Why Jason Lee’s Stock In My Market Keeps Going Down

Jason LeeI really liked Jason Lee’s characters the first time I saw him. The first time I saw him was in the movie Mi Vida Loca (1993), but I think it was Mallrats (1995) where I actually payed attention to his character.

His character in Mallrats was a refreshing role back then, one I could at least partially identify with from my earlier days. And he played it so well, you actually got the feeling that he probably at one point really lived his life like that. It wasn’t so hard to believe as I had lived very similarly in my youth, minus hanging out at the mall at that age or being interested in comic books.

However, when I saw him in Jersey Girl – I wasn’t as impressed as with his previous work. I could tolerate his character – but I felt it was forced, lackluster, and way too typical at this point. It was as if Kevin Smith told him to “be funny, like in Mallrats”, and that was his only direction.

Once I watched a few episodes of My Name Is Earl, and found out that Jason Lee is a Scientologist, his stock in my market took a huge plummet. Then I find out that he was starring in Alvin and the Chipmunks and I lost all hope.

Not only is this a defecation on (like so many other re-makes) the chipmunks I grew up with – it looks to be even worse of a performance by Jason Lee. How many times can you rehash the same old bumbling character with some out-dated witticisms, and still have it be a success? I understand that “kids of today” won’t know the difference, but come on! This just reeks of typical cheese. The only hope is that David Cross makes enough funny appearances to make it somewhat tolerable.

Snow Removal Operations

Where I live, I’ve seen snow plows get stuck, I’ve seen roads where snow plows don’t even dare to go, but I’ve never seen any operation like what I saw in Canada. They have it down to a science.

Think of your typical snow blower, on steroids, and the size of a large backhoe. Instead of a shovel in front, they had a box full of huge rotating blades that ate up the banks of snow and ice and spit them out 50-100 yards away. Or in the case of more populated areas, spit what it chewed up into a waiting line of semi trucks.

I’ve been told that where they dump all this snow, sometimes the pile doesn’t melt until late summer. I’ve also been told that sometimes the snow comes out red, from blood. As you might think, kids love to build forts and tunnels inside these huge snow banks. By the time the rotary snow plows chew through, it’s too late. Here are some of the coolest (pun or no pun) snow plowing operations I’ve seen.

A train plowing snow from Goodland, KS to Limon, CO on the Kyle Railroad.

In more rural areas such as the Haines Highway in Yukon, Canada, they don’t bother with hauling the snow, they just blow it out past the road.

Here, eventually, you see that in more urban areas, the snow plows direct the snow into waiting trucks where the snow will be dumped in another place.

Even reporters who are reporting on the dangers fall victim to the plows.

Think you’ve seen big snowbanks? Think again.
This is from Cascade, Idaho.
Large Snowbank

This is from a previous post about a “Real Russian Winter” (Courtesy of English Russia).
real_russian_winter.jpg

Got some better snow removal operations video or pictures? Show what you have in the comments.