Winter Break 2 Electric Boogaloo

Might as well make a quick update as I try to post here at least once a month. So let's see, I've been done with classes since last Wednesday and thus far have mostly filled that gap with working, watching movies and bugging Paul about editing our anticipated group video project. Luckily everything is basically edited (though one sequence still needs some tooling) and now that I got Paul some more ram he can work on everything without it constantly stalling. It without a doubt will be up this week, I can't wait to start work on the next one.

So as I previously stated I've been busier than usual at Petco. I spent my last two saturdays playing Santa and posing for pictures with pets, which although amusing was a bit exhausting. I didn't expect to actually have kids ask me what they want for Christmas but I think I handled it fine, I live to perform.

As usual I've been watching lots of movies with my time off from school. I went on a kick where I watched the Sinbad trilogy in three days. For those who don't know, they're a series of fantasy films produced by Columbia Pictures featuring the excellent stop-motion effects of the legendary Ray Harryhausen, also famous for his work on Clash of the Titans, the original Mighty Joe Young and Jason and the Argonauts (my favorite film on the subject of Greek mythology.) Aside from the first one, they basically sucked but the effects and art direction were a real visual treat and inspiring in a way.

Christmas is coming up but I'm more interested in upcoming films and projects. I start classes again in early January with a lot of "hands on" courses coming my way. It's been great getting the opportunity to make video projects for school again, good times.

Shocktober 09'

I just wanted to do a new post here because I'm tired of seeing that "Tough Times" post title on the sidebar over at DaMorgue. It just bums me out being reminded of that tough time before my dad passed away and although it's still "tough times" more or less, I've been doing okay. Things have returned to normality, at least much as there going to and I'm feeling fine. I'm back to my studies and really enjoying my Video Foundations class, I should probably have my first video for the class made by the end of next week, so that's exciting.

I was talking to Sean and Colin not that long ago and I think I've decided to join the Netflix club and open an account soon. I've been enjoying a lot of good horror movies lately and I'd like to see that continue through a little of November. Getting in the mood for Halloween came a little late this year but I'm definitely feeling it now. Watching the World Series is probably the only non-horror activity I've been doing lately, go Phillies by the way.

Tomorrow, or should I say today is Halloween but I'll probably just take it slow. Watch a few movies, carve a pumpkin, eat some candy, etc... Well that's it for now and I'll see ya when I see ya, happy haunting.

Tough Times

Tough times have hit the family again as my dad is once again in the hospital. It's all so confusing and stressful right now but from what I understand he got a staff infection and has very serious blood clotting and his kidneys aren't properly functioning (This is all related to his surgery back in April.) There's far more too it but I have trouble understanding it myself, I'm not even sure if everything I just said made any sense. He's been in the critical care ward of Evergreen hospital since monday and no one has any idea how it could turn out. It hasn't gotten any worse since he was taken in but if he can't get healthy enough for another surgery enough, through antibiotics, he won't make it. All I and my family can do now is to hope for the best.

Zeptember (Like Led Zeppelin)

Howdy everyone, here's what I suppose has become my monthly update. So I just started classes recently and everything looks to be promising. I finally have a hands on video production class which looks like fun. Though it's weird cause a bunch of people who introduced themselves were all like 'Yeah I used to do commercials for some company." Hmm, "Then why are you in this class?" I ask. It doesn't make sense it's like a beginner class. I guess people just like to exaggerate I was just like "I make stupid Youtube" videos and then the teacher said "Have I had you before?" and I replied "No but apparently I look like a lot of people" that got a good laugh, I'm awesome. Unfortunately my other two classes are online because that's the only form their offered in and they're required for my degree. Sometimes I wonder if technology is ruining some of the social aspects of education.


I got my work schedule perfectly balanced with my classes so although I'm busy I got it all in check. My free time has mostly been made up of watching all the various TV shows I've purchased recently. This includes; season 1 and 2 of Flight of the Conchords, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 4 and Dexter: Season 2 which now my whole family is obsessed with or "all about" if you will. My dad and I are pretty wrapped up in it right now. Combine that with all the new fall shows on NBC and HBO (I'll elaborate shortly) and it's been crazy keeping up with everything.


So like I said my dad recently purchased HBO for the sole purpose of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was awesome seeing a brand new episode on it's premiere showing but aside from that HBO is not worth it at all. The other show to premiere was Bored to Death with Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galfianakis (okay but not particularly interesting) and then they just replay Entourage and a bunch of crappy movies over and over again.

I'm getting pumped for some of the upcoming movie and music releases and well... I guess that's everything I feel like reporting as of this moment. See you all in the funny pages, Otteni out.

August Rush

It's been like a million years since I last poster here, so here's one of my typical update posts. (In time I'll also review my latest sega genesis purchases as well). So I've been working at PETCO for a little over a month now and that's been going quite smoothly. It can be pretty demanding with all the duties like; cashiering, restocking, taking care of all the animals, bagging crickets, cleaning and assembling cages, tuesday and thursday night freight and all the other small jobs, but at least I can say there's never a dull moment. I'm learning a lot anyways but I mostly prefer just working the front register and occasionally "closing" animals, you know like feeding them as the store closes. I'm not really too interested in talking about right now but you get the idea, seems like a pretty good first job and hopefully it'll give me plenty of diverse work experience, hurray!

