I should put this time to better use. Oh well.

Here’s your odd picture for the day… enjoy!
It’s Winter and I have nothing better to do – I don’t even have cable! I am getting high-speed internet again though. Dial-up was just starting to kill me. And not even good dial-up – I was lucky to get 26.4… bleh. I might actually try an IP phone when I get broadband back in. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’ve actually had a good run of movies lately…

Hero – This might end up on my ‘buy’ list. The fight scenes are all set in beautiful locations. Pretty amazing stuff. The story didn’t suck either. Can someone find me a good quality screen shot of the fight in the gold forest? Much thanks.

Elf – Good for a giggle. Works well if you’re in the mood for a holiday comedy. Kinda cheesey, but should get a few ‘out loud’ laughs from you.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – No intellectual comedy here, just people getting hit (repeatedly) in the face and groin with rubber balls… and sometimes wrenches. I couldn’t help it, I laughed at all of it. I could watch Patches say “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge anything” and peg the poor guy with a wrench 100 times and laugh everytime.

Pieces of April – I’m putting this on my “Secret favorites” list. Ok, so it’s not much of a secret if I put it here. But no one reads this anyway, so who cares? A great story-telling movie. No effects, no fabulous locations… I think they shot the whole thing in 16 days. I added it to my Blockbuster queue because it kept coming up in the recommendations. A comedy drama about a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving? It was only 80 minutes long, so I thought “eh, why not?” I’m glad I did! I don’t get emotional during movies, but this one came pretty close to getting me all misty-eyed. I said close. I give it a strong 2 thumbs up.

Suicide Kings – Who let me miss this movie 7 years ago?!! Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jay Mohr… great performances by all of them. Walken and Leary play great gangsters. Ok, so Sean Patrick Flanery not talking with an Irish accent threw me off a little. I’d put this up there with “Usual Suspects” as far as the “what is going on?” factor. It keeps moving and doesn’t disappoint.

I guess that’s about it. Have a good Christmas and send me money.

… and my life isn’t that exciting, so I’ll just do what I do best – waste time at work writing about crap you care nothing about!

I’ve been pretty busy lately. By ‘busy; I mean ‘watching a lot of movies, reading, and playing games’ I don’t feel like writing everything about all of them… not that anyone reads it anyway.

Movies
I watched Pulp Fiction again just for giggles. If you’ve never seen it, I feel sorry for you. I’m assuming everyone already has and I don’t have much to add.

Panic Room – Eh. Take it or leave it. If you’re in the mood for a slightly dull action movie, it’ll work. I didn’t like the way it ended and there was just this nagging “Are you serious??” voice in my head through the whole thing. I mean, c’mon, make up your mind – it’s a room no one can get into or it is. Just the whole thing with the gas and the phone line… uhg…

Bandits – Billy Bob and Bruce play a couple of bank robbers – the ‘sleepover bandits’ It was actually a pretty decent movie. Slightly odd, and a somewhat unconventional love story. But not too bad overall. I’d give it a ‘rent if you want some non-serious entertainment’ rating.

Chronicles of Riddick – Ok, so I was really running out of ideas to put in my Blockbuster queue, cut me some slack. Pitch Black was mildly entertaining, that’s all I was hoping for here. I was let down. And after watching some of the extras on the dvd (yes I was bored) I’m really beginning to think Vin Diesel is gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just think maybe he is. Not that I would say that to his face.

Waking Ned Devine – British comedy. Do I need to say anymore? What is it with them and parading naked old men all over the screen. It’s disturbing. Makes me glad we won the revolution.

Love Actually Yes, I watched it, leave me alone. It was actually pretty good… you know… for a love story. Don’t worry guys, it’s not that painful. Pick it up and watch it with your girl – she’s watched tons of shit blow up with you, you can watch people kissing and crap with her.

