Not So Final Frontieresque
Posted on | December 3, 2008 at 7:47 am | 2 Comments
Pet Peeve of the Day:
The Flying McCoys, 12/2/2008:
The name of the TV show/movie is Sex and the City, not Sex in the City. Why can’t the non-fans ever get that right?? Sheesh.
And who’s the dude on the far left?
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “phobia that starts with q”.
Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
Remembering Veronica Mars
Posted on | December 1, 2008 at 7:03 pm | 5 Comments
Movie Mention Monday!
This weekend the gf and I watched the Blu-Ray disc of one of the latest from the Judd Apatow hit factory, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. (Shhhh, don’t tell my friend Miles.) It’s the story of a slacker loser dude (played by How I Met Your Mother’s Jason Segel, who also wrote the movie) who inexplicably has a hot TV star girlfriend (played by Veronica Mars’ Kristen Bell). He loses the girl and goes to Hawaii to recover, only to find that the girlfriend is also there with her new rock star boyfriend (played by British funnyguy Russell Brand). He then falls for a local girl (played by That 70’s Show’s Mila Kunis). That’s pretty much all there is to the story, but what it lacks in plot, it makes up for in humor. N and I both thought it was hilarious. Brand is especially good as the full-of-himself but not-quite-all-there rock star, a part that was originally supposed to be an older, uppercrust British writer, according to the extras on the disc.
I noticed too late that there were two versions of the movie on the disc, and we watched the theatrical version instead of the unrated, extended one. Which worked out okay, since it was shorter, and N dislikes padded movies anyway. She always prefers the original versions. Anyway, someday I would like to see that longer version, even if she doesn’t want to. Funny movie, though it does make you question how someone like Segel got someone like Bell in the first place, even if it does turn out she’s not exactly a prize herself. It also made me really miss Veronica Mars, as Bell is pretty much wasted on Heroes. She could have a decent movie career though as long as she can avoid falling into the Sarah Michelle Gellar Trap. It may be too late, as she’s already starred in one American version of a Japanese horror movie.
The Hawaiian scenery is gorgeous and the usual Apatow players (Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, etc) are all at their best, even though their parts are pretty small. Recommended!
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: The inconsistent Denver Broncos. Not even the players themselves can explain why they suck at home and against bad teams, and then do well on the road and against good teams. It was really refreshing reading the interviews this morning, with the players going “Frankly, we don’t know what our problem is. We’re out there on the field playing the game every week and not even we can figure out what the !@#$% is going on. If you know, please e-mail Mike Shanahan.”
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “do roses smell”.
Videogame(s) Played Today: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
Epic Cartman
Posted on | November 30, 2008 at 10:53 am | 7 Comments
I totally missed Thanksgiving, so I didn’t get to blog about what I’m thankful for this year. So, here’s a belated, extremely simplified list. The #1 thing I’m thankful for is these little mini shopping carts from Safeway:
These are the greatest, especially if you’re not doing a full big shopping trip that requires a large cart. I’ve even taken to using them in circumstances where I would normally use a basket, since it takes all that weight off your arm. There’s plenty of room in them to store practically anything I get at Safeway except for multiple 12-can fridge packs of pop, which require the larger basket. They’ve got that little basket under the handle that’s just perfect for milk and juice bottles. You can put pretty tall things into the bottom basket, like cereal boxes. And they’re really fun to zoom around with in the store. Makes the aisles so much easier to navigate.
Okay, I was kidding earlier when I said this was the #1 thing I was thankful for. But it does come in second after my fantastic girlfriend.
Been pretty busy during this holiday weekend. N and I actually decided to brave the Black Friday crowds and headed to the strip malls at 6am to do some laptop shopping. That turned out to be not anywhere near early enough to get one of the ones we were hoping for, although we did manage to get a fairly decent one at a reasonable price from one of the later-opening stores. We then spent the rest of the morning hitting other stores and picking up bargains, which turned out to be not quite as heinous as I thought it would be. We rarely had to wait in any line for more than a few minutes. Although a lot of the really good stuff got snapped up earlier. We even did some Black Saturday shopping and got a good deal on a vacuum cleaner we wanted.
I don’t know what previous Black Fridays were like, since I didn’t venture out then. But either the crowd aspect has been overblown, or the economic downturn really has hit consumer spending in a big way.
