M. Night Shablamblam

I know, I know. His last name is Shyamalan, but if he has people call him Night instead of whatever the M. stands for, I can call him Shablamblam. Anyway, I think that he is probably my favorite movie writer/director. I used to like Stanley Kubrick, wich great movies like The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, but think that M. has moved to my favorite director spot. Probably because he writes all of his movies and they have all been pretty original. Plus, they usually have a shocking twist at the end.

The first movie by M was The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis, about a kid that sees dead people. Talk about your shocking twists. There was also Unbreakable, which was like a real live comic book, again staring Bruce Willis, who ends up having super strength. Signs was about an Alien invasion and The Village was about an old fashioned town plagued by monsters (that one had another suprise ending). The latest fillm by M is called Lady in the Water. This was probably the strangest of all of the films. It is based on a bed time story that M tells his kids. It amazes me that he just thinks up all of these stories on his own. All of them are so interesting to me. Like I said, Lady in the Water is about a sea nymph that ends up in a swimming pool of an apartment complex. She has to give a message to a specific person by a specific time so that she can go home to the sea. It sounds a bit out there because it is. Honestly though, it was a really good story. There are some scary parts and some funny parts. I got it through NetFlix, but think that I need to buy this film. I have all of M's other movies on either VHS or DVD. I watch them all several times. Well, except for maybe The Sixth Sense. Once you know the secret ending, there doesn't seem like much of a point watching it again. I really like the use of color in that movie. If you didn't notice, all of the hints and clues pointing to the suprise ending are all red. There is alot of red in Unbreakable too, if you know to look for it. Come to think of it, the 'bad color' in The Village is red too. I guess it's M's favorite color or something.

Johnny Knoxville is Going to Hell....I May Be Too.

So, using NetFlix (which I LOVE) I rented The Ringer. It is a movie staring Johnny Knoxville as a guy that decides to participate in the Special Olympics so that his uncle could bet on it to make $$. His intentions are noble (he is trying to raise money for an operation for his friend) but the methods are less than noble. If you can imagine, there are a lot of ball shots and other physical gags that are really funny (seeing a mentally challenged kid sling shot a water balloon at Johnny Knoxville's balls is alot funnier than you'd think). Plus, the movie also starred Katherine Heigl, whom, if you remember, is number 2 on My List of celebrities that I would allow myself to sleep with if I had the opportunity. She looked great all through the film. Anyway, the movie was not great, but there were a few good laughs. It was very predictable though.

We also got The Decent. It is a scary movie about seven women that go spilunking (cave exploring, spelled incorrectly) and scary things ensue. It was pretty creepy and quite scary. Some of the plot twists were pretty weird and it seemed like they were trying too had to make a subplot happen that didn't really need to happen. All in all it was a good scary movie. I won't go into too many details, since it would give away too much of the story, but it is worth the watch.

Waiting.....

So, I got a movie called Waiting... through my NetFlix this past weekend. It is about a day in the life of the workers of a resturant called Shananigans (a Flannigans spoof). As a former resturant worker (several years at Friendly's) I was able to relate to all of the jokes. The movie was HILLARIOUS. Not Eurotrip hillarious, but pretty close. They tried to justify the pranks and jokes by putting a serious story in the movie (one of the waiters was trying to figure out what to do with his life) but honestly, the story was secondary to the funny parts. Probably the funniest part of the movie was the running joke about a gag the male prokers tried t play on each other. If you could get one of your male co-workers to look at your bare private parts, you got to ridicule them for being gay and then kick him in the ass based on the degree of effort that you put into the prank. It was broken down like this (it's a little gross, by the way) :

-The Pole- If you get the guy to look at your pole only, you get to kick him in the ass once.
-The Brain- If you get the guy to look at the 'brain' (testicles) only, you get two kicks.
-The Chicken Wing- If you get the guy to look at your scrotum, while stretching it out to look like chicken skin, you get three kicks.
-The Goat- If you get a guy to look while tucking your junk back (like in Silence of the Lambs) and bend over so that it is poking out the back (like a goat's tail) you get four kicks.

On paper, this doesn't seem too funny, but looking at the actions these guys took to make others look at their junk, was HILLARIOUS!!! They weren't allowed to walk around with their polls out yelling, "hey, look at my poll!" they had to be discrete and trick unsuspecting co-workers to look. If you are into juvenille humor, giv Waiting...a try.