I'm currently registering for what I hope is my last year at BCC, now officially Bellevue College according to the latest packet I got, so let's hope I can get enough credits for my associates. After that I still plan to transfer somewhere else for an additional two years or so to finish off my next degree. I've got a few ideas for different schools and talked to BCC counselors but I'll wait till I'm sure of something before I divulge any info, it seems very possible that I can finish my education in state.

Been pretty bored with a lot of the music and current movies I've been checking out lately, though I have high hopes for District 9. Seems like there might be some good stuff coming out next month with a new Ricky Gervais comedy The Invention of Lying, a new workplace comedy from Mike Judge Extract and that quirky looking new Matt Damon/Steven Soderbergh film The Informant!, so hopefully they'll be something good out of those. I'm still waiting for an album I can really embrace this year but who knows what's coming and when. Jet has a new album coming out next week but I'm keeping my expectations low due to the lameness of the lead off single. Lately I've mostly been listening to some older 70s bands again like The Raspberries, not to mention I've been revisiting the music of the Fab Four once again for you know what, awesome.

Still hope to get in a few more shorts and video productions before the end of summer. AJ and I are going to be working on a faux horror movie trailer he's been wanting to do for a while. I've been pretty much putting it off but we brainstormed a few weeks back and I think it could be very funny. We might film some stuff this Saturday if anyone's interested.

That's all I got for now folks, so just keep on keepin' on, Ottteni out.

John's Video Game Vault

Not a lot of "post worthy" things going on in my life lately, so here's something completely different. Recently Sean and I picked up some old video games at "Amazing Heroes" in Totem Lake. Always a fun place to visit, I myself picked up three genesis games for the fair price of 16 bucks. So I figured it might be fun to share my latest vintage gaming experience. Hey who knows? Maybe if I head back to that shop sometime soon this could be an occasional recurring feature, much in the same vain as Sean's "The Stack". I don't know what I'll call mine, maybe just the uninspired "Video Game Vault" any how let's make it happen.


VR Troopers (1995)
The Scoop: Based on the Power Rangers wannabe TV show, VR Troopers is your typical fighting game. You play as any of the three Troopers as you go from monster to monster in order to escape Grimlord's virtual world.

Why?: I picked up this cheap little piece of crap just for a laugh. Of course I didn't actually know it was gonna be a piece of crap but I figured it would be kind of funny to own a copy of a game based off of a campy 90s TV show.

Pros: Uhh... The graphics aren't bad and there are some pretty amusing visuals. There's this one guy who debriefs your missions who looks like a retarded Larry Wilmore (pictured at the top), that's kind of funny.

Cons: Let's see, how about it's difficulty? I played on easy and couldn't even get pass the first monster. I mean if you fall down at the edge of the screen you're basically dead. Time after time I'd fall down and than continually get kicked and kicked until death, without a good opportunity to get back up. I mean this is easy mode and this guy couldn't be more aggressive. Aside from the annoying difficulty, there's the repetitive gameplay and lack of playable characters. Thank god there's a "Kids" mode for losers like me or I would of never played this for longer than five minutes.


Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (1994)
The Scoop: An action packed sidescroller where you can take on the role of either a weapon clad Alan Grant or a viscous Velociraptor. I'm not entirely sure what the game is about but basically this is a whole lot a shooting and killing dinosaurs and pissed off guys shooting at you.

Why?: I had vague memories of playing this many years ago and enjoying it. Plus, I figured I'd probably have more fun being that I'm definitely better at video games than I once was... I beat it as Grant in like 40 minutes a few days ago.

Pros: Colorful graphics and unique gameplay. Playing as Grant is a blast with all the various weapons and features (such as missions involving riding a speeding boat or a live gallimimus) and though the raptor isn't half as entertaining, it's kind of a nice bonus.

Cons: Playing as the raptor isn't half as satisfying as blowing guys away with a rocket launcher or flame thrower. The raptor's limited attack range as well makes combat far more difficult (it basically just bites and kicks, no tail.) Though I imagine it just takes more practice to get that character down, so it's not too bad.


Superman (1992)
The Scoop: Some super-villain is wreaking havoc on Metropolis... Braniac maybe? There's certainly a lot of robots and it's all up to the man of steel to save the day.

Why?: Of course I knew that Superman was infamous for having bad games but I'd never heard of this one. Staring at the colorful comic book artwork on the cartridge I just had to have it. This one really was more of a curiosity than anything else and hey, it turns out it's somewhat of a collector's item.

Pros: The graphics are umm... Fine I guess.

Cons: Oh my god this game is so hard! You'd expect Superman could take down anyone but I'm yet to even beat the first level. I could try a little harder but frankly I just don't care. You have limited powers (No flying here), it's repetitive, I have no idea what's going and if you die once you have to start from the beginning. They're just trying to piss me off aren't they?

