazies on the street corner telling you the world is ending or that they are Jesus.

It's disappointing to me to see how far the Capitalism Apple falls. Taking something like predicting the weather and manipulating it to get more money is a shameful act. But as the book Freakonomics taught me, people are driven by incentives. As long as their are advertisements on the channel you're watching, don't trust the information being given, at least not the weather. All you can do is rely on yourself and remember it's sunnier and warmer in the summer, and rainy and snowy more often in the winter. Prepare accordingly. Not according to the weathermen on every channel.

Never have I seen someone in a job be wrong so often, and still be employed. If I pulled this crap everyday not only would I get fired, no one at work would respect me. In my opinion Oregon now has two useless jobs, the attendants who pump your gas and weathermen. Fortunately I usually fill up in a state other than Oregon, and I can always turn the TV off.

A Bit More Mild.

So Avatar will soon be released in theaters. I'm speaking of the James Cameron science fiction movie, not the movie adapted from the cartoon, (seriously why did Hollywood decide to release two similar titled movies at the same time)? This is a movie that is apparently highly anticipated, yet somehow I had not heard of it's making until about a month and a half ago.

Regardless I'm excited, not just by the trailers, but by James Cameron's track record as well. Aliens, Terminator, Titanic, True Lies, The Abyss, each of these movies have something very unique about them and most are still referenced in pop culture to a degree that I'm sure M.C. Hammer and Pauly Shore envy greatly. The Aliens and Terminator franchises pretty much go without saying and, in my opinion, True Lies is one of the best action films made and by far the best Arnold Schwarzenegger film (yes that does contend with Terminator 2, but that's a close second). The Abyss is a different kind of film within the sci-fi genre, by essentially taking the suspense and action a story in space would have and placing it 2 miles under the surface of the ocean, not original, but in my mind a very good film. Colleen hates The Abyss, but I think that's because she was attacked by a worm like water monster as a child and that scene gives her nightmares. No. In all honesty I think she dislikes the love story, which I could do without, but then again I could go without just about any love story being told. Musicals suck.

While going over all this, it occurs to me the type of person James Cameron is. Not exactly the type of person he is, but more specifically his story telling. Not only does he have great ideas, he writes them well. This reminds me of someone else in the movie business, but his writing is far inferior and that is George Lucas. Lucas can tell a great story, but his writing is like the alphabet threw up. I could write better dialogue with the letters I get in alphabet soup. Which that in itself is not horrible. What really irritates me is that when it came time to write the screenplay for "The Empire Strikes Back" he had Lawrence Kasdan write it. I have no beef with Kasdan, "Empire" is a great film. The reason Lucas had Kasdan write the screenplay is because Lucas realized his writing was close to shit, and so wanted a bit more talent thrown into the film. Good job Lucas, awesome way to use various sources to tell your story. What I want to know is if Lucas realizes he's a shitty writer, then why did he write all three of the last Star Wars films. Why? It doesn't make sense. Episode I and II are pretty much crap. I thought of watching Episode I the other day, but I didn't want an annoying inquisitive little brat who can't act on my screen for two hours. The thought was just not appealing, like Brussels Sprouts.

So in summary James Cameron is pretty much an improved George Lucas. Maybe if we're lucky Cameron can give Lucas some lessons, but I doubt Cameron would stoop to such depths.