Attempted Scamming In Progress

Craigslist.com is a WONDERFUL website that in my personal opinion kicks the arse out of corporate-america’s biggest garage sale that is ebay. I went there the other day looking for a new (used) car. Having said that I must now say that it is the secret lair for scam artists, especially ones that aren’t very good at it. Read the following email I was sent and tell me who in their right mind would respond to this nonsense.

Hello,

As I told you in my first e-mail, I have some personal problems and I can’t manage the sale so I prearranged the deal with MoneyBookers and my
presence isn’t necessary. The car is in their possession
ready for delivery.I also made a photobucket album so you can see more
pictures (http://s523.photobucket.com/albums/w356/patrickrathburn/) You have
5 days to test and inspect the car. So if you want to make this deal I
need the following details from you: full name and address
shipping address
phone # After I will have all this details I will forward them to
MoneyBookers and I will proceed the order. MoneyBookers will contact you with
all the details that you need to complete this deal and also to see
that i am covered by them and that I am legit seller. Waiting your
email with the requested details.
Regards!!

Well, Mr. Patrick Rathburn it appears you are the worst scam artist of all time. Although I’m not sure how else you were planning on getting my money I sure hope you didnt expect me just to send it to some sketchy web site without ever seeing the damn car. And why would you need my address?? Lame.

Turns out that this car was posted all over the United States for sale, a simple google search showed that. Dumbass. So I told him I reported him and that I was depressed that he couldn’t have done any better to get my money. Criminals suck these days, wheres the Joker when you need him?

P.s. if you went to that link you will have found that yes it was a BMW and yes I really want one.

Mamma Mia

First let’s address the big ass white elephant. The girlfriend dragged me to the musical turned movie masacre.

The Good
Meryl Streep is comparable to the King Midas of the movie industry in that she turns the movies she touches into gold. Unfortunately the rest of the cast has to form the rest of the movie and sometimes they fail miserably. But Meryl Streep was great in this film, as always. I also liked the “Mean Girl” Amanda Seyfried who played Sophie, the main character. She’s won a couple of awards and is really going to come into her own in the near future I think. Look for her in Diablo Cody’s (Juno) new film Jennifer’s Body to be released in 2009.

Mamma Mia lived up to its musical nature and it was pretty important that they get the tunes right, and I feel like they did a pretty good job with the exception of one abomination that I’ll talk about in the ‘ugly’ section below…

The Bad

Dominic Cooper, the fiance… bleh. He just got casted because of his accent and his pretty boy exotic look to match the damn island. They could have done better on getting an actual actor. His chest-revealing shirts confused me because he wasn’t greek/hispanic at all- he was just living in Greece. Bottom line, I didn’t like him.

In addition, I felt like perhaps some of the directing may have been at fault and after a little fact check I’ve found that the director, Phyllida Lloyd had last directedGloriana in 2000 with little other experience in the motion picture business. It seems she had major opera experience so I’m assuming why thats why she directed.

The Ugly

Pierce Brosnan (former James Bond). If you’ve seen the movie you need not read any further. If you haven’t be warned that Mr. Bond is basically emasculated in his singing roles and has forever sealed any chance of ever being in such a role again. Ever. He was called, in-movie, a “middle-aged menopausal man” and that’s exactly the camio description he needed for taking on this role. I’m disappointed; stick with being a faux-badass Pierce.

Beijing 2008 Olympics Preview

We’re 14 days away from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics and Beijing is still smog covered, though the monumental buildings are finished, athletes are wrapping up their training, and the performers are doing their final dress rehearsals. Being the avid Olympics follower that I am, I’ve compiled a list of links that are interesting/informative:

Events
First and foremost, the schedule of events/finals/cermonies can be found here. My favorites and probably the most popular are the Swimming, Track, and the less popular Hockey events. Michael Phelps aims to break several Olympic and World records in swimming so watch the events he’s participating in.

New Buildings/Venues
Here’s a Reuters article on the new venues that were built in Beijing especially for the Olympics, of which the only one I’m thrilled about is the Central China TV Building that a picture of can be found here. The aquatics center is awkward looking and the “Bird’s Nest” looks like an accidental pile of steel and crap.

Photos
Here’s a link to a photo gallery provided by the Olympics. There’s a couple interesting shots in there you may be interested in.

That’s about it for now. Have fun.