In conclusion, not some of the best purchases but still kind of a fun stroll down 16 bit memory lane. Hopefully I'll be more careful next time, I have my eyes on the Batman movie game and maybe even some Power Rangers? We'll just have to wait and find out.

May Twas the Time for Mandolins!

Here's a brief update just for kicks and giggles. Last Friday was my birthday which was enjoyable. My dad and I went out to lunch at some chinese luncheon (I still have to drive for him for about another month), not great but okay and than he gave me some mullah, Cha-Ching! At about five or so my mom came home with a card and apparently a surprise gift. I hadn't asked for anything but somehow she'd remembered something I'd fondly talked about having some months back. So in all it's glory, I was presented with my very own mandolin. What a great surprise and I've really had no trouble picking it up with all my guitar and ukulele experience.. It's a satisfying feeling to play the mandolin break from '"Stonehenge". Later that evening my dad, my brother and I went to see Drag Me To Hell which was immensely entertaining. I just hope that it's released on dvd before next Halloween, because it really is the perfect Halloween movie and one of the most entertaining movies I've seen this year.

The next day I pretty much just hung out doing nothing but watching the Mariners game. Later that night Sean, Colin and I went to go see Up which I liked okay. I didn't find most of it that funny and never really got into the story but I loved the animation, the music (Michael Giacchino's becoming one my favorite current film composers) and some of the sentimental stuff. I also have a lot of respect for Pixar constantly taking such unconventional approaches to animated films. Tackling such kid's movie taboos as death (In this case our protagonists wife) and the most blood I've seen in an animated movie since Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, well it's not that much but you get the idea. Still I've been more of a fan of the Brad Bird Pixar films and of course the Toy Story series, but this did the trick.

Sunday I went over to AJ's house to help him with a video project for one of his classes. I played a cop who like uh was arresting this guy for like a prank or something? I wasn't about his method of shooting whole scenes from one angle and memorizing a bunch of dialogue (I prefer the Cat Fancy method of quick cuts for conversations) but I got through it alive. I did struggle remembering some lines in this one back-and-forth with AJ until I was like "Can't we make this two shots?" I finally got to do one thing the Cat Fancy way, it was sweet. Aside from that it was weird walking around in a cop uniform around town but as a whole it wasn't so bad... But I really have not interest in ever seeing the finished product.

Now I'm just trying to work on this incredibly annoying paper for my "American Heroes" class, you know; bibliographies, outlines, rough drafts... When will I personally ever need to do a bibliography to aide me in the future? I hate that kind of stuff and I wish classes would just end already. Aside from that I'm still driving my dad around to all his appointments and trying to get some nice free time when I can, it's been busy but that's life, Otteni out.

The Magical Month of May

So what's new? My last post seemed to be pretty grim in spots but everything has been going quite nicely lately. So my dad's still on the road to recovery but it's good to finally have him home. I lived over at his house for a little while after his return from the physical therapy center and have been driving him around from time to time, but aside from that he's fairly independent. Aside from helping my dad with various chores I haven't been doing too much as of the past few weeks. I found out at BCC that I met my math requirement and was taking a class I didn't need, he suggested I drop the class so my schedules been pretty easy, and I get home at like 11:00 but I still have to wake up at seven in the morning, fortunately I was told that I'm on good path to getting my associates. I probably could of gotten it this year if BCC offered most of the important video production classes more frequently. Due to that I'll probably be there another year before I transfer for anywhere. I feel like I'm on a very slow path but I'm determined and I just got to stay focused.

Our latest Ferret "Steve II" or as my mom has been calling him "Cap Garland" (I think it's from a Laura Ingalls Wilder book) recently had to go to the vet for an obstruction. Meaning he ate something (in this case some rubber tubing) that he couldn't digest which if not treated in 48 hours would kill him. Luckily we got him in quickly and he's already home and in good shape. It was our second ferret to have an obstruction (Don't worry that one was okay too) so we weren't too worried and now it's all good.

On to less pressing issues, what's new in the world of movies? So far May has been pretty "Whatever" for me. Star Trek was fine but I don't understand what all the hubbub is about. It's like when Dark Knight came out and everyone loved it (I include myself) but my dad was like "Yeah it's fine but nothing special. I liked the first one better." I understood his complaints, but I didn't get how anyone could not be blown away. So now it's like I'm in the position he was and it's weird. I love the original show's clever, character driven writing, it was a thinking man's sci-fi, but this new one doesn't remind me of that at all. Seems more like a tongue and cheek action flick than anything else. I've also made it clear that I didn't like Zachary Quinto, I felt he had no presence and was just a prick, oh well.

Soon to come will be Terminator Salvation which thus far hasn't received very generous reviews. Sounds like the consensus is that director McG sucks. Looking ahead there's Drag Me To Hell and Up both being released on my birthday. Both currently have 100%s on Rotten Tomatoes (Though DMH only has seven ratings opposed to Up's twenty) I love Sam Raimi, especially his horror and thriller films, so I hope DMH is good despite it's generic horror trailers. I'm not too interested in Up yet but I bet I'll like it, Pixar rarely disappoints.

