The Muzzy's Blog

You may recall some of my earlier adventures in trying to get a potato burrito, and how they ended in failure. Today I found success!

Back in Western I loved the potato burrito. So it's fitting that today I had another taste of this fine delicacy with the man who was my roommate back then. David will be leaving our shores to live in Japan very soon. He needed one last taste before he could go, and I was happy to drive him.

Tina couldn't join us, since she's bed ridden at the moment. So I ordered one to go for her, and it was still pretty warm by the time we arrived. I also ordered a "Ranchero", which many people have told me is just as good as the potato burrito. Mmm... Casa Que Pasa twice in one day. Life is good.

With a baby on the way, and the high price of gas... I don't know when I'll be able to enjoy a potato burrito again. But I'm glad we went.

I've written before about Web 2.0 apps that suck. Twitter is one that comes to mind. It's a popular web app, but for no good reason. Fortunately they'll eventually disappear once they run out of venture capital money. Like so many web-based companies, they'll never make a profit. It's rare to find a Web 2.0 app that offers a useful service. So it's sad for me when I do find one and I know that like Twitter, it will eventually run out of money and then I won't be able to use their service.

The app in question is Jott. Jott is the first useful voice recognition application I've seen. Here's the gist of how it works:

After registering a free account on Jott, you dial up a 1-800 number on your cell phone. Jott asks you what you want to do. You speak a phrase to Jott, such as "Calendar". It then asks you what the appointment name is, and what time you want to be reminded. Then it adds it to your Google Calendar. You can also do this with text messages, but why would you?

There are plenty of plugins for the free service too. You can add other services, such as Twitter or Don't Forget the Milk. They even have an SDK (of sorts) to create your own plugins.

I don't see how this company will ever turn a profit. Hopefully someone with some deep pockets will buy them out. Imagine if Microsoft bought this for Exchange. You wouldn't need to log in to a computer to setup a new appointment or to-do item. You could just pick up your phone, any phone... not just a smartphone or a blackberry, and setup that meeting or task item. As a standalone product I don't believe it can survive. But as part of a larger product, I think it would be profitable.

In the meantime, check out Jott. I've only been using it for two days so far and I've already found it valuable.

Bedrest has proven to help Tina's blood pressure and swollen feet. So she'll remain on bedrest for another week or two. The doc wants to induce sometime in the first week of August. That will be earlier than expected by almost 3 weeks. In the meantime, Tina might go bonkers sitting on the couch and watching daytime TV.

I'm on my 100 day long break in service from my job with the Windows Mobile Devices group. A lot of my time is spent getting the house ready for the baby, applying for jobs, filling out unemployment paperwork, etc. The etcetera part consists of web browsing while watching free movies from Comcast.

I don't know if you've ever seen the list of movies that Comcast allows their customers to watch for free, but it makes Netflix's selection of streaming movies look like fine cinema. It's full of B-Movies from the 1980's, which I'm usually ok with. Those movies have a cartoonish charm to them, and many of them remind me of my childhood.

One movie that appears from time to time is "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins". The movie was loosely based on a series of novels called, "The Destroyer". The story consists of a cop who is recruited by a secret organization. They fake his death, give him a new face and then send him out to stop criminals who operate outside of the law. It shares similarities with a lot of TV shows and Movies from the 1980's... Knight Rider for instance.

The real star of the show was Chiun, the racist and arrogant martial art trainer who prepares Remo for his job as an assassin. Like many projects of hollywood before the 90's, the Asian character was performed by a Caucasian (think David Carradine). I've never understood why hollywood did this, as there are plenty of decent Asian actors who could have played the role. This got me thinking of how I would remake this movie.

First off, The Destroyer series has over 140 stories already written. You could turn this into a television series and not have to come up with an original idea for years. Personally, I feel you need a good dialog writer to keep Chiuns lines entertaining from episode to episode. My number one pick would be Joss Wheden, with a follow-up choice of Kevin Smith. Stick close to the original material, update it as need be (some of those stories are nearly 40 years old now).

For the lead role, I'd want someone in their early 30's. Someone who looks tough, but not a model. Think of a young George Peppard. The actor needs to be able to deliver smart-ass lines, and pull off an action shot. I'd expect someone like Jensen Ackles, or Nicholas Brenden. I can also see Michael Peña in the role. However if Joss Wheden were to helm this project, he'd likely reformat the show to have a female lead... so I'd expect him to go with Michelle Rodriguez.

For Chiun I can clearly picture James Hong. You'd need to rewrite the show to make Chiun Chinese instead of Korean... but then again, it's not like James Hong hasn't been asked to play a Korean or Japanese before. I think Hong would have the ability to deliver those great Chiun lines (i.e. "You move like a baboon... with two clubbed feet.").

The role of Harold Smith need to be that of an older American who looks like an old-school patriot and intellectual. I'm thinking it should be Donald Sutherland.

Finally the role of Conn MacCleary needs to be played by a smooth, older black man with style. He needs to make a strong impression, because he gets killed off early in the show. Carl Weathers is 60 years old, but he still looks too young for me. Maybe Billy Dee Williams then.

As for the format, I'd make every episode a two-parter. That way every book is essentially a two-hour movie presented as two one-hour episodes.

Unfortunately, Remo Williams probably will be remade one day... but it'll be ruined. Not by the actors, and not necessarily by the writers either. No, it'll be some crazy focus group that changes it... making Remo Williams a big wuss. He won't be allowed to kill anyone. He'll be forced to make peace with everyone, or to just hand things over to the police. He won't smoke, he won't eat meat. He'll just be a generic do-gooder that fails to get past episode 6 before he's canceled one more time.