Terminal – Not bad actually. It’s hard to pull off a movie shot almost entirely in one location (have I ever mentioned how bad Phonebooth sucked??) but Steve does a pretty good job here. It’s one of those movies that will suck you in and make you feel like you’re there. I like when a movie can do that.

Bought Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Boondock Saints too. I don’t often buy movies, but I bought these. That means if you haven’t seen them, you should.

Believe it or not… I think I’m missing one that I watched. Yes, I watch entirely too many movies.

Games
Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas May just be the greatest game for the PS2 ever made. I can’t say the greatest game ever, because everyone know that was Syndicate

Burnout3 – Takedown I rented this one (did I mention I get 2 free rentals a month with Blockbuster? Games or movies. Rock.) mainly because I was in the mood for a racing game, and GameSpot gave it a 9.5. GameSpot doesn’t just throw 9s and 10s around, they have to really like it. GTA:SA got a 9.6, if that gives you any indication. So, I figured it had to be good. It’s decent I guess, it just gets annoying at times. The controls are nice, the cars respond well, the graphics are pretty good, and you actually get points for taking other drivers out! It just seems kinda easy, and there’s not enough racing. It seems like most of the events are “Burning Laps” or “Preview Laps” — which as far as I can tell is the same thing – just a race against the clock, which is annoying. The “crash junction” events are fun – see how much damage you can cause in a big pile-up – but get old after awhile. Some with the races I guess. It’s a good game, I’m just glad I didn’t buy it.

I’m playing Ace Combat 5 now. It’s ok I guess. I’ve been looking for that good balance of flight-sim and story every since Strike Commander – this is as close as I’ve come so far.

Books
You believe I find time to read? I got tired of Everything’s Eventual and even Elegant Universe. So I started reading Angels and Demons – really good stuff! I actually have a hard time putting it down (that’s bad when you read on your lunch break and you’re only supposed to take an hour)

Welp… that’s about it. That killed a good amount of time…

I have 17 movies in my queue… and aside from the 3 “Coming Soon” they are ALL “Available now” … how cool is that?

I wonder if I could make movie reviews even shorter…. maybe I’ll do them in 10 words or less from now on. Walking Tall – Eh, it’s The Rock again. Same story, different setting.
The Day After Tomorrow Ok movie, awesome special effects. (The special effects were really the only reason I rented the thing)

Yawn. I left my phone at home today… that sucks.

Does anyone know anything about starting your own company?

I’m trying to cut back on caffeine a bit. After the years of Mt Dew, tons of coffee, and now Red Bull, I’m worried that it doesn’t even affect me anymore. Today I had a Red Bull, and I’m still on my first cup of coffee. I even mixed the coffee – it’s about half decaf and half regular. I’ll probably have a Dt Coke when I get home. That’s pretty decent for me considering I usually have a Dt Coke on the way to work, then about 5 or 6 big cups though the day, Mt Dew at lunch, and a ton more Dt Coke when I get home. I’ve been doing this all week, and so far no shakes or headaches or anything too drastic. Speaking of coffee, I watched Coffee and Cigarettes a few days ago. Coffee and cigarettes used to be a couple of my favorite things. Many years ago, me and a few of my friends would go out causing trouble; we’d inevitably end up at a 24-hour restaurant. We’d sit for hours drinking pots and pots of coffee and smoking packs and pack of cigarettes. Into the wee hours of the morning, discussing all sorts of odd things… sometimes I think we’d discovered the meaning of life during one of those binges, but after all the nicotine and caffeine wore off we had forgotten everything. It seemed every night was different – some nights were filled with brain puzzles, others turned philosophical, others had me in pain from laughing so hard. So anyway… the movie sucked. It was stupid. It was an endless string of cameos. Ok, so Bill Murray and a few guys from the Wo-Tang clan – that was funny. The rest was just painful to watch. Ok, so Steve Buscemi was funny. The bit with Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan was entertaining too.