I finally tried one of those "3 for $20" sales at Blockbuster that Sean's always telling me about. Was kind of neat but I had a hell of a time picking a third movie. I almost got Zach and Miri Make a Porno but it had this stupid "blockbuster edition" design on the cover, not very esthetically pleasing. I ended up buying Ghost Town, In Bruges and Pineapple Express all three films that I very much enjoy.

Well that's all I got the energy for today, keep on truckin'.

April 21st

It's been a scary week for the family as my dad has been in the hospital since Tuesday. He came over that night with terrible pains around his chest and neck, I never really got a good idea of what he was feeling, but he was in a lot of pain so he asked me to take him to the emergency room. At first no one thought it would be anything serious. My dad frequently goes to the doctor for various ailments and had never faced anything too serious, until now.

We went to Evergreen where they got him in immediately, but had trouble finding out exactly what the problem was. He was having distorted vision, among other bizarre symptoms but it took many hours before anyone could figure out the problem (I'll try my best to describe what exactly was wrong). At about 10 or 11, the doctor came to the conclusion that his aorta (a large artery that sends oxygenated blood to parts of the body) was tearing, calling for an immediate transfer to Overlake Hospital and immediate cardiovascular surgery.

This was a lot to take in all at once. This was a very serious surgery and he could very well die from many different factors. He started calling family members and telling me things if he didn't make it through the night, it was an extremely emotional moment. Initially, the doctor said I should follow the ambulance driver to Overlake, but when the driver came in he responded with "What? No that's insane do you know how fast I drive?" I was a little relieved that I wouldn't have to follow a speeding ambulance, but that didn't take much of a dent out of my worries.

I drove home to meet up with the rest of the family, where we would head out after I filled them in on what I knew. We arrived at Overlake later that night, where we would meet the surgeon that would be performing the surgery Dr. Vu Trong Hoang. The doctor gave us a little more insight on the condition, which apparently in the medical world had become known as "John Ritter Syndrome" after John Ritter died of essentially the same condition in 2003.

After this we went to see my dad one last time before the surgery. He seemed fairly optimistic but I was still freaked out and with good reason. We spent about three or so hours at the hospital and soon enough, my grandma and aunts showed up. We all talked for awhile but later decided that at least Paul and I should go home and try and get some sleep. We did so, but I didn't get much sleep that night. We went back to the hospital the next morning to luckily find that the surgery was a success, but he wasn't in the clear yet. There was about a 48 hour time frame where other things could go wrong. I could tell you of all the other worries that went through everyone's minds in that period, but let's flash forward to today.

It's been almost five days since my dad went into surgery and he's recovering quite nicely. I've missed some school and literally hadn't felt like doing anything for most of the week, this including missing the last Killers concert among other things. Luckily, everything seems to be stable now, it's been comforting seeing everyone in the family come and visit, not to mention some of my dad's friends such as; his best friend Dick, his boss Sam and his old friend Ron, who visited my dad before he could recognize anyone (due to the drugs he'd be given) my dad thought he was a doctor.

That's about as much as I feel comfortable talking about, it's been really hard on everyone, especially my dad. Fortunately this isn't some condition that's going to drastically change his life afterwards, at least to my understanding. Once it is fixed, it's fixed and shouldn't come back in some new form. As a matter of fact my Grandpa went through the same surgery in the 80s and lived another twenty or so years, dying from an unrelated ailment, plus he was older than my dad when he had it done. So I'm optimistic towards the future and as of right now, it appears everything is going to be just fine.

What's Weak this Week?

Well here we are into April and I'm currently on my second week of classes. I've Anthropology this quarter which so far is both fun and fascinating. It seems like most of my favorite classes at BCC have been taught by younger, cooler teachers, I guess they're just more in touch with this go-go gadget modern world. I've also got my typical math class, hopefully this will be one of the last ones I take, it;s taught by your typical Mr. Mabbott-esque old guy educator. I've also got my online class which I like now but really pissed me off at first.


So I signed up for an online class called "American Heroes" just before Spring Break. It didn't really give any specific information regarding the class specifics online, but being that it would give me some of that sweet, sweet credit I signed up. Then I went to go get my books during Spring Break in which I received a National Geographic book called "American Heroes" and a book about Malcolm X. So I figure "Okay this is a class about influential Americans." but that didn't turn out to be the case. The class turned out to be about Western heroes in fiction. Well that's cool, but why the hell did I get these other books? I sent my teacher and email but he never responded. A lot of other people in the class were hella confused but didn't get answer either, so everybody' just went with it. Basically we watch a western every week and than take a quiz and write a brief character analysis along with some reading and essays. The only thing is no one has the actual book yet because everyone got some Malcolm X book. So I just ordered this apparently new book off of Amazon with the dough I got from selling some old books to BCC and here I am now.