Merry Christmahoniquanzika, or Happy Festivus

Depending on your denomination, Happy Festivus or Merry Christmahoniquanzika. We don't discriminate here. Considering the insane 'poo' comments on my last posting, I thought I would add a link to the untimate holiday poo, Mr Hanky, The Christmas Poo. If you don't know, he is a character on South Park. "Hi-dy-ho!"

We get to have everyone in the family come over to our house for Christmas this year. My parents, brother (his wife), aunt & uncle, and cousins plus Jessica's dad and brother. It won't be too exciting, just some food and presents. I am actually looking forward to it, since the kids are going to be SO excited. I just hope that they sleep in a little bit. I guess we should get up early, since we need to get everything ready.

Since I may not be able to post before New Years Day, I thought I'd share my resolutions with you. I never keep them, but this year I am really going to try:

1. Lose enough weight to be back down to my college weight. I have been off of the diet wagon and think I have gained back some of the weight I lost.

2. Drink less alcohol. Maybe one night a week I'll allow myself a Manhattan, but I really need to cut my my drinking. I think it is part of the reason that I eat too much. I just hope all of the holiday cookies and food are gone by the New Year.

3. Spend more 'quality time' with the kids. Not that I ignore them, but I could probably play a bit more with them

That's about it. In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite quotes from the best Christmas movie EVER. A Christmas Story.

1. "You'll shoot you eye out." - Ralphie's mom, teacher, and Santa
2. "FFFUUUDDDGGGE.... Only I didn't say 'fudge'." - Ralphie
3. "I triple dog dare you!" -Schwartz
4. "Sons of Bitches!!" - Raplhie's dad
5. "Fra-gee-lay.... It must be Italian." - Ralphie's dad
6. "Not a Finger!" - Ralphie's dad

There's more, but I don't want to post all day. Have a happy holiday!

Best Buy, My 'On Again Off Again' Favorite Store

I love Best Buy. I've loved Best Buy for as long as I can remember. Of course, there was this time that I bought cell phones from Best Buy, bought the 2 year protection play, and then got pissed off when my battery died and they wouldn't replace my phone because there was a crack on the display. I wasn't returning the phone because of the display. I was returning it because the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore. I was SO pissed that I boycotted Best Buy for almost two years. (Don't ever piss me off. I hold grudges.) I started to get my electronics, games, and movies from other stores, like Target and Circuit City. It worked, but it was not as satisfying. Then, the temptation became too great when my office moved from down town Columbus to Dublin Ohio. Five minutes from Best Buy. The day came that I needed a movie or a CD and lifted my Best Buy ban. I took baby steps. A CD here, a DVD there, and then my Xbox died. I needed a new one. I broke down and dropped a ig load of cash as Best Buy. After that, it was like two long lost lovers that were reunited. I now buy all of my movies, electronics, and game from the same place, once again. As an added bonus, I can go to Giant Eagle ( the local grocery store that gives you $$ off per gallon of gas for spending money there) and buy Best Buy gift certificates when I know I'm going to buy something big. If I buy $300 in Best Buy gift certificates at Giant Eagle, I get $1.20 off per gallon of gas. Anyway, I bought a gift for Jessica as Best Buy (a DVD video camera) and she bought me my big screen TV at Best Buy (plus my Xbox 360) . I'd say the ban is over.

THE BEST THING ABOUT BEST BUY: I guess lots of places do this, but Best Buy has a 30 day price garuntee. If you buy something there and find it advertised cheaper somewhere else, Best Buy will pay you the difference plus 10%. If the product is advertised at Best Buy cheaper than what you paid for it, they will give you the difference. Well, the TV we bought was advertised $300 cheaper this week than what we paid for it. So, we loaded up the car, drove up there, and got paid or looking at ads. It was a Festivus miracle! I am not Best Buy's crack whore.

Charmed is So Much Better with Rose

I have posted before about my DVD fetish. It is no secret that I have a weakness for cheap DVDs of movies and TV series that I like to watch. One of my more recent purchases was Charmed, seasons 1 through 6. They were all on sale at Target for $20 each (usually $40). I have seen all of the episodes before, some more than others, but at $20 a pop, I couldn't resist. I also thought it would be something that Jessica would enjoy too. We started watching season one together, but I forgor that it was a pretty cheesey Spelling-esk season, so Jessica never really got into it. I now got through seasons one through three and am on season 4.

