Blue Horseshoes

So the Colts lose. I was kind of expecting it, but it still hurt a bit. Especially since Caldwell apparently didn't remember the Jacksonville game when he called a timeout, allowing the Jags to gather themselves and score the winning field goal. Geez.

Now Manning wastes another year. It's interesting to speculate as to what Manning plans to do, as he still hasn't signed a new deal. Does he...

1. Demand they get a new coach? Preferably someone with a defense-first philosophy? OR
2. Sign with a new team? It'll have to be a high-profile team built to win NOW. Which could potentially mean...

Peyton Manning, Dallas Cowboys.

(probably not, but it's an interesting thought).

SEATTLE!

Once More, With Feeling

Gosh, it's been three years since I last posted. I realize blogging isn't that popular anymore (replaced by tweeting), but hey. I really just want a place to keep track of the books I've read, the toys I'm obsessively collecting, and the movies I've watched.

(Happy New Year, by the way).

That said, here are the "firsts!" I've done so far this year:

First Book Read: The Book Of Lost Things, by John Connolly. Kinda like a nastier version of Into the Woods. I think Connolly's a pretty good writer--some passages were pretty striking:

"Newspaper stories were like newly caught fish, worth of attention only for as long as they remained fresh, which was not very long at all"

while others are hilarious (Comrade Brother Number One and everyone else). Good stuff, and a recommended read.

First Movie Watched: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I'll stick to Fantasia, thank you very much.

First Toys Bought: Action League, DC's answer to Marvel's Super Hero Squad. The four sets include:

• Superman and Bizarro
• Flash and Boomerang
• Firestorm and Deathstorm
• Green Lantern and White Lantern Sinestro

GL and Sinestro were pretty badass.

Monsters vs Aliens

Hi, I'm Bob."

Looking forward to this movie. With House, Jack Bauer, Elle Woods and Colbert, how can you go wrong? (famous last words...)

Rotten Tomatoes Best Animated Films

Here's an interesting take on the 50 Best Animated Films of all time. But really...Snow White #2? Really? With that grating little-girl voice that Snow White has? And don't get me started on her singing! I can't really argue with #1, although I think some of Pixar's later efforts are better.

My own personal top ten:

1. Spirited Away (#13) - an amazing ride through traditional Japanese folklore, subtly providing life lessons for both kids and adults. I must've watched this about a dozen times.
2. The Incredibles (#11) - superheroes! Pixar! What can possibly go wrong? It also helps that one of my former co-workers looks like Edna Mode, and is married to someone who looks like Mr. Incredible.
3. Flight of Dragons (not in the list) - why can't they put this on DVD?
4. Transformers: The Movie (not in the list) - what thirtysomething geek can't quote at least one line from this movie? Heck, Dirk Diggler knew "The Touch".
5. Howl's Moving Castle (#41) - another Miyazaki film. Dude's a genius.
6. Finding Nemo (#6) - I love the ocean and all the creatures that reside in it. Also, as a dad, this movie always makes me tear up *sniff*
7. Lilo and Stitch (#42) - some people probably don't like Stitch and find Lilo annoying. I don't; I find the titular characters extremely funny. I'm probably in the minority.
8. Sleeping Beauty (#45)- probably the best of the "classic" Walt Disney. It's a bit annoying though how they keep re-releasing it as a super-duper-deluxe-edition. Enough already!
9. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (#18) - stop-motion animation at its best. The Wrong Trousers was better, with the malevolent penguin, but this was still quite entertaining its own way.
10. Akira (#35)- yeah, it's a bit overrated. But the storyline is pretty cool, and is quite the cautionary tale.

A bit hard to whittle it down, and some I can interchange (Toy Story, The Iron Giant, Kung-Fu Panda). Heck, I'll probably have a different list tomorrow.

Wii Fit!