In other movie news, Shrek 2 was hilarious. There’s so many references to other movies and hidden jokes… I loved it. Stuck on You was stupid. It had a few laughs, but for the most part it was just stupid. Don’t waste your time on this one. Ring – Finally! A good creepy movie! Not scary like “boo!” or scary like blood and guts all over… this is like The Exorcist scary. Creepy = good.

Have I mentioned how much I like Blockbuster lately? The in-store coupons I get are good for games now too, and they just gave me 2 ‘bonus’ ones. Spiffy. And they’re opening 10 more ‘shipping centers’, and buying more movies. Another cool thing – when the post office scans in the movie you’re returning, Blockbuster sends out the next one – they don’t actually wait for it to get back to them. Sweet… more movies for me. I think I’m suffering from Buffet Syndrome though… I feel like I need to watch the movies and send them back as quick as possible so I can get more. Oh well… winter is here, what else am I gonna do? mmm…. Grand Theft Auto!

I was instructed to update this, so the first thing you saw wasn’t a pumpkin killing itself. I have to say, it’s better than a life-sized bear statue with painted-on pajamas.

I don’t have a whole lot to say though… I am thrilled the election is over – I don’t even care who wins/won. Living in a ‘battleground state’ has been hell. I hate democracy.

So I went to vote yesterday… stood in line for over an hour, in the rain, just to perform my duty…..
Yes, that’s the line. It wasn’t much fun. They guy in front of me had 3 younger kids. I’m guessing ages 8-10. I thought “Great, antsy kids in line for an hour… this’ll be fun” But then I decided to put my dislike for small beings on hold, because it was actually kind of neat of the dad to bring his kids along to show them how the whole thing works. I overheard him talking to another parent that was walking out with their child – I guess there was supposed to be a place in there for the kids to ‘pretend vote’ but it wasn’t setup yet. The kids were bummed. One said “That’s ok, last time I voted for Al Gore but everyone else voted for George Bush.” (ok, maybe he’s 12 or so if he ‘voted’ 4 years ago) To which the girl quickly responded with “Actually, most people did vote for Gore, but Bush won because of the electoral college.” I really wanted to hug her and say “Do you realize how many adults don’t even know how this process works?!?” Maybe there is hope for the future.
Then some idiot soccer mom brought her 2 year old in slippers (with a 1 year old on her shoulder) and thought it was hilarious that he was running around screaming at the top of his lungs. It’s 7:30am lady! I haven’t had coffee yet! I hate people.

The Big Bounce – Boring. Tried to be plot-twisting, but failed. Was just an over-the-top “who’s conning the con?” movie. Rent Matchstick Men instead.

The Rundown Why did I watch this? I don’t know. He can’t act his way out of a wet paper bag, but I like The Rock. Seann William Scott is hysterical, but comes off as slightly annoying in this movie. It is almost worth the rental to see the Australian (?) bush pilot. ‘Ol Dwayne and Seann just didn’t have a lot going on… stuff blows up, funny stuff happens, everyone lives (or is in parts) happily ever after.

Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas may be the greatest game (for the PS/2) ever. The map is probably 4 or 5 times the size of Vice City, you can ride bicycles now, there’s twice as many vehicles, the planes actually fly realistically now, and you can finally swim! Yes, no more stupid deaths because you launch a car into the ocean. There’s even 2 player missions.. that should be cool. Oh, and did I mention the skydiving/BASE jumping? How cool is that. And they put thought into it – when you turn (while falling) he actually dips a shoulder to turn. And he tracks – sweeps his arms back and everything. Now if it would just let me do a 270 and swoop the downhill streets 🙂 But seriously, this game is way cool. All the games in the game are even fun – you can play pool, do off track betting, there’s video games… just all sorts of neato stuff. Oh, and there’s ‘turf wars’ now. Remember how annoying it was in Vice City – you could own the entire town, but if you crossed into gang territory they jumped you. Not anymore… take over their turf and you don’t have to worry about it. Cool stuff.

