Alias

I've been buying old seasons of TV shows so that I have some background noise and distractions while working at home. Otherwise, I get really bored. It started out with BSG, as stated in previous blogs, but I bought seasons one and two of Alias as well. Season one was pretty good, I guess as good as any season one of a series (except BSG. you GOT to watch that), but season two....WOW. The story is riveting and exciting, there are twists and turns everywhere. If you don't know, the basic story is about Sidney Bristo (Jennifer Garner), who thinks she is with the CIA, but really is working for a bad organization, SD-6. She finds out and becomes a double agent for the CIA to bring down SD-6. She goes on missions and other secret agent stuff. Her father, Jack Brsto is also in the same boat and they end up joining forces. The plot is too complex to really go into detials, but it is definately worth the time to watch. If you are a guy, this show illustrates exactly how hot Jennifer Garner really is. I thought she was cute, but some of the outfits that the puts on in this show are jaw dropping. The first season she is in this skin tight dress that could probably fit in a shot glass when scrunched up. It was pretty hot. It's kinda like taking James Bond and all of the hot girls they add in the Bond films for sexual tension and putting them all into one character. If you've never seen the show, I recommend that you that you take a look.

Shows I'd watch

As you may or may not know, I am a fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. True, that may make me a bit girly, but I am not a member of the fan club or anything. I loved the movie with Kristy Swanson and Pee Wee Herman. I think a guy from 90210 was in it too. Pee Wee's death scene was priceless. Anyway, as it often happens, Buffy was in a bad time slot for me, so I did not see all of the shows as they aired. My solution, DVDs. I own seasons 1-7. I think it was a good thing that the show was ended. The plots were getting a bit weak and there is only so much Sara Michelle Gellar that one can take. Seriously though. The show was entertaining and fun to watch. I think I may start at the beginning and watch them all in order again soon. I just need to get seasons 1 and 2 back from Amy. Anyway, back to subject. I think that Buffy needed to end, but there are a TON of spin offs that they could persue based off of the Buffy story. Sure, there is Angel, which is over and done with now (I never got into Angel too much), but there are other characters that deserve a shot at a series. Here are my ideas:

1. Willow - She is one of my favorites from the Buffy series. She is a powerful witch (and a lesbian) and I think that it would be entertaining to see where she goes after leaving Sunnydale. I guess there is already a successful witch show out there (Charmed) but I think that this would work. Certainly better than the terrible sit-com that Allison Hannigan ended up on. There could be different temptations for Willow to go to dark magic and things like that. Oz could join up every once in a while and Willow could keep her hottie slayer girlfriend. I'd watch.

2. The Watchers - Giles would be in this one. It could go into more detail about the mysterious Watchers that tended to hinder Buffy more than help her. This one may not be as good as the one with Willow, but it could be interesting.

3. The Slayers - In case you haven't seen all of the Buffy series, I am going to ruin the ending for you.....so STOP READING unless you want to read how it all ended!! Since Willow and Buffy made it so that all potential Slayers get their Slayer powers all at once, there are now many teenaged and pre-teen girls out there with bad ass powers and no idea what is going on. The remaining Slayers from the Buffy series could travel around and recruit/trian these new Slayers in the ways of ass kicking demons. Just because Sunnydale is gone, doesn't mean that the vampires and demons around the world are all gone. I think that this has the best potential for a strong, ongoing series. Willow could also be in this show since she is dating one of the Slayers. Buffy coulf pop in every once in a while when SMG realizes that her movie carreer is going nowhere and she needs some extra cash. They could get a cool black van, like in the A-Team.

Battlestar Galactica 2. whoa

Merry belated Chrismahanaquanzica everyone! I hope everyone has a good time with friends and family. We were able to get all of our family visiting done in one weekend. It was nice because we usually have to spread things out over a few weeks. We saw Jessica's dad on Christmas eve, her mom and grandma, and then her aunt and grandpa, on Christmas, and finally my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandma the day after Christmas. It was alot of driving and visiting with family, but I was glad to get it done in a few days instead of a few weeks or a month. We all had fun and the kids were happy with their presents. Gabriel kept opening everyone else's presents for them. They let him, of course. He's so funny some times.