So, shopping-wise the weekend was mostly a success. Relaxing-wise, not so much.
Hope yours is going well!
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “phobia name for dropping your iphone”.
Videogame(s) Played Recently: PlayStation Home (beta, PS3)
Interior Design Tip #121
Posted on | November 26, 2008 at 5:06 pm | 6 Comments
Having your window shade repaired? Why not fill the vacant window space with lovely flattened cardboard boxes from Amazon and elsewhere. And to keep them in place, stick some unused shelves from home entertainment units up against the cardboard at the bottom. And place some thin strips of wood from who-knows-where in the window frame from the top to the bottom. It’s attractive and energy efficient!
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “one-armed girl”.
Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS). Pet Peeve of the Day: This is a hard game!
Cokehenge
Posted on | November 25, 2008 at 9:00 pm | 4 Comments
This is what happens when no one empties the can recycling bin at work for a very long time:
Latre.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 39°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Jimmy Still Comes Around” (Loud Family)
- “Moody” (Nouvelle Vague)
- “O’Malley, Former Underdog” (Deerhoof)
- “Mr. Caution’s Funeral” (Trotsky Icepick)
- “Eureka Signs” (Guided By Voices)
- “In Context” (Field Music)
- “Riffs And Variations On A Single Note For Jelly Roll, Earl H” (Sufjan Stevens)
- “Union Chapel Day” (Hefner)
- “Skies Are Not Cloudy” (Bill Nelson)
- “Untitled” (Ted Leo)
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “i don’t believe in god anymore, but i miss him”.
Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
The Property Of A Lady
Posted on | November 23, 2008 at 5:35 pm | 2 Comments
Movie Mention Sunday!
Saw my first first-run theater movie in awhile today. The Hugh-man and I went to see the latest 007 flick Quantum Of Solace at the Continental Big Screen. This was also my first movie at the Continental since they remodeled the big screen theater to make it stadium seating. I dunno – I think I prefer the old way. Even though it wasn’t stadium seating, the layout was such that you could still see all of the screen no matter where you were sitting, even if there was someone in front of you. And the seats were big and luxurious with lots of leg room. I used to love just sinking down into them. And I think the screen is a bit smaller now, but that may be an illusion due to the floor remodel. (Back in the old days, the Continental was by far the biggest screen in the Denver area. Since then, I think some of the megaplexes have screens that are close. Not to mention IMAX.)
But I digress. QoS is a zippy little movie, especially compared to the first James Bond reboot movie Casino Royale. It seemed like the first half an hour or so was all action sequences. Not only is there a car chase and a foot chase, but also a boat chase and goldang plane chase. What is this, Iron Man? It was also shorter than CR and had less of a story. The action sequences, though intense, didn’t seem to be as well done as in the first movie. So, yeah, I didn’t enjoy it as much as CR, but it was definitely a worthy Bond entry. I still like Daniel Craig’s no-nonsense Bond (although I did wish for a bit more humor) and Judi Densch’s M had an expanded part in this one, which added some depth. Parts of the story were a tad confusing. Exposition comes out fast and furious and you have to really be paying attention. The plot had something to do with evil organization Quantum and the attempts of one of their agents to bogart the water supply in Bolivia. Or something like that. And Bond gets involved with a woman out for revenge against the man who killed her parents. Revenge and the toll it takes is the theme in general, since Bond is trying to avenge the death of his lover from the previous movie. Or is he?
The movie was fun and I recommend it, especially for Bond fans. Though it will never happen, I really think it’s time to have an R-rated 007 movie. I’m getting a little tired of the watered-down sex (which was all but absent from this flick anyway except for one brief scene) and violence. And just once I’d like to hear Bond use the F word when he’s in jam. Casino Royale seemed to be hinting toward a new direction in that respect, but I think this one backslides a bit. Also, just once, I’d like to see Bond get into a fight wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and athletic shoes instead of a suit. But then I guess he wouldn’t be Bond, right?
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: We were awakened this morning by what sounded like an animal, probably a squirrel, caught inside the drainspout next to my bedroom window. I got up on the roof this afternoon and poked around in there, but couldn’t find anything. I hope whatever it is escaped. I don’t want to think about the alternative.