Ok. Let me back up a sec. Just so you know, Charmed is about three sister witches (Prue - Shannen Doherty, Piper - Holly Marie Combs, and Phoebe - Alyssa Milano) that go around fighting warlocks, demons, and other bad beasties. They are known as The Charmed Ones (hence the name Charmed) and are the ultimate power of good. The stories are pretty good, but sometimes cheesey, in the first season, but things pick up a bit in seasons two and three. then the best thing happens at the end of season three. They kill off Shannen Doherty's character. I think that she quit the show, but I never really liked her character too much. Too bossy and bitchy and she has a really bad looking boob job (in my opinion). Enter Rose McGowan (Paige) in season four. Paige is a half sister that was kept hidden from the original three sisters. Yes, it is a lame ploy to keep the show going, but Rose McGowan is much more attractive that Shannen Doherty (again, in my opinion) and I like her character more. The show transfers from a bunch of little one episode stories to an ongoing saga type deal. I think that the writers took a page from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (another one of my favorites).

Well, if you are looking for something to add to your NetFlix queue or something to give to someone for Christmas, consider Charmed. If you are female, there are lots of romantic situations and emotional ups and downs and if you are male, it has Alyssa Milano. And she dresses slutty quite frequently. Plus there is lots of action and good stories. Though it is not my favorite show ever (that would be BSG) Charmed is always entertaining. Oh, and in the final season, a super cutie joins the cast (for you guys that care about such things). Kaley Cuoco plays Billie, a young witch that the sisters take under their wing in hopes that she can take over the demon killing.

Sorry, I'm being lazy.

Not too much to post about lately. We've got our holiday shopping done already. I say holiday because we are all trying to be PC here at my blog. I guess I could say happy Festivus, the day where we all pass around an aluminium pole and tell each other how we really feel about each other, but I like holiday better. I guess there's Chrismahoniquuanzica, but that's such a mouthful.

As I said, nothing much going on around here. Jessica's work had their Christmas party last night, which was boring, but at least she got her bonus and we got free dinner. I also got a few nex Xbox games. Rainbox 6, Las Vegas and Elder Scrolls VI, Oblivion. I'll let you all know how they play.

Title Game Played, and Won! Plus, Quitters.

So, this was my weekend off, so I played a few games of NCAA 07 on Xbox Live. It's really fun. I used Ohio State for a few games and Wisconsin for another game. Basically, I try to pick a team that is equal to the team I am playing against. The first game was OSU vs. Texas. The game was going back and forth, since it is harder to play defense, but then something weird happened, the other player just quit out of the blue. I was a bit irritated. I think he/she probably quit because I was winning. So, I found another game. My opponent selected Colorado, so this is the game that I picked Wisconsin. Not because I like Wisconsin, I just figured they were equally matched to Colorado. Then, the same thing happened. The other player quit half way through the game. I played one last game on Saturday, another OSU vs. Texas game. This player, again quit. Sure, I was up 42-14, but quitters never win and winners never quit.

Sunday, I played another game. Ohio State vs. Florida. For those of you that live under a rock, that is the upcoming National Title Game. I got the ball first and was stone walled. Usually, Pittman and Smith can run all over every defense that I played. Not this time. I had to punt the ball on my first possession. The person I was playing then went and scored on my like I was a drunk sorrority girl. I got a little scared. I got the ball back and was able to drive down the field....for a field goal. Again, I got a little more nervous. Thankfully, my opponent threw a pass into triple coverage and I got an interception. This time, I realized that my opponent was playing to stop the run. I started passing all over the place. Post routes, corner routes, slants, screens, they all worked. Or I'd roll out and have enough open field in front of me to get first downs running with Troy (cal me Mr Heisman) Smith. Unfortunately, I was still unable to stop Florida's offense. Fortunately, my offense became unstoppable as well. We went back and forth into the fourth quarter. I tied the game with a minute and 35 seconds left to play. Hoping for over time, I started playing four deep on defense...... and got burned for a TD. I had 57 seconds left to score and tie things up. My opponent had the same idea that I had and dropped everyone back deep on defense. With the middle wide open, I started throwing short passes over the middle (I had all three time out left) and was able to drive down the field for the score. the 15 second I left on the clock was not enough for my opponent to score, so we went to OT. I got the ball first and scored a TD. My opponent scored a TD as well. I went on defense and, after a GREAT goal line stand, stopped my opponent on the 1 yard line when he went for it on 4th down. I then used Pittman up the middle just to set up the winning field goal, but he broke through for the winning TD instead. It was a really fun game. You all need to get Xbox live!