So after months of giving up on ever getting a Wii Fit until the girls began dating, I managed to find one at Target. I actually saw the Wii Fit in the display case on Friday, but the salesperson refused to sell to me, telling me to come back on Sunday. Well, Sunday came, and I woke up late. I went to Target, thinking it was impossible to find one there; fortunately, I was successful. I was probably the fifth person there, and managed to snag one. Hooray!

What did irk me was the fact that there must have been six or seven people there, all related, buying a Wii and/or a Wii Fit to later sell for profit. Must have been frustrating for the manager, as it was a way to circumvent the "one unit per customer to prevent eBaying" rule. Oh well.

I think Nintendo's beginning to produce a bit more of the Wii Fit, in anticipation of the holidays. So keep hanging around Targets if you want to get one!

Sinfest on the US Elections

Linkie: Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Sometimes I'm really impressed by Tatsuya Ishida's work; he can gently poke fun at everyone--Christians, athiests, politicos--without really insulting anyone. Here he's in fine form--he sure does give that whole "lipstick on a pig" farce a new meaning, huh?

Stupid Girl (redux)

We were watching the season premiere of Sarah Connor Chronicles today and heard someone who sounded suspiciously like Shirley Manson singing over the action in the opening sequence.

Sure enough, it was her. Not only that, she now has an important role in the series! Huh.

Unfortunately, age has taken its toll, so she's not quite as attractive as she was during her Queer/Stupid Girl/Only Happy When It Rains days. In fact, her face looked a little bit...stretched. Her acting skills also left a bit to be desired--she was a bit wooden, a bit...robotic, if you will. Right now she's the weak link in an excellent ensemble cast.

Maybe she'll improve, though. After all, Lena Headey was pretty bad in the first couple of episodes too, but she gradually grew into her role.

Oh, and Summer Glau still rocks, and is strangely hot, despite the forehead.

ABBA Twins, Part 1

Somehow, the girls have become huge fans of ABBA, after watching the movie "Mamma Mia!". We can't go anywhere now without them requesting that we play the CD. Here's a clip of them singing the title song.

Of Phelps and Tinfoil Hats

Phelps finally won his eighth gold today, but everyone's still talking about the seventh race. One person has even gone so far as to create a website called 001ofasecond.com to decry the "Phelps Conspiracy". As with most tinfoil wearing denizens, he cherry picks his evidence. That leading photo? Taken from the fourth photo in SI's "Frame By Frame" sequence. What he conveniently left out was the fifth photo...oh, and don't forget the sixth photo, a blowup of Cavic's hands not quite touching the pads.

I personally think Phelps won...because of his freakish wingspan. But that's just one man's humble opinion. I'm certainly not going to go and create a website to proclaim it. No, I'll just blog about it! =P

Yet Another Dark Knight Review

A lot of times you get so worked up about a movie, only to find that it doesn't quite live up to the hype. Generally, I try to avoid reading about a movie I'm interested in, because I'm worried about being disappointed, but in this case, you couldn't avoid stories about how great this movie was.

Unfortunately, I wound up being disappointed. Just a wee bit, but disappointed, nonetheless.

Oh, it was a good movie, don't get me wrong; Calai was right, Ledger's performance was so utterly convincing that you forget that he actually did something as silly as First Knight. Ledger's Joker was funny, creepy, frightening...everything Nicholson's version wasn't. I also loved how he was prepared for everything and how Batman wasn't (thus turning the Internet meme on its head); heck, I found myself applauding how successful his plans were; if he wasn't truly and utterly amoral, I may have rooted for him to actually win over the dour and brooding Batman. I especially loved how he had a different story about how he got his scars, depending on who he was accosting at that point.

So what was the problem? I wasn't completely drawn into the movie. Part of it was my fault; I was bothered by Batman's raspy voice for one thing (get a cough drop already!), but this was due to the fact that several people had already pointed this one out. Another thing that jarred me was Richard Alpert playing the mayor--I kept thinking he needed to go back to the Island. Consequently, I saw Christian Bale playing Batman instead of seeing Batman. I saw Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhaal instead of Two Face, Lucius Fox and Rachel Dawes. Fortunately, Ledger, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine disappeared into their roles, so it wasn't a complete loss. Then there was the running time. It dragged in a couple of places, causing me to wonder when it was going to end, which is typically a bad sign for a movie.

