Disjointed Digression

Snakes on a Plane
Beav, Candy and I went to see Snakes on a Plane. We went to the Alamo Drafthouse, the best theater “chain” ever! Unfortunately we went too late to buy some of the Samuel Jackson BadAss Ale (they were sold out ) But I digress…
The Movie itself:
With a title as cheesy as “Snakes on a Plane” I knew I had to see this movie. I had no expectations for this movie at all. One of the best things about this movie is that it never takes itself too seriously. The movie is pretty much the title. There is a few minutes of setup at the beginning of the film, but the majority of the movie is snakes on a plane. Under seats, coming out of the overhead, in the cargo hold… you get the idea. The movie is a B movie script with an A movie production quality. Sure you can tell that some of the snakes are CGI, but that’s part of it’s cheesy charm.Being the freak that I am, I laughed almost every time a snake bit someone. Also I giggled ever time they used the “snake vision” shots in the film. This movie is fun and goofy, I recommend seeing it, but you might want to go to a matinee.

Little Miss Sunshine
On this past Sunday, Candy and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine. Again we went to the Alamo, our favorite one (the closest one). Candy didn’t think that I would want to go see this movie, but I had heard some pretty good things about it. Again, I didn’t have any expectations going into this movie. I really enjoyed it! It’s a bit tough to describe, the closest thing I could come up with was that it’s somewhat like Vacation crossed with Napoleon Dynamite. A quirky dysfunctional family has to make an approximately 1000 mile trip in two days so the daughter can enter into a beauty contest. Along they way they have various problems and issues that they have to deal with. This is a pretty funny and ultimately cute movie. I’d recommend seeing it, even at full price.

From the “You can lover your pet just don’t LOVE your pet” department…
Dentist Puts Gold Teeth on Pet Cat

Wow! I’m baffled, almost dumbstruck! But you know me, I have got to say something about this!
So with the help of his veterinarian, a Dentist gave his cat two gold fangs.
“Mostly, though, it was a fun thing to do,” Owen[the Vet] said. “(Steele [the Dentist] is) always up to something or trying something new.”
“Steele said the cost for each gold tooth is about the same as for humans — about $900 each.”
DAMN! $1800 for cat teeth caps. Some people have more money than sense. I love my cat, but I don’t think I would go so far as to give him a gold grin… especially for the price!

This sounds like it is right out of “When Animals Attack”:
A Florida woman’s dog was dragged into the water by an otter. Yes an otter.
Apparently an otter came out of the water and dragged her Labrador retriever into the water. When she went into the water to get the Lab, her other dog a Fox terrier jumped in the water and was attacked also.
“I started punching the otter in the face which I felt really bad about because it’s cute and I didn’t want to hurt it but it was killing my dog”
I can just imagine this woman punching an otter. Actually what I’m imagining is something like you’d see in a Farrelly brothers comedy. I can just see it now, a lady waist deep in water pounding the crap out of an otter when the game warden rolls up behind her. But I digress..
When I read that I thought “That’s one tough otter!” and figured it was a weird one time thing, until I came across this article from 2001:
Unusual otter attack kills dog.
WTF are they giving to the otters in Florida?

Either someone has entirely too much time on their hands, or they work for Lego…
Venice city made completely from Lego (linky)
It’s all pictures, no explanation. I’m guessing that someone was paid to do this. I hope so. If not, well then someone needs to get a job with Lego!

Some of you may remember when childhood pranks such as wrapping (aka TPing) a house were considered innocent.
Apparently now it’s a felony.
Mom tracks down toilet-tissue pranksters
“Teenagers who toilet-papered and damaged a home now face felony vandalism charges because of a mother’s extraordinary sleuthing.”
“She found damaged landscaping and light fixtures as well as ruined finishes on two cars.” The woman tracked the kids via the store where they bought the toilet paper, cheese, dog food, flour and plastic forks.
“The information was eventually sent to the district attorney’s office and prosecutors confirmed that about six youths were now facing vandalism charges.”
Back when I was a kid, and we did stuff similar to this, when we were caught, we had to clean it up. One time when a car needed a paint job because of the “damage” (I use quotes because the car needed a paint job before anything was done to it.) The kids who did it, had to pay for the paint job. I don’t ever remember when someone pressed charges over shit like that. We used to get into egg fights (throwing eggs at each other) with our neighbors. When I say we, that included my parents and the neighbors were in their late 20s.
It just seems that the world has changed a lot, things that used to be harmless are now federal cases. When did this happen? Why not just talk to the parents of the kids who did it, and get justice that way?
Sometimes I wonder what’s going wrong with this world…but usually I just shrug and move on