Well, I found BSG 2.0. I bought it for the kids to give it to me for Christmas. I watched alreadyand all I can say is wow! It is such a great show. It is a terrific mix of a new, original show and the story from the old school TV series. If you never watched the old show, the effects were typical for the era, the acting wasn't great and the story was cheesey at times. The base story was the same, the Cylons attacked and killed all humans except for a 'fleet of rag-tag ships' and one Battlestar. Some of the trials and tribulations are similar, they look for water in both series and Cylons were always popping up and attacking. The differences lie in the quality of the acting and improved effects and story writing. I highly recommend this series. Buy the DVDs. I've watched the first season three times already and plan on watching 2.0 several times as well. New episodes start in January.

So, I fanally saw Serenity. Twice.

***spoiler alert***

I went out to buy the Serenety DVD yesterday. I was upset that I did not catch it in the theaters, but I guess I waited too long. I made up for missing Serenity in the theaters by watching it twice yesterday. Once right when I got home and the second time after Jessica got home so that she could see it. The movie did not start out quite how I expected it. I guess I didn't really have an idea of how it would start, since it would have to be geared towards people that have seen Firefly as well as those that have not seen Firefly. I guess that Joss did a good job setting up the story for those who have seen the TV show and for those who have not. The original Browncoats get some background to River and Simon's past and the newbies can see why River is so messed up. All in all I really liked this movie. The story was good, the acting was good, and the effects were incredible. I could go to a three hour movie filled with nothing other than sci-fi space battles and be thrilled. I just loves my CGI. Serenity also had the perfect mix of story, comedy, action, and sexual tension that are Joss' trademarks. I was also glad that all of the TV show's original cast was able to make it into the film. I didn't think Shepherd Book would be in it since I did not see him in the trailers, but I was wrong. I guess the part he had was rather small, but he was in it. Honestly, I never much likes Book too much. I think that if they Joss had the time on the TV series to go into why he knew sow much about the Alliance and had high military clearance, the character would have been much interesting. Oh well, he's dead now. The villan of the movie was good. No, not as in good. I mean that he was a good villian. The one thing that made me a bit angry was that Wash was killed in the end. I really like his character. In fact, I think he my favorite. I made this determination during the Firefly TV movie type thing. Mal, Jayne, a Zoe were out in space salvaging good from another vessel and Wash was playing with plastic dinosaurs. "Damn your inevitable betrayal!" Funny. He also had great lines in the movie. I think the best line in the movie was from Kaylee. She was talking about Simon and River leaving the ship and she was mad because she and Simon had not had sex yet and she said something like, "I ain't had nothing twix my neathers for the last year that hasn't been run on batteries." I may not be exact on that quote, but you get the idea. Mal had some great one liners too. And Jayne. I won't quote them all, so just go watch the movie. There is certainly room for a sequal to this movie. The ship was rebuilt and repainted and I'm sure that there is more Serenity plot inside of Joss' head. The only question will be whether or not he will get the funding. My guess is that he will, but probably not as big of a budget. We're probably going to get a made for TV movie or a straight to DVD release. That's fine by me just so lone as the story continues. I just hope that any future movies are not centered around River being a bad ass killing machine. The way she took care of the Reevers was quite Buffy-like. Especially at the end of the fight when they show her standing over the dead Reevers with the two axes.

As a side note, I looked for BSG 2.0, which was also supposed to be out this Tuesday, but did not see it at Target or Best Buy. Was the release pushed back? I'm wondering if maybe it was just sold out already. That show realy kicks ass.

Guess Who

By popular demand, here is a picture of Alydia.

Go Buck!....Basketball???