It wouldn't be difficult for me to say that Ledger saved this movie. Without him, this would've been Just Another Superhero Movie, despite it being Batman; I actually liked Iron Man
better.

As for the third film? Well, if they could bring The Dark Knight Returns (Batman vs Superman!) or Knightfall (Azrael!) to the big screen, I would be a very happy man. It'll be hard to top Ledger's performance, though.

(oh, and that wasn't Kingpin, Calai. Kingpin is from Daredevil; I think they just wanted the image of a big, menacing figure with a conscience)

Angus Young Would Be Proud

I'm glad that I don't have to wear a tie to work. I never understood the reasoning behind it anyway--sure, it might be good for lawyers and power brokers, but for a programmer or a DBA? What's the point?

Anyway, seems like times, they are a-changin'...wearing shorts to work? With a coat and tie to boot? Wha? Heck, the last time I wore a tie and shorts to work, it was for Halloween.

Sure, it looks good on some guys, but it would be horrifying to look at on others.

Please, no!

Earthquake!

Experienced a pretty big (5.4) earthquake here at work, with the epicenter around 15 miles from where I live (!). Whole building was shaking, and I could see the glass windows appear to be bowing outwards. Scary sight.

Had to do the duck and cover thing (heh) underneath my desk. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and the kids are okay. Unfortunately, my Marvel Super Squad figures fell off the bookshelf, but they're PVC anyway.

Bad news is that we've had around 35 aftershocks in and around the original epicenter. Hopefully there's not a bigger one coming around...

Incredible Machines

Remember The Incredible Machine? This was a PC game way back when where you had to use different objects (cannons, gears, what-have-you) to guide a ball to its goal. Fascinating game, but one I haven't really kept up with too much.

Now there's a new web game called Fantastic Contraption (*winkwinknudge*) which is pretty much the same concept: guide an object to its goal. A slight variation to the concept is that you really only have a set of three gears and two connectors to accomplish your task--build a contraption (be it a catapult, a series of levers, or a tank) to get an object to its goal. Having a good grasp of physics is a BIG plus.

Unfortunately, I nearly failed physics, so I solved most of the levels using brute force. If you're a bit better at it than I am, though, you'll probably have an easier time of it. The game's quite addicting, but can get frustrating at times.

Three-fer Thursday Review: Kung Fu Panda, Juno, Iron Man

Three movies, five stars each.

Kung Fu Panda was an instant classic. Avoided the Shrek pop-culture in-jokes and just told a darn good chop-socky story, in the style of Kung-Fu Hustle (which was one of the inspirations). Jack Black dialed it down a bit and wasn't overly annoying. It was funny, had lots of action, and the animation was great (the dream sequence was especially clever, with hints of Samurai Jack. Bonus was the kids loved it too. Now you can't find the toys anywhere (fortunately, I was sneaky and got the toys before the movie came out). Viper and Oogway are particularly hard to find.

Juno is, of course, a bit different, and definitely not for kids. Still, though, it's charming in its own way. The titular character is a bit strange, but in that cool way that draws you in. Well cast, and well acted. A very touching film, with an ending that's heartbreakingly bittersweet.

Iron Man. Robert Downey, Jr is Tony Stark. Damn. Best Superhero movie I've seen to-date--better than Spider Man, better than any of the X-Men films, better than Batman Begins. Talk about perfect casting! Unfortunately, it suffers a bit from "Margot Kidder" syndrome--they could've picked a better-looking Pepper Potts (okay, I'll admit that Gwyneth is pretty in her own way). Nice set up for other movies too. Makes me wonder if they're leading up to an Avengers movie...