With Verizon, I have the “new every two” as part of my calling plan. A few weeks ago, my two years was almost up, so I went into the local Verizon store and picked out a phone that I wanted to upgrade to. I picked the Samsung SCH-a930.
I got to the counter and waited for the person in front of me was finished. I noticed that it took him a long time. When I got to the counter, I was told that the store was having problems with their computer system. A really loooong time. I figured I’d wait, I had nothing else to do since it was a night off for me. So I told them I’d wait. I was told that it might be over an hour, that was at nine thirty. At ten fifteen I was told that the store would call me and let me know when everything was done. So I went home and goofed off on the computer. At about noon, when I was planning on going to bed, the UPS guy showed up with a new Heatsink/fan for my PC. My PC had been running a little hot. I installed the Heatsink/fan, and again as I was going to bed, I was interrupted, Verizon called and said everything would be ready soon. At about 1:30 I had my new phone, came home and crashed.
As for the phone itself, I know it looks like a pager when its closed, but I think that’s part of what makes it cool. It’s different. I was thinking of getting a silver razr, but figured that since I already had a black razr, and that razrs were everywhere, I’d get something different. I must say that after using the phone (as much as I use my cell phone) for a few weeks, that I really dig it. It has good reception, and I good volume. I don’t think I will ever use all the features. Honestly, I have a digital camera, so I hardly ever use the camera on a phone, I have an ipod, so I don’t ever use a phone as a music player. A phone as a music player would drain the phone battery too quickly, in my opinion. Overall I dig the phone, it’s different, cool looking, and works really well.
Even though it took a long time to get it from Verizon, I think it was worth it. ANd I really can’t fault Verizon, computer problems happen.

I have been missing, absent, elsewhere, a no-show for far too long on my blog. For the very few who longed for my return, I hope that longing has been sated. Why I have been away, I really cannot say. It’s not like I’ve been overly busy. I’ve been working, sleeping and still playing too much World of Warcraft. I offer no excuse, as an excuse would just be a lie wrapped around an unwanted truth.

In my time away from you, dear reader I have done many things. A few of those things are suitable for public consumption.
I have seen a few movies, and will give quick reviews about them, since most of them are already passé.

Nacho Libre
Being a fan of Jack Black, and enjoying Director Jared Hess’ breakout nerdy comedy with no jokes Napoleon Dynamite, I decided I wanted to see Nacho Libre. The only thing I knew about Mexican masked wrestling was that it was (maybe still is) HUGE in Mexico. Going into this film, I had no preconceived notions about any aspect of it. I think that made a minor contribution to the fact that I really enjoyed the movie. I have seen a few reviews of the film and there is on thing in particular that I had to agree with. On a Geekdrome podcast it was mentioned that Jack Black detracts from the film when he breaks character. When he is not Nacho, but basically Jack Black doing his “thing” (a la the seen where his is singing and goes into his impersonation of a musical horn). As Jack Black that’s part of his shtick but it’s out of character for Nacho. But I digress…
Overall, I really had a fun time with this movie, definitely one that I’ll pick up on DVD. If you haven’t seen it, and enjoy quirky comedies, check it out.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Ahh, sequels… I really enjoyed the first Pirates. It was fun, and goofy in parts had good action sequences. As long as you didn’t take it too seriously, or think about it too much it’s a fun film. Therefore I wanted to see the sequel. As is the case for most sequels, the sequel tries to outdo the original. For Pirates that meant a grander scale, everything seemed bigger, more over the top. That includes the length of the film, at two and half hours it was too long in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong there are parts that are fun goofy and good action sequences. But there are also parts that drag on too long, or that seem to not have any real reason for being in the movie. Everyone is back for the sequel. Some might consider this a spoiler, but the much talked about Keith Richards appearance never happens. To be honest I was a little depressed about that one. Also it’s painfully obvious at the end that there has to be a Pirates 3. The special effects are top notch, and would be good to see on the big screen, but I’d go to a matinee. Or possibly wait for DVD. I just can’t wholeheartedly recommend paying $10 to see this movie.

Clerks II
As most of you know I’m a big fan of Kevin Smith. When he announced Clerks II “The Passion of the Clerks” I was pretty excited. Then for a few years while the film was being made, I didn’t think about it. As the release got closer and closer, I became wary. A big budget sequel to an indie hit? I decided I would see it, but that I would avoid hearing/reading/seeing anything about it before hand. I had done the opposite with Star Wars Episode One and look how that turned out! I had mentioned this to Candy and at one point when a trailer was on TV she shouted at me and kept my attention on her so I wouldn’t see/hear about the movie. Love is a wonderful thing!
About the movie itself: I feel that it kept to its roots. It was funny and goofy, and at times made you think. It lambastes popular culture, including, but not restricted to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars, and the upcoming Transformers movie. Also I felt that in parts the movie made fun of itself and didn’t take itself too seriously. My wariness was for naught. I highly recommend seeing Clerks II.

That’s all for now (I’m sure for some of you it’s too much ) I’m going to try to write regularly again.