Let's see what else is worth discussion? Oh, April Fool's Day was just great last week in our household. My mom usually plays a prank on Paul and myself every year, which I usually don't enjoy, but this year it was pretty good. So I awoke that morning at about 7:00, completely forgetting it was April Fools, got dressed and opened my door only to reveal something that gave me a good scare. For what else was standing behind that door but a life size cut out of Zach Effron. At first I thought it was lPaul standing before me with a large disturbing grin but after I realized it was just a cardboard cut out I had a good laugh. I tried the same prank on Paul leaving it in front of his door for when he woke up, but he wasn't really that surprised. As the day progressed everyone was taking that cutout and hiding all around the house. You'd find it in various rooms, in the shower it was everywhere. That was a good day in my book.


Last weekend the family and I went to the Swedish Cultural Center for it's monthly Swedish breakfast which was good. I'd never felt so accepted with all the old paintings and artwork of tall blonde dudes, I was in good company, though the huge crowds of old people were kind of annoying. It just seemed like every single one of them had a story to tell about the "old country".


I went to Adventureland last weekend with Paul, though we had to go to Crossroads after we noticed Bella Botega was carding people left and right. Luckily we got in safely at Crossroads and enjoyed the movie, though I'm more looking forward to Observe and Report this weekend. In the world of T.V. I'm back watching the fifth season of Oz and the second season of Deadwood which has been pretty boring ever since Ian McShane's character has been somewhat out of commission. Luckily his character is almost back to his dynamic self so I think the show will pick up again. I checked out the season premiere of Rescue Me and was surprised to see I had no problem getting back into it. I'd watched most of the previous season so I felt pretty in check, the show's still entertaining. Animation wise I haven't been too hot on South Park this season and Family Guy has still been more or less hit or miss these days. Hopefully I'll find some more good comedic Television somewhere soon.


Aside from all this I've pretty much been in baseball mode. It's hard for me to take losses early on in a season but I'm real excited about our offense, especially (well aside from Griffey) Franklin Gutierez who I'm all about. Probably just because I love yelling "Gut!" to the T.V. "C'mon Gut, my man Gut!" It's early but I think we have a good chance of dishing out a fairly respectable season. I mean you can only expect so much out of team that's rebuilding.

Keep on Walken in the Free World

Well I got to make sure I write at least a few posts a month, so how about I use Christopher Walken's birthday as a jumping off point. He's certainly a great man and a great dancer like in that Fatboy Slim video. I've been getting more acquainted to some of Fatboy Slim's music lately... Well mostly just the song "Right Here, Right Now" due to it's awesome evolution music video. I also just got Peter, Bjorn and John's latest album so I can't wait to see how that turns out.

I once again start classes this Wednesday and am not looking forward to waking up at about 7:00 everyday, but I'll be done by like 10:30 everyday, aside from my one online class. I'm getting damn sick of buying all these expensive books but I'm planning on selling them back to BCC to get some dough, "Cha Ching! Money Cash!". Anyhow it'll be good to be on a normal schedule after this mostly lazy and uneventful break.

Paul and I have been dreaming up a lot of sketches lately, you know to film. Sean, Nancy and I started working on a video about "Shades" the blind detective but couldn't finish it the amount of time we had. Though I'm gonna try and finish it slowly through the next few weeks because what we did film turned out to be pretty funny. I've been inspired ever since so many people gave such positive feed back to "Losted!: With Badger Stevens" especially a lot of guys at V.N. Graphics (That's where my dad works) who have become real big fans of the Cat Fancy videos and "Losted" is what did it for em. "Losted" has been getting views at a pretty steady pace, so let's see where that goes (Paul and I have already started to brainstorm a Badger Stevens/Pacific Ocean episode.)

Entertainment wise I started watching Oz and Deadwood again after somewhat of a hiatus and most of my free time has been devoted to my latest X-Box purchase. It's a collection of 49 Sega games including; the Sonic games, Phantasy Star series, Streets of Rage trilogy, Golden Axes and more! So far I'm all about Golden Axe III and Comix Zone just because of how 90s it is. You can expect a review of that later this week at Cat Fancy.

Well I'll see you in the funny papers! Happy 66th birthday Christopher Walken!

Gene Rayburn, Go Gene Rayburn!

Apparently I saved this post awhile ago and didn't finish it, so let's see what's been cooking. I'm getting pretty tired of the school work I've been getting lately but I'm hanging in there. My classes have been pretty boring lately and I couldn't believe the lame exercise we did in my digital design/storytelling class. We did this "assignment" where we lined up our desks and wrote stories by passing back a sheet of paper, but the paper had to be folded before you passed it back. Therefore know one knew what the stories were about and the results were really bad stories. For my part I just did a bunch of B.S. character contemplation and stuff like that, I don't know what I was supposed to take away from this experience.


Literature
I finished reading No Country For Old Men last week and it was pretty good but I still prefer the film. It seems rare that the film counterpart to a good book is superior but I think this is one of those instances. Now I'm going back to finish a book about filmmaking of the 60s and 70s, which I originally acquired for a class (though we've yet to use it) but I've been enjoying reading it on my own time, especially all the stuff about Dennis Hopper (That guy is insane).






