The Rum Diary is a loosely autobiographical novel by the iconic Gonzo writer, Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson is also the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which in 1998 Johnny Depp also starred in in the movie adaption. The running theme: lots and lots of booze and lots and lots and LOTS of drugs going hand-in-hand with a series of 1970's, Hemingway-esque adventures.

Thompson is an absolute wild man! To give you an idea of this gentleman, it is appropriate to say that Ralph Steadman was a close friend of his and that Steadman was often enlisted to illustrate Thompson's words as the two aesthetics fell so perfectly in sync.

Coning

This is thing man! And you know what why the hell not. The only person losing out on the whole deal is the cone-er in that his hand is now kind of sticky. Working at a Mc-D's is boring as hell. At least this will give folks to talk about for a half hour.

Book: The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

I finished a book! Quite feat these days (unfortunately).

This is wild one. About six years ago this all front page news, but me in my ignorance just found out about it until now. Clark Rockefeller creates a media frenzy and worldwide search when he kidnapped his young daughter. Quickly it is revealed that this fellow was no Rockefeller. What unravels is the story of how a German immigrant makes it from his native hamlet to the being recognized as a member of one of the richest most elite families in the United States.

Now I'll say I tend to romanticize the idea of the smooth talking drifter able to charm the locals and recreate reality. It's one thing to learn about it through the envisioning of Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, but it is entirely another to see the raw realty of what such an individual must do to survive. It's quite unsettling to see how the kitchen prepares it cuisine. Yet, you are unable to look away. This story draws you in never stopping to fascinate and astonish.

Hitman 5: Absolution

I love the Hitman series. Other guys are into the high-body-count, mass-murder games, and, I mean, I'm a big fan of the GTA series and other shoot-em-up games, but at the same time I never really understood the appeal of going on some wild shooting spree killing a bunch of bystanders that had nothing to do with your objective. (By-the-by Scarface the game is good for this. Tony actually refuses to shoot someone who isn't a rival gang member and it still remains to be super high octane).

Anyway, after a round about way of getting to it, that's what I love of the Hitman games. You do it clean. Even killing one person outside of your contract will cost you money. You have to smart about your approach; strategic. In fact it is even more of a show of your talent if you don't use a gun at all, if you have get close, right up on your target, even better if you make it look like and accident.

In the last Hitman, the agency had been decimated and agent 47 (the lead character you see ripping through an army of guards here) was betrayed by his handler Dianna (the red head in the shower). However Dianna pulled a double betrayal helping 47 to fake his death so he could get close to the men who were after him. Now the man's gone rogue. It's going off!

Movie: Drive

Look at that cast!!! You got some real iconic figures in the male supporting roles: Albert Brooks taking a turn from his usual comedic path towards what looks to be a pretty well performed dramatic role, Bryan Cranson (Breaking Bad), and Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy). But then you see the phenomenal actresses in the female supporting roles: Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) and Carey Mulligan (An Education). While these women have had limited commercial debuts, their work has been inspiring.

Then to top it all off, you have Ryan f*king Gosling. The dude is undeniably the best young actor alive. He has a remarkable capability for assuming the most complex and enduring of characters. Nothing about his protrayals contain the melodrama and pretentious that seem to trouble so many of his peers with equally complex roles. He is unable to understand his characters, and in doing so does not over-inflate or under-deliver on them but presents them in their natural state.

Plus this movie just looks really bad ass!

Swiss Fight to Ban Powerpoint

One of the issues with third parties is they are often formed entirely around a narrow and singular cause. Not only does this make it difficult to establish appeal to the wider base, but once the party's cause is accomplished there often remains little to keep it united.

One such party in Switzerland however seems to be gaining a great deal of recognition for its unique cause. The Anti-PowerPoint Party is of course united under the cause of putting an end to PowerPoint presentations and the terrible boredom they inflict on citizens.

According to the founder, Matthias Poehm, 350 billion euros could be saved on the global scale if PowerPoint were to be eliminated. And think of it: no more will entire departments of staff be dragged into watching bullet points zip across the screen and frames come spinning towards them in a nausiating

Movie: Money Ball

I was thinking the other day about why baseball seems to have declined from its former glory in the hearts of Americans. It is said to be the national pastime, but I think its fairly clear that football and basketball have fairly well eclipsed it. Baseball is openly mocked for being way too long and boring (that's seems to be more of a faulty change in our society towards the microwave, immediate satisfaction mind set than a fault in the game).

One thought occured to me that perhaps to some degree it may be that our generation just hasn't had an iconic baseball for us to connect with. We were all too young to connect with films like Field of Dreams (1989), Major League (1989), or For the Love of the Game (1999) and WAY too young for The Natural (1984). There were a lot of kitchie baseball movies for us with monkeys and dogs and angels, but even as a kid you can't take that seriously. Most of all of our best sports movies were either basketball or football movies.

This here though takes a turn. It looks to be very inspiring (good underdog story against all odds), and, while Jonah Hill usually dabbles in the most immature of comedy, I get the vibe he has the ability to do this role real justice.