Yeah, so this past week I got a year older. Candy showered me with DVDs! Apparently she passed “Know your Geek 101″ with flying colors. She got me Babylon 5 Seasons 2-5 and X-Files Seasons 4-6. She is too good to me! We didn’t make a big fuss about the birthday, we went out to eat at the Macaroni Grill and that was about it.
Other than that I’ve not been doing a whole lot other than work and playing World of Warcraft.

Let’s Talk About Movies
I haven’t been watching as many movies as I used to. More and more I’ve been saying “I’ll wait for that to come to DVD”. What is kind of odd is that I’ll be all about seeing a movie at the cinema, but the week after it gets released, I’ll say “I’ll wait for that to come to DVD”. I’ve done that with V for Vendetta, and Da Vinci Code, just to name a few recently. The last movies I went to see in the theater were Ice Age Meltdown (meh the first one was a little better) and The Notorious Bettie Page. I liked The Notorious Bettie Page, it was a fairly good biopic, but I felt like there was something missing from the movie. I can’t say what, but it seemed to lack something. Even though it seemed like something is missing, I recommend it.
Since I’m a comic book nerd, I had to check out the Ghost Rider trailer.
Before seeing the trailer, I had my doubts about Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, but it looks like he might work out. From what I’ve seen in the trailer, I’ll go see the movie, but there is some potential for it to suck, which is the case for any comic book movie. Daredevil and Electra sucked but the trailers were not so bad, from what I remember.
Beav mentioned a pod/video cast called Geekdrome to me. So I checked out the latest episode. IMO, it’s not as good as Diggnation, but I subscribed to it. On Geekdrome they talked about the Superman Returns trailer. Talked is a bit mild, the fawned over it, damn near having an orgasm. I decided to watch this trailer that would change my life…
About 15 seconds into the trailer I remembered that Superman is my least favorite comic book hero. He is the Achilles of comic books. He only has one weakness…going on cocaine binges in Vegas. No wait, that’s not it, Kryptonite, that’s it. That’s his physical weakness, his character flaw is that he is too good. For example Batman has no problem dangling a bad guy from a rooftop to get answers, but I think Superman would frown on that. I really don’t know, since I haven’t read any Superman comics in ages because I think he sucks. But I digress…
Back to the trailer. It’s a Superman movie. It looks slicker than the old ones (obviously). But in essence it’s a movie about an almost invulnerable boy scout. I think I’m going to pass, or possibly I’ll wait for that to come to DVD.
Since I’m on comic book movies I’ll mention that I have not seen X-Men 3. But I have bought tickets to go see it on Sunday. I’m a little excited about the movie, but I find that these days I just can’t get as excited about movies as I used to. I blame this on Hollywood putting out shitty movies for the the past 5-10 years. There have been good movies in those years, don’t get me wrong. But for every Sin City there are 25 Stealths. I guess I’m tired of digging through a mound of shit to find gold flakes. I just hope that it’s not that I have out-grown movies, that I have lost my cinema innocence never to regain that sense of wonderment, the excitement at a trailer.

As some of you may know, I have an unhealthy fascination with the badger, badger, mushroom, snake flash animation. Well a few weeks ago, I was feeling nostalgic, so I looked it up and marveled at the badgers. Not being one to keep a fun time to myself, I sent the link to Candy. Her response was to send me a link that included this pic…

What was even more staggering was that you could buy your own lovable plush badger!
When I saw that I believe I said “OMFG! I want one!” So for an early birthday present, Candy got me one! As cheesy as it seems, I really love that little badger! But I guess that’s what comes from having an unnatural attraction to badgers badgers badgers badgersbadgersbadgersbadgersbadgersbadgersbadgersbadgers

From the Why the Fuck would you invent this department…
Philips device could force TV viewers to watch ads
“An invention from Royal Philips Electronics prevents TV viewers from switching the channel during commercials or fast-forwarding past commercials when watching DVR content.
Viewers would be released from the freeze only after paying a fee to the broadcaster. The freeze would be implemented on a program-by-program basis, giving viewers a choice at the start of each one. “

I would ask “why?!” but I already know the answer to that question. Money. This will just be another way for the cable company to screw you. Not being able to change channels or fast forward? That is fucked up! This bad idea ranks up there with pay toilets. Even if its only 25 cents to be able to skip commercials, that’s ridiculous! Knowing the cable companies, it will most likely be 99 cents to “unlock” ads in a TV show. Yes, its supposed to be a per show basis. How fucked up would that be? Just before a show starts you get a message asking you if you want to pay to unlock ads. If you say yes, you use your TV how you want, but if you say no, you can’t change channels during ads. I wonder can you change channels during the actual show? I know that this would piss a lot of people off. For example, Candy will watch at least two shows at once. Switching back and forth and keeping both shows going at once. (Personally I have a hard time letting one show rot my brain, much less two or three at once. )
So lets hope that this thing never sees the light of day. Yeah right! I’m sure the cable companies want to start sneaking this thing into the HD DVR set top boxes so they can toss out the lube and screw you till they are blue in the face.