As you all know, I am a huge OSU football fan. I am also a closet OSU basketball fan. I say closet fan because, since the final four run they had a while back with Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd, the basketball Bucks have been pretty bad. They weren't terrible, but certainly not a contender. I still watched a game here and there, and I was clapping in my living room when they knocked off #1 and undefeated Illinois last year, but hoops didn't get me up as much as the gridiron games. The Basketball Bucks are 7-0 and ranked for the first time that I can remember for a while. I have seen a few games and they look pretty good. Their outside shooting is dynamite. They also have Terrence Dials, who is pretty good in the middle. So far, several of the Buckeye wins have come over lesser opponents at home, but they have had two quality road wins at Iowa State and St Joseph's (or maybe St John's. I forget for sure). The best part about this season is that it's only going to get better next year. Thanks to the NBA starting to restrict the age of players joining the league, OSU is going to get the #1 recruit, Oden (I think that's his name), who would have been a high NBA draft pick if the age restriction hasn't been enforced. We will finally have a basketball program that will rival our football program. I know it's rare for a fotball school to have a good basketball program too, but it's becoming more common lately. Michigan State has always had a good b-ball program and they are a pretty good football school, but they are in the minority, it seems. Texas is in the top ten of the hoops world and are playing for the fooseball title this year, so there is another school with good programs in both sports. The dream is that both the Basketball and Football Buckeyes will both take national titles next year. I can dream, right? Actually, it is plausable. The b-ball team is getting great recruits and have a solid coach and the football Bucks should have a dynamite offense next year. Hopefully the defense will be able to step up after losing the entire lineback corps. Well, I can hope, right?

Places I want to go

Jessica and I have never really been on a vacation together. I suppose that we went to Las Vegas to get married, which was a lot of fun, but we have not done any vacations just to go on vacation. Mostly because we have no money, but also because we don't have time off together. We work opposite days so that we can watch the kids. We are wanting to take trips, it just doesn't happen. Well, if we ever do get the chance, here is a list of the places I want to visit:

1. Someplace warm when Ohio is under a foot of snow, like Puerto Rico, or Jamaica. I want to be able to sport my Speedo thong and not feel a bit chilly. I also want to be able to look into the ocean water and be able to see the bottom. I'm sick of Ohio lakes where the water is murkey and gross.

2. A Disney park. You know. For the kids. I've been to both Disneyland and World. I don't remember much of either, but I would mostly want to go so that the kids would be able to have a good time. Also, some of Jessica's family live out in CA, so we could make an event of it all.

3. Europe. I'm not sure where in Europe, but I could probably use Heather's blog as a guide. She and Paul have gone to a lot of neat places. Honestly, I rarely check her posts because I get jealous. I would probably try to stay in English speaking areas. I'd totally have to hang out with some soccer huligans though. If you aren't a Manc, you're a wank.

4. Las Vegas. Yes, I've been there, but we didn't really get to experience everything that we wanted to. I want to go to a real show (we went to a free one) and I want to go when it's warm so that we can hang out at the pool. Plus, I want to be able to gamble a bit more than we did. I'd love to get into a poker game, but doubt I'd be able to afford it. It would also be fun to check out a club. I'd feel out of place, but it would be a cool experience.

5. New Orleans. I put a question mark here after the hurricanes ruined the city a bit. Plus, I've been there twice. I was able to experience Burbon St. but none of the historical buildings or cemetaries. Jessica likes haunted things, so we'd maybe check out the haunted spots.

6. Canada. I've been to Niagra falls and Toronto as a kid and I want to go back. The Falls were neat. We also went to a park called Marine Land. It was like Cedar Point meets Sea World. It has a crazy roller coaster that scared the shit out of me. Of course I was only 8 or 9.

7. NYC. New York kinda scares me because of the sheer size of it. I'd like to go and see the sights though. Plus, I need to try out for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I always get up to the $25000 question without needing lifelines. I kick ass at that game from my couch.