Family Affairs
Our family cat Junior recently went through somewhat of a health scare with a urine blockage a few weeks ago, but he's okay now. My dad and I had to take him to an animal hospital at midnight on a weeknight but he made through all the treatment. He's doing fine now but he's not completely out of the woods so he's been living mostly in Paul's room so we can keep a close eye on him (him and Paul are like the just like the odd couple).


Music
I've been casually listening to the latest U2 album, but I'm not really that crazy about it. There's definitely some songs on it I really like, like "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and "No Line On the Horizon" but I'm just not that into U2 I guess. I like a few albums and have a lot of respect for them but sometimes they just seem kind of boring to me. Oh well, who knows what I'll think of it later in the year, these things take time.


Movies
I was all about Watchmen but I'm disappointed to see all the mixed opinions from critics. I'm probably in the minority of people who like it better than the source material but I was really impressed. I guess I find the graphic novel too sloppy sometimes with all the filler articles, the Black Freighter stuff, the need for excessive back story. Don't get me wrong I like the graphic novel, I just don't love it. The movie definitely has it's fair share of flashbacks and back story in keeping loyal to graphic novel, but I feel the characters can breathe more and come to life in a significantly more compelling way in the filmed adaptation. I really liked Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson and the art direction, cinematography and visual effects were out of this world. All in all it was a pretty impressive work and I respect that someone dared to take on such an ambitious project... Oh yeah and I saw Godzilla's Revenge on Canadian television, that was awful.


Television
I've recently taken a break from Oz. I'm one episode away from finishing the fourth season (there are six altogether) and it's been harder to find the time to watch Deadwood lately (I'm somewhere in the second season, but I've checking out some other weird stuff in the meantime. Occasionally I go over to my dads to watch Match Game 75" hosted by Gene Rayburn on some game show network. I'm all about old game shows (To Tell the Truth is my favorite) so it's been pretty entertaining. Somehow I also got roped into watching the Celebrity Apprentice which as dumb as it is, is strangely compelling. My family and are all rooting for Tom Green for his lack of a big ego, plus he seems to be the most hard working on the men's team. The women's team just seem to get into big cat fights every episode but they still manage to win every week, I don't imagine I'll be watching this show much longer.

That's all that comes to mind for now, I'll keep you posted if something else pops into my head that I forgot to mention.

Chicka Click, Click Booyah

Figure it's time for an update even if I don't have much to report. I had a pretty good three day weekend despite the fact that I was somewhat hampered by homework and online mid terms and what have you. I saw The Reader on Monday which was okay. It's always kind of fun to go to those movies where the audience is mostly middle aged people trying to explain the movie to each other and strangely enough Lincoln Square was like a ghost town, strange for a holiday if you ask me. I've been listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen since Working On a Dream came out and when out and bought Darkness on The Edge of Town and Born in the U.S.A. at half price I also downloaded Magic, good stuff, makes you proud to be an American.


I've been buying a lot of books at Half Price lately and have kind of been switching back and forth between a couple. Mostly I've been reading Bruce Campbell's "Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way" (A fictional story about Bruce Campbell being cast in a supporting role in a romantic comedy) and "No Country for Old Men" which has been pretty similar to it's cinematic counterpart thus far. After that I got a copy of "The Road" but I'll wait till after the movie (Whenever it comes out I have no idea) and I got Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven".




Regarding television my times been split between Deadwood and Oz. I watch Deadwood with my dad and brother, definitely a man's man show and but Oz is what I've been all about lately (I'm midway through the fourth season). I really enjoy it and highly recommend it, though I warn you it can get pretty graphic sometimes; male nudity, vulgarity, extreme violence and so on. It really pushes some boundaries but it's a great show.


Hmm what else? All this Griffey stuff has been driving me crazy, I swear I check like every five minutes to check out the scoop but still nothing. I guess I'd understand if he chooses the Braves but remember when he said "I owe it to the people of Seattle and to myself to retire as a Mariner." People don't forget things like that, don't let us down Junior.
(Pictured Left is a box of cereal that I still own to this day.)

Face the Music

I didn't want to upset the flow of "Top Movies of 2008" over at Cat Fancy, so I decided to post this random news tidbit here. I heard on the radio today that 70s rock/blues band Faces of which I am a fan, are reuniting! Not just for a few shows but for a brand spanking new album as well. It's been almost 36 years since the group's last album Ooh La La but word is that Ron Wood has already started writing material for a new album and I can't wait.

Unfortunately Faces bassist/co-songwriter Ronnie Lane died in 1997, so who will replace him? Well it's been announced that it will be none other than Red Hot Chili Peppers virtuoso bassist Flea. This is all very exciting and hopefully they'll be some swell rocking results. Perhaps I'll do a Faces retrospective on Cat Fancy whenever their new album comes out, it's all very exciting news.