Anyone want to give me a job? I’m tired of this one.

Happy Halloween!

No, I didn’t make that – I’m not that creative. I wish I could remember where I got that picture from… the guy had a ton of very creative stuff.

EDIT: Found it! And fixed the archives. I was right, I did use that picture last year. I’m so predictable. Extreme Pumpkins

That’s odd… I thought it was in my archives maybe, from last year (that’s why I actually write stuff here, my memory stinks) but I get redirected… odd… I’ll look into that.

In the mean time:
Touching the Void – Heard people talk about it, decided to watch it. True story of two mountain climbers who get in a little trouble, and the one ends up cutting the other one loose. Don’t worry, it’s a happy ending (and no, I didn’t give anything away that you won’t figure out in the first 5 minutes of the movie)

Bad Boys II – Not as good as the first. Started dragging after awhile – 2.5 hours of Will and Martin is a little too much) Still decent I guess… worth renting if you’re a fan of the first.

Eurotrip – From the makers of Road Trip. Road Trip, I thought, was one of the funniest movies I’d seen in a long time. Eurotrip does ok, but just isn’t as funny. I watched the unrated version (I could have done without the nude beach scene… honestly) so there was a lot of gratuitous nudity, but the laughs just weren’t there. I guess I was hoping for another Road Trip, but was let down. If you’re in the mood for some cheap jokes and boobs, pick it up.

Played Star Wars: Battlefront on the PS2 too. Kinda fun, but I’m glad I didn’t buy it. It’s basically just UT but with Star Wars characters.
I am going to go buy the new GTA:San Andreas tonight though. I haven’t even played it, but don’t care. I’m going to trust Rockstar’s legacy of putting out kick-ass games and just buy it. That has burnt me in the past though (Westwood – c’mon, WTF was Tiberian Sun?! And Syndicate Wars?? Uhg… way to take a great name and slam dunk it into the toliet)

Yay! My car doesn’t make that rubbing/grinding noise anymore! It was the wheel hub assembly, and I was going to do it myself, but the weather was crappy and I was lazy… so I paid to have it done. Oh well.

I don’t really have crap else for you to read… sorry. My life isn’t all that exciting. I do have a new flat screen at home, so that’s fun. Oh, and Blockbuster cut the online rental thing down to $17.49/month AND made the coupons good for game rentals as well. Why? Because Netflix dropped theirs to $17.99. The Motley Fool thinks “Netflix and Blockbuster are both morons for engaging in this price-cutting suicide pact.” While that might be true, I’m not complaining – I’m not a shareholder. My only complaint is that only about 1/4 of the movies in my queue are “Available Now” … c’mon guys, buy some more movies! And why do sometimes it takes 2 days to get here, and sometimes it takes a week?

Spider Man 2 – Caught it at the cheap movies. Everyone said how great of a movie it was… I wasn’t terribly impressed. I mean, it was ok and all, but not anything earth-shattering.

Blow Based on the true story of George Jung. George basically started the American cocaine market in the 70s. After seeing the movie, I’d love to find the ‘real’ story and see how much of it was real and how much was made for entertainment. I guess if you’re in the mood for a ‘serious’ movie, this might work for ya. I can’t give it a ‘strong’ rating, but a ‘watch if you’re bored’ rating.

Soul Plane – Didn’t really like it. It had it’s funny parts, but not enough. “Barber Shop” meets “Airplane”. C’mon, when was the last time you saw a good movie with Tom Arnold in it??

8 Mile – I hate to say this, but I thought it was a pretty good movie. I mean, Eminem as an actor?! He actually does a decent job though. I was expecting either something completely cheesey or self-gratifying – it wasn’t either. It’s not exactly based on his life, but I think a lot of events and people from his life were put into it, so that probably helped make his role a little more believable.