8. An OSU bowl game. I've been to four, but while in the band. I had obligations and couldn't go where I wanted when I wanted. The Rose Bowl would be cool. Or, if the Sugar Bowl ever gets back to New Orleans, I could take care of #5 on the list.

9. The Grand Canyon. Actually, any National landmark or tourist attraction. I'd like to go to Alaska some day too.

10. A cruise. Disney has a cruise line that has a kid's area that watched the children while you go have fun. That could be neat.

11. Local attractions. Cincinatti, Cleveland, the Old Man's Caves in Hocking Hills, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Amish Country.

12. Along the sporting line, I would like to go to a NCAA basketball tournament some day. Final Four would be cool. Maybe OSU will get the tournament soon.

I hate kickers

No, not field goal kickers or soccer players. I'm talking about the card in poker known as the kicker card. For example, if two players both have a pair of tens, the tie breaker goes to whomever has the highest card in their hand. A pair of tens with an ace beats a pair of tens with a jack. Get it? Well, as you may or may not know, I played in a poker game last night. I started out slowly, but picked up some momentum and some chips when I took my buddy Rick out. He went all in on me to try to scare me out of a pot (which almost worked). I called him and won. I love having bragging rights. Anyway, I made it to the final table and down to the final seven players when I got my ass handed to me. I had jack ten, two tens come up on the board giving me three tens, so I went all in. The guy that called me had a ten and an ace in his hand. The ace beat the jack and I was out. I can't beat myself up about it though. I played the hand correctly. I thought the guy had two pair, but had no idea that he might have another ten. Why would I? The odds of it happening are lower than low. Then the odds that he could beat my jack kicker were even lower. Oh well. I lasted longer than all of my bowling buddies, so, like I said, bragging rights.

random thoughts

So you are thinking, 'Aren't all of your thoughts random, Eric?' The answer is, 'Yes, they are.' But usually when I post, I have a specific topic. Ok, not really. Step off.

Comments: I am curious as to why I don't get many comments on my posts. I guess my posts aren't too interesting. I thought I'd get more than I did on my 'Boobies' post. The only one I got was for my 'Media Whore' post a while back. I guess I can't complain too much. I look at other people's blogs and their comments a are rare as mine. I'm not going to get down about it. I like posting on my blog. Woody has a much more interesting blog that I do, and there are times when he doesn't get comments other than for his quote game. I myself am guilty of checking posts and not commenting. Well, when I look at my site meter, and people are at least looking at my blog, so that makes me happy. I just need to step up my game and make things more interesting, I guess.

Bowling: As you may know, I am in a men's bowling league. It is split into two halves, 13 games each half and one last week to determine the champion (27 weeks total). We are at our last week of the first half and my team is dead last. It is frustrating because I am bowling better than I have in a long time. I am currently carrying a 180+ average. I think I had a 190 once, but it was only for a few weeks. The cause of our woes seems to be that people bowling us are always have a good game and just edge us out. We've propably lost about 15-20 games by less than 30 pins. Last week we lost one by 2. I could have tied it if I srtuck out in the tenth frame, but I only managed two strikes and an 8. Well, at least there are two halves, so we have a chance in the long run.

Poker: I played some Texas Hold'em last Friday. I had my ass handed to me. Not because I play poorly, I just didn't get any good cards. When I did get two cards, I'd play, but would get beat. For example, I had a flush in one had and my buddy beat me with a bigger flush. It's rare that two people hit a flush in Texas Hold'em.
I have a poker plug and play game that is pretty fun. I play in the tournaments. I win sometimes, but I think that the computer cheats a bit. It's certainly geared up so that multiple players get good hands more than should happen. I am playing in a tournament on Friday that I am pretty excited about. I should do ok if I can stay in my game plan. The hard part is playing with people that you don't know. You need to learn tells and figure out how they play. It can be tough. I just need to stay in control of myself and not gamble too much. If I wait for the cards to come, I am confident that I should do well.