So far it's been a great movie-watching experience--three great movies in a row! Unfortunately, the next movie I'm watching is Jumper. Let's see how that turns out...

...and It's OVER!

Ha! Take that, Vic The Brick! Take that, "Machine"! Take that, bandwagon-Laker-Fan-flying-those-stupid-flags!

The Lakers quit once the lead got past 10 points. Kobe quit as well--he kept passing and didn't really try to assert his will.

Hey, my prediction was off by one game, but who cares? And "Machine"? Karma sucks, don't it?

Let's Get It Started

Well, I was right with my NBA Finals prediction. What did I say?

"Anyway, if you believe the NBA is rigged (or, as I believe, "influenced"--see Game 6 of Lakers/Kings, where a Kobe elbow to Bibby's nose was deemed "incidental contact", and the Lakers shooting 27 free throws in the fourth), it's going to be Lakers-Celtics in the Finals. I think it'll be a Lakers-Spurs WCF, and a Celtics-Magic ECF, followed by the Dream Matchup. In this case, I think the NBA "influences" the series to a Game 7, where the NBA lets them play (after all, they've already won in terms of $$$)..."

What happens? Lakers-Celtics in the finals, with a couple of games having highly suspect calls --to the point that the NBA found it necessary to apologize for that blown call in Game 4 of the Spurs--at least it gave us a great Back to the Future reference from Brent Barry:

"That's awesome," Barry said, "because Doc Brown is waiting for me outside, and we're going to get in the DeLorean and fire up the flux capacitor and we're going to go back and shoot a couple of free throws."

I also said that I was hesitatingly going to root for the Lakers. But after hearing Vic The Brick blabbering about mu and no self and no ego; seeing Sasha "The Douche Machine" Vujacic shooting that bush league three when the game was over; seeing all those stupid Laker flags on cars; hearing fans claiming that Lamar Odom would absolutely destroy KG...I think I'm putting on the Celtic Green for this one, my disdain for the Pats notwithstanding.

Celts in seven. Because I believe in karma for that Sasha shot, and because I want to hear a grown man cry over the radio. Again.

Viva La Vida

I first heard this in an ad for iTunes during the American Idol finale. Personally, I think Coldplay began to show heavy U2 influences with their X&Y album, but that's just me. This one's a little bit of Annie Lennox (the strings on Walking on Broken Glass) and a little bit of U2 during their Unforgettable Fire days.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida

(via last.fm)

Catchy as heck, though. The lyrics are also interesting.

There Can Be Only One

Oh...my...stars and garters.

They're planning a reboot of Highlander!

The first (and only true) movie is easily one of my favorites of all time, cheez-tastic as it is. Come on, where else can you see The Fabulous Freebirds and hear Queen singing one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time? How about a Frenchman playing a Scot and a Scot playing a Spaniard (okay, an Egyptian)? How about the concept of immortals fighting and beheading one another?

(What, they're aliens? There is no second movie. That never happened. NEVER!)

Yeah, it's not high art. And yeah, in all probability this reboot will probably suck.

But I can't wait to watch it.

I Want My (LCD) TV

After almost a year of procrastinating and saving my pennies, I finally gave in to my inner jock and bought a Samsung LN46A650. This thing is freaking gorgeous; I watched American Idol on HD for the first time last night, and I was able to see Archie's moles (moley-moley-moley) and the highlights on Cookie's hair. I could also see Sheesh-a's frown lines (as she put on a brave front, knowing she was thrown under the bus) and the disaster that was Fantasia. Ugh.

Okay, maybe that last one is an argument against HD. But I digress.

I don't have a Blu-Ray player yet (waiting for the special PS3 bundle with MGS: Sons of Liberty), but I did get an upscaling DVD player. Beowulf was gorgeous on screen, despite being a so-so movie (Yowza on Angelina). Yup, I could get used to this...

Unfortunately, one of the kids decided to leave her handprint smack-dab in the center of the screen. I suspect Amelie, but it could be Camille. Who knows...