Bowling and Poker

I rocked bowling last night. Check out my second game. It is probably the best game I have bowled in league play. I think I got a 270+ once, but that was just screwing around. Anyway, I had nine strikes in a row. Three away from a perfect game. It was pretty fun. Needless to say, we won all three games by a lot. I was getting nervous though. I get antsy when I have more that three strikes in a row.

Poker was pretty fun too. I played Wednesday and lost a bit of money. I had pocket aces and lost to pocket kings. He hit another king on the flop. I vowed revenge and got it last night. In the second or third hand I played, I got pocket jacks. The flop came up 7,7, J. The guy that took my money on Wednesday went all in with pocket aces. Needless to say, my full house won out. It was fun.

Anyone Else Live?

So, I went out and got a wireless router, a wireless adaptor for my Xbox and a 12 month Xbox Live package. I now have 365 days full of online gaming to look forward to. The only thing I am missing are the people to play with online. My friend, Jesse, has Xbox Live so I will be able to play with him. Jessica's brother has it too. What I want to know is, how does one go about joining other games? Do I just search for a game and say, "Here I am. Deal with it."? It seems to me that that would be a good way to have everyone gang up on me. I need to read my Xbox Live information to see what all I need to do to set up games, join games, etc. Does anyone else have Xbox Live for the 360? My online ID is EZE2112. I have Gears of War, NCAA 2007 (football), Kameo, and a poker game. I can't wait for Halo 3 to be released. Still a whole year to wait, at least. Well, if anyone wants to play, send me a friend invite.

Did Michigan Get Screwed?

First suprise of the weekend: USC lost to UCLA. This basically screwed up what everyone thought would ne the National Title game of OSU vs. USC. So, who would get the #2 spot in the rankings and be lined up to play the Buckeyes for the title?

Thursday night, this question came up while I was at the bowlling alley for my league (I rolled a 620 series by the way). There was a group that said it would be Michigan and a group that said that it would be Florida. Tommie, a guy in the league, said that it would be stupid for florida to be allowe to jump Michigan in the rankings. I brought up the fact that Florida played more top ten ranked teams that Michigan and he sort of blew off that fact. Let's see, Michigan beat Notre Dame and...... Wait, that's the only ranked team they beat. Florida beat at least four. Yes, the only loss Michigan suffered was to Ohio State, the #1 Team, but Florida's only loss was to #9 Auburn.

Well, here's my opinion: Michigan had their shot. They played well against the Buckeyes, but they lost. I don't think they should get another shot when there are other teams out there that have only one loss. Maybe they are the second best team in the country, but how can you really say that when it is so rare that top ten teams get a chance to play each other in the regular season? I personally think that OSU vs. Florida will be a great game.

I do have to say that the BCS system is not working out too well this year. When there are two teams that are undefeated, it is clear who should be in the title game, but when you have a year like this, when so many one loss teams feel they should have a shot, how can you let voters decide? They need to look at the system and try to improve it.

BSG Update

I'm a little bit on the fence about the last few BSG episodes. I still think that it is the best show currently on TV, but the past few episodes have been a little bit, I guess, different. I guess they all can't be special effects filled cliff hangers, but those are my favorites. I guess last night's episode was pretty interesting. I was wondering for a while why Apollo and Starbuck were on the outs. It makes sense now. It was just weird how the episode flowed. It also bugged me the the Chief beat up Admiral Adama. Especially because Adama held his own against Apollo in an earlier episode. Whatever. I was certainly glad that Baltar wasn't in the episode. I am tired of his character and don't really like how his story has developed. Anyway, it would sure be nice to be able to get into a boxing ring with anyone that you felt like beating up. All businesses should have a "Kick The Crap Out of Your Co-Worker Friday." I have to say, Apollo sure fights dirty. After kicking the shit out of Hot Dog, you'd think that she could hold her own against Apollo without resorting to kick boxing.

I didn't quite get the whole point of last week's episode. It was strange that they would introduce a new character (Bull Dog) for just one episode. I guess they need to have a few episodes that are separate of the main story line. I guess it is too late to say that Bull dog is not going to be in any future episodes, but I just figured that he was going to become a central character. We'll see, I guess. He is a viper pilot and they are in short supply.