SOAD: System of a Down is probably the most origional hard rock band that I have heard in years. Most of the new groups all sound like clones of each other. SOAD kicks all of their asses. The music is good, the lyrics are origonal and often make a statement. I highly suggest buying Hypnotize and Mesmerize, their latest CDs. Hypnotize is probably the better of the two. If I have any complaint about the group, it's that they usually have one or two weird songs per CD that I could do without. The rest of the music more than makes up for these odd songs.

mmmmm....boobies

No, it's not an attention grabber. I'm really going to post about breasts today. For some reason, the idea popped into my head and I decided to run with it. Ladies, please don't be offended. I mean no disrespect. I respect all women for their minds and personality. Now, I probably won't post anything that is deeply insightful, or anything that everyone hasn't thought of before, I just thought that it'd be interested to post about one of the most important things in a man life (straight men, of course). I mean think about it, how many times do you guys look at a woman and your gaze hovers below the collar line? And ladies, how may times have you had a conversation with me and thought to yourself, 'Ok Eic, my eyes are up here....'? Is there anything more attractive or attention grabbing than women's breasts? Maybe if a guy had a giant Johnson and was in some really tight pants..... No. Boobies are better. Now, before I proceed, I am not trying to offend anyone. I just think this is an interesting topic.

In my opinion, women's breasts are one of (or two of, I guess) the most inportant things in the world to men. Now, you are thinking, 'Come on, Eric. What about the war?' Yes, the war is terrible and a big thing, but think about it. How many ways can you say 'war'? Battle, strife, police action, skirmish, war, I can't really think of too many ways to say war other than to say war. Now, how many words and phrases have been created in reference to breasts? Boobs (boobies), tits (titties), knockers, hooters, melons, jugs, rack, twins, sisters, twin bald guys in a shirt... and then ways to discribe different sizes and shapes: torpeedos, mountains, itty bitty titties, tig bitties, fakies, perkie, droopy, I'm sure there's more, but I need to draw the line somewhere. To further express how important breasts are to society, how many times has a woman with large breasts walked into a room and you or you friend asks the question 'Do you think they're real?' Ladies, how many times have you caught guys looking at your breasts? Think about all of the women that get implants. Think about the stories you hear about your large breasted female friends getting out of speeding tickets by showing some cleavage.

I admit it. I love breasts. I don't know why. I just know that I like how they look and how they feel. Real, fake, big, or small it doesn't matter. I guess I don't like ginormous fake boobs that are so big that they are comical. It has to be plausable that they may be real. (For the record, I'm really more of an ass man.) On a show I once saw about breasts, it said that human females are the only mammal that the milk producing ogans are external when not lactating. I know that it ruins a bit of the attractiveness when you call them 'milk producing organs' but that is what they are. The show speculated why this is, but there was no definative answer. The only solid answer they really gave was that breasts are there to attract mates. DUH!

Some things that I've always wondered about:

1. Why are men more attracted to larger breasts? The scientific mind may say it is because men feel that large breasted women are able to provide more nourishment for thier offspring. Of course we all know that is bullshit. Men are attracted to large breasts because of the same reason they were attracted to the big car as a child. We all like playing with big things as apposed to small things. Personally, I don't care about size. As long as they are there and I am allowed to touch them, I am happy.

2. Why are female breasts attractive, but man boobs are not? Think about it, everyone, men and women, have probably looked at a woman with nice breasts and appreciated what they saw. Of course men, women probably thought, "She's quite lovely." and men thought, "Wow, nice rack." but the general appreciation is there. A guy with bitch tits doesn't get the same appreciation. He could not unbutton his top and get out of a speeding ticket. Is it the hair? Sorry, I hope I didn't just gross anyone out. It's just me being curious.

Questions Answered Today

Wow. What a day in college football yesterday. Of course, Texas and USC won their games big, proving that they belong in the National Title game. The big suprises were when Florida State beat Virginia Tech and Georgia beat LSU. Since the number three and five teams both lost, Ohio State should move up to number 4 in the BCS ratings, making them a sure pick for a BCS game. They will probably eng up at the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. We find out today at 5:00 pm.