If your not familiar with the Faces, here's a video of them playing "Stay With Me"

The Good, The Bad and The Stupid

Hey not much new but I like post here every now and then.. You know so people know that I'm alive and stuff. Any how I started winter quarter at BCC last week and it's been pretty swell. I got my cramped Math 099 class but what that means to you I don't know. Aside from that I have an online History of Film class where were assigned various films to see and then write papers about them, so far I've watched The General and The Kid for it and have rented The Lady Eve and Grapes of Wrath for next week, it's been pretty fun so far.

I'm also taking Digital Design/Storytelling where we do character and story analysis, watch stuff and have discussions. It's one of those classes that both video production and game production people need to take and man talk about a nerd fest. I've never seen so many hideous looking beards in one location and when were not discussing Joseph Campbell or myths everyone is talking about their PC's and X-box gamer scores. This guy in front of me just hooks up his laptop and plays "Finger Revolution" all day, whatever that is... Oh and get this his desktop is that movie The Crow. I'm not sure if I'm hearing the class role call correctly but I think that guys name is Christopher Walken, so that makes him okay in my book.

Most of the time where comparing classic figures to more contemporary characters and that's when all the nerdiness shines. People discussing in great detail Superman's origins and morals and what not, it's entertaining but sometimes I gets a little annoying. Lots of people seem to already know a vast amount of facts regarding our topics thus far... Except for one thing.



Okay so today the class needed to suggest ten heroes for us to analyze and thoroughly discuss. So you know people suggested characters like; Superman, Wolverine, uhh Xena for some reason (One guy said George W Bush, I don't usually laugh at stupid comments but that one really got me) a bunch of other guys and than one guy shouted out Dirty Harry. So we cut to about half an hour when we've made it down the list to Dirty Harry. "Okay so what do we know about Dirty Harry?" the teacher started, I assumed we'd be talking all about Harry Callahan, oh how wrong I was.

So who was Dirty Harry? Well the first comment went a little something like this "He's a cowboy and he shoots people." Say what? Cowboy? I was confused, our teacher proceeded with something around the lines of "Yes Dirty Harry was the title character in The Man With No Name Series." I'm sitting here thinking "What the hell are you talking about? Doesn't anyone here no who Dirty Harry is?" I tried to raise my hand but the conversation was moving so fast that I couldn't get a proper opening. He then went on to list the films "Let me see there was the first movie The Man With No Name" Which is wrong that movie doesn't exist. Others started shouting the actual ones followed by about four other unrelated films including; "The Outlaw Josey Whales", "Hang Em High" and basically any other film that had Clint Eastwood in it... I could of said Space Cowboys and nobody would of noticed. I mean for teacher that constantly references film does he have any idea what he's talking about? Does he not know what Dirty Harry is? I mean they call it the "MAN WITH NO NAME" series for a reason and I thought everyone knew that was a trilogy? This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but for me it was really annoying. There were probably some other stupid comments but they've slipped my mind.

That's all I got for now... Though I was reading up on Jared Hess' latest movie (You know the guy who directed "Nacho Libre" and "Napoleon Dynamite".) It's called "Gentleman Broncos" and it's about an aspiring teenage fantasy writer who's idea is stolen by some douchebag fantasy writer (Played by Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame) and I just noticed that a fake site for Clement's character "Ronald Chevalier" has been put online and I think it's pretty funny. There are some video clips of the character and I can't wait for this movie, you should check it out.
Here it is


"I'm Dr. Ronald Chevalier author of all ten Harpy Cyborg trilogies."

R.I.P Steve

Steve
(2002-2009)
I don't normally talk about my pets, but with the passing of Steve this week on January 7th I felt I should post a remembrance blog, Steve would of wanted it that way. Steve passed away in his sleep last Wednesday night from a heart related ailment. Everyone in the family was aware that Steve was getting old (he was 6 which is an average life span for a domesticated ferret) but it just happened so soon and unexpectedly. Steve had been so active and playful in his last days so it was quite a shock. Though I suppose it was good that he went in such a peaceful way, I mean most ferret's die painfully from cancer and we are yet to have a ferret die from that.

I'll have many fond memories of Steve, from the first day we got him and I thought he was rat, to the time he ran across the street ending up in some neighbors yard and all his other impressive accomplishments. Steve is probably on my short list of the best pets I've ever had which thus far only include my cat Junior, no one else has wowed me yet but Steve was something. He was a deaf, half blind, blue eyed (which is rare) american hero and his presence will be missed around the house.

Holiday Hijinks

I'd originally hoped for this to be posted the day after Christmas but I didn't feel like it. Therefore I'll include a little summary of New Years Eve along with Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Well I hope everyone had a merry little Christmas perhaps even enhanced by all the bizarre weather this december. My Christmas was pretty good so I though I'd take the time to fill you in.

Christmas Eve
It was at about six in the evening that everyone traversed through the winter sludge to our house. We were joined by my sister Tiana and her husband Ken, my sister Colleen and her boyfriend Casey and my Dad even stopped by, even though he usually spends Christmas Eve with his mom at some Church service. I was excited to see what goods I'd be hooked up with this year and perhaps what weird presents I would receive but first we would dine.