That’s it for now I guess… have you seen anything good lately? Let me know… I’m running out of ideas 😀

Wow… I’m posting again! This time, just for movies. I saw Team America last night (sneak preview) Here’s my thoughts on that: If you liked South Park the movie, you’ll like this one. Trey and Matt are at it again with another parody of world politics and action films. If you’re easily offended, stay away. I’m still not sure what their fascination is with durkas.

It’s the usual fart and vomit jokes, but with puppets. They do a great job mocking almost everyone (c’mon, it takes balls to take a shot at Sam Jackson) I guess Sean Penn actually took the time to write them to say “Fuck off”… so… they must have hit a good nerve! “I was in Iraq ya know!”

I’ll warn you now, if you’re an Alec Baldwin fan, you’ll hate this movie. If you hate Alec Baldwin, stay through the credits.

The ‘love scene’ is freakin’ hilarious – I guess they actually ‘toned it down’ to get the “R” rating. So is the song about how much Pearl Harbor sucked (and Ben Affleck) There’s a few bad puns that’ll make you groan, and a couple of Star Wars references (changed just enough to not get sued) and I think a line or to from other movies (I caught one from Armageddon)

I’m not sure I’d pay $9 to see it. It had some good laughs, I’d catch it on video or at the cheap movies. If you’re a big fan though, go see it. Otherwise, you’ll probably get tired of the same gags over and over.

I rented Big Lebowski too. I’ve seen it before, but it was worth a repeat. It’s just a great movie. I might go as the dude for Halloween.

Drum Line was actually pretty decent too. Worth renting it just for the performances, but the story is pretty decent too. One of those good clean family movies.

Dirty Pretty Things I picked this one up because it kept popping up on Blockbusters’ recommendations. And I like Audrey Tautou. Nothing fantastic, but just a good quality, no-frills movie. Might work well as a ‘date movie’ – depending on who your date is. A little love story, a little action, a little drama, a little vengeance, with a few moral struggles thrown in.

The Punisher – Could have been subtitled “Way Better than Hellboy.” A typical action flick – stuff blowing up, revenge, blood & guts, gun play. I never got into the comics, but still liked the movie. Just good mindless entertainment. I like John Travolta as a bad guy too. It takes too long in the beginning – it just moves too slow. I hate it when they take 1/2 the movie to tell 1/4 of the story. Of course, I’m pretty sure they’re setting us up for a sequel.

Basic – It seems like it’d be an action flick, but it’s more of a suspense film with some action scenes. One of the few movies that actually kept me guessing. I’d actually watch it again, now that I know ‘who dunnit’ to catch some things I might have missed. Good choice if you’re in the mood to be confused!

21 Grams – Jury is still out. It was ok I guess. It tried to be great I think, and failed. It was weird for the sake of being weird. I’m not giving anything away here, but it’s non-linear. You’re confused the entire time, up until the last 25 minutes, then you’re thinking “Ok, I know what’s going on, just show me how it ends” but they drag on for another 20 minutes beating you over the head with the full story. Played start to finish, it wouldn’t have been that good of a movie. The fact that they scrambled it up for no apparent reason other than to keep you guessing… just doesn’t quite make up for the story. Don’t get me wrong, I like having to think while watching a movie (seen Memento?) but at least give me a good story or something rewarding behind it.

I don’t think I ever posted this. It’s a way lucky shot – I was driving up I-65 awhile back, and just pointed my phone out the passenger window and hit the button when I saw flashing out of the corner of my eye. Not bad for a camera phone, eh?

So here’s a ton of pictures (my weekend was way too busy to actually write everyting down)

Ok, so this weekend I ended up wandering around on the bike, stumbled across something basically in my own back yard: Picture doesn’t do it justice… it’s a really nice area. And the leaves turning make it even better.

On the way home I actually stopped to take this picture:

The mudde show!!

A parade!

Pirates!

And men on horseback jousting and swordfighting!

I even got to see a smile I haven’t seen before…