I'm watching the Pittsburg/Cincinnati game. It resembles the game Cinci played against Indianapolis. Lots of offense, little defense. I guess I'll pull for the Bengals, sice they are the Ohio team. The Browns are playing too, but are not on TV. Woody should be happy since the Bengals just went on top.

We got our Christmas shoppipng for the kids done last night. Shit toys are expensive. Expecially now that we have three kids to buy for now.

My Xbox is on the fritz. I don't play it much, but Noah does. The disk tray won't open and the status light flashes red and green. I need to take it to get looked at, I suppose. I guess if it's dead, I'll just have to spring for the Xbox 360 sooner than I wanted to.

Highschool Pictures

Lucky chair. So, in the spirit of Mona's blog, I went though and found a few more pictures to put up from my highschool years. The first is Amy and Mona in a chair at my parents house. That's hot. The second is from our senior year band banquet. McNutt was so little. He's the guy we were holding. It's funny how much, and how little we've all changed through the year.

Media Whores

Sorry Woody, but I'm about to bash your profession a bit. Nothing personal....

I don't know if everyone is aware (for those of you that don't live in Columbus) but the daughter of OSU band director, John Woods, was murdered in New York city last weekend. Tragic for any parent to find out that their daughter was killed, but this also touches home for me because I was in the OSU Marching Band and knew Dr. Woods. I even had seen his daughter a few times on the sidelines during games and on Bowl trips. Of course, she was only young teen at the time, and I never talked to her, but I was aware of who she was. I have to say, this is the first time that anyone that I knew (even if just romotely) was murdered. I saw her picture on the news and could see the little girl I remember from ten years ago. Now, I probably won't send flowers or attend the memorial, I am the kind of person that feels that family and friends of the deceased should have their privacy when mourning, but I caetainly feel badly for Dr. Woods and his family. One of the worst things in the world happened to them, they lost a child. I could not even imagine what that would be like.

I am calling this post 'Media Whores' because it sickens me how stories like this are treated in the media. I understand that it is their jobs to report the news and, at least locally, the death of the OSU band director is news. However, the media does not need to confront Dr. Woods to ask him how he feels. How do you think he feels? Happy? NO! His daughter was killed. Then, on top of the death of his daughter, the media needs to point out that, while she was attempting to become a Broadway performer, she was currently working at a strip club. Why do they need to make a big deal of that? Sure it raises an eyebrow at the situation, but the reportes don't need to ask Dr. Woods about that aspect of the situation. What if he did not know about that aspect of her life. How would you like to learn that your child was a stripper and have that fact broadcast around the state? Maybe she was broke and facing eviction and needed to get cash fast. And then some reporter gets in your face and asks you about it? I would deck the guy. Now, I heard on the radio that the title of the story that comes across on the AP wire has changed from 'OSU Band Director Killed' to 'Stripper Killed'. It really makes you think about how much the media dehumanizes people. I guess it is a society problem these days. It is a lot easier to hear reports on TV or on the radio that say 'stripper killed' instead of 'daughter of Dr. John R Woods, director of the OSU marching band and public figure that has given years of his life to his school and society and has touched the life of thousands of students and people across the state and country, was brutally and senselessly murdered'. Sorry. I don't mean to preach, but I can't help but feel angry since I know Dr. Woods. I also can't help but feel angry because I am a father and if someone were to reduce my children to a headline, I would feel pretty angry. I guess it's the public's fault because people seem to eat up headlines like this like candy. I mean, look at Jerry Springer. Would he have a career if people weren't depraved enough to watch about sexually active teen hermaprodites that want to get pregnant? Again, I don't mean to preach. I know that the media is doing their job and I respect that. I just get a little upset when a tragic story is turned into something that it's not just to gain more ratings.