Naturally for the season we would have ham for dinner. I've never much been a fan of ham, I think it's kind of dry and I'd actually say I prefer it when it's been refrigerated for a day or two after the initial meal. There was also cheese covered broccoli, au gratin potatoes, rolls and more and it was pretty good. Unfortunately, our dinner conversations (especially Holiday ones) just about always make their way to the topic of vomit. My mom talking about how my sister Tiana used to projectile vomit all over the place quickly had me losing my appetite and I couldn't wait to move on. So we decided to unwrap some presents to the tune of Jose Feliciano music playing the background.

I played Santa for the most part handing out people's presents, but due to my mom and step dad always putting joke names on the tag, it was actually kind of complicated. How am I supposed to now that "Dimples" is my mom or "Daisy" is Paul? It was madness I tells ya! Anyhow it didn't take too long and I was soon to open my first present. Strangely enough it was a long tube and as people unwrapped present after present, I was still struggling to rip open this strange tube. Could it be a series of more tubes? No it was a Dark Knight poster of The Joker. Feels kind of juvenile to hang it in my room, but I like posters so I was grateful. After that I got some Dark Knight action figures for a gas (Which I proudly display on CD/DVD shelf), a copy of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, some new guitar gear (strings, a new strap, various picks), this sweet restored Godfather boxed set some little handheld guitar hero game that sucks... That's all I can think of for now. I was pretty satisfied with the evening and it seemed like everyone else was having fun as well. My sisters got iPods, Paul got Ken a 3 pound chocolate bar, People got CDs and DVDs, Paul got a chia herb garden, but one thing that really grabbed everyone's attention was Paul's remote control helicopter.

Not long after my mom and step dad went out to Wallgreens to buy more mini helicopters and soon enough, those little buggers were buzzing around everywhere... I was not amused. The night preceded with witty banter, at least to my recollection and soon came to an end, yet another successful Christmas Eve celebration


Christmas Day
The next day Paul and I awoke early to the sight of even more snowfall, though by this time it was quite wet and the temperature was rising it was quite a sight, a White Christmas indeed. So Paul and I proceeded to my dad's house where the three of us then exchange gifts. We were all pretty tired and actually waited quite awhile before we opened presents. I had some toast and watched A Christmas Story which was darn swell. A little bit after that we decided to get to it and open our gifts. Here I finally got a copy of The Dark Knight to go along with all my other Dark Knight stuff, new headphones, a copy of Knocked Up: Special Edition, a new portable notebook and my first Criterion DVD with the three disc Seven Samurai. My dad got a new blender from Paul along with some other kitchen stuff, I got him some dvds and what not which he seemed to enjoy. Paul got a really fancy remote control plane that I helped pick out (before we knew about the remote control helicopters) and then we all just kind of relaxed... I fell asleep on the couch.

After this we made our way to Marysville to celebrate Christmas at my aunt's house. We were the first to arrive and got some hot cider and soon enough the other's arrive. It consisted of my aunts, cousins and my grandma and though it may have been a little bland it's always nice to see the family. My cousin Drew who's is always inventing gadgets and gizmos (Such as helping my dad build this) brought his latest invention the "normalcy meter". It had metal case with a timer and two metal stubs to place your fingers upon. after you did this it would show you how normal you are on a meter. Though all it had was a "-", "normal" in the middle and then a "+" and everyone hit around the middle. It was a useless invention but it was hilarious and my dad came up with the idea that it could be a 50s communist detection toy.

So we had dinner (more ham) and then opened presents. I got a new wallet, I always get wallets from somebody and Paul got a pocket watch, which was fine and dandy. Blah blah people chatted and snacked and I headed home. I went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that night on a whim (always wanted to go to a movie on Christmas and headed home)


New Years Eve
A lot happened between Christmas and New Years.. A lot of nothing! Oh! But seriously I saw some more movies like Doubt and Frost/Nixon (which was especially captivating) and watched plenty of Seinfeld. New Years was soon to come but nothing really took off until late that night. I went to Burger King with Paul and my dad (we just had to after watching The Terminal a few nights before) and then we came home and watched some Twilight Zone and Fight Club on G4 for some reason. It gave my dad a chance to see what everyone's been raving about all these years. I found some somewhat likable aspects near the beginning, but I still think that film digs itself into a pit of sloppy madness as it progresses and am really not impressed by it.

I eventually "Got the call" from Colin to come over to Sean's house why I was the last to be invited I'm not sure, but I think we all had a good time. I enjoyed all the festive activities and snacks, I got my text twist on and played some Virtua Tennis. Not to brag or anything but I really can't remember the last time I lost on a team or playing by myself against another person. I got home at 3 am, went to sleep, woke up at 10:40, went out and bought a birthday present for my mom (January 3rd) and saw Gran Torino which was really great... And now I'm here I go back to school on monday, so overall it was a pretty good winter break, pretty, pretty, good.