(title borrowed (stolen?) from a youtube video that Silas started watching while I started to blog, and since I'm blanking on what to write about, it seemed very apt.)
just gonna blah de blah, since I don't have a topic in mind, and have nothing specific to blog about:
got another 2 rats added to the household today. Harper is taking care of these.
There's a blood moon eclipse tonight, but the cloud cover we're currently experiencing means we probably won't be able to see much of it.
we're days away from October, so... adios, 2015!
story idea for the taking - magic exists, but can only be done by people who are drunk. (the more intoxicated, the more powerful spells that could be done)
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Hey, Mr DJ, I thought you said we had a deal
can we take a minute to complain about the current state of internet-radio? Cuz it's pretty horrible. (For me, at least.)
My much beloved Jelli has shut down (it's been over a year, actually. Still bummed.). (If I ever have millions of spare dollars, I'm totally going to revive it, because it truly was a genius concept)
So, after that shut down, I made the switch over to grooveshark.com, which, while never 100% legal or moral (from the limited research I've done, it seems to have topped out around 10% for both?), it DID have a massive music library, and a pretty decent interface. But, then earlier this year, grooveshark shut down, too.
I moved on to juqster.com, but it never functioned properly on my work computer (it often crashes our home computer too, so ...I dunno about that site.)
Spotify is firewalled.
Harper pointed me to 8tracks.com, which is ...okay.
So now at work I listen to the online stream of 107.5, so I hear "Exes and Ohs" 40 times a day. When I tire of that, I switch over to a random Orlando alternative station I found that heavily focuses on 90s alternative.
Which is all okay, but I really want a station/website that plays a mixture of EVERYTHING. Why is that so hard to find? (and have it stay online permanently?)
My much beloved Jelli has shut down (it's been over a year, actually. Still bummed.). (If I ever have millions of spare dollars, I'm totally going to revive it, because it truly was a genius concept)
So, after that shut down, I made the switch over to grooveshark.com, which, while never 100% legal or moral (from the limited research I've done, it seems to have topped out around 10% for both?), it DID have a massive music library, and a pretty decent interface. But, then earlier this year, grooveshark shut down, too.
I moved on to juqster.com, but it never functioned properly on my work computer (it often crashes our home computer too, so ...I dunno about that site.)
Spotify is firewalled.
Harper pointed me to 8tracks.com, which is ...okay.
So now at work I listen to the online stream of 107.5, so I hear "Exes and Ohs" 40 times a day. When I tire of that, I switch over to a random Orlando alternative station I found that heavily focuses on 90s alternative.
Which is all okay, but I really want a station/website that plays a mixture of EVERYTHING. Why is that so hard to find? (and have it stay online permanently?)
Thursday, August 13, 2015
2 days from today, Saren will be 18 years old.
That's just. Wow.
How did that happen? I mean, she was just a baby. And then a toddler. And then a tiny little girl, and now, she's this adultish age, and I'm still the same age, so there must be something unusual going on with the way that time is flowing.
It's cliche, of course, but I'm saying it anyway - it goes too fast.
That's just. Wow.
How did that happen? I mean, she was just a baby. And then a toddler. And then a tiny little girl, and now, she's this adultish age, and I'm still the same age, so there must be something unusual going on with the way that time is flowing.
It's cliche, of course, but I'm saying it anyway - it goes too fast.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
I have very little desire to blog right now.
In fact, "none" would be more accurate. Extremely bad headache, not conducive to writing, and I just don't have any thing I want to talk about. Fortunately, this counts, and I'm now clear until next time, when things will be vastly better.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Wang Chung
"I'll drive a million miles, to be with you tonight."
~Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
Dude.
First of all, the circumference of the earth is only 24,900 miles. Which means driving a MILLION would mean going around the world 40 times.
And you are going to do that to be with them tonight? Which means you'd have to accomplish your million-mile-trek in under 24 hours. (We'll be fair and give them 24 hours, but that would mean, really, that Wang Chung is stating their declaration of being with us tonight at midnight. But seriously, they probably said it around like, 2 in the afternoon, which means they'd have even less time to get to us "tonight" than I'm thinking...)
Anyway, in order to drive 1,000,000 miles in 24 hours, you'd need to drive at a constant 42,000 mph.
There are a number of problems with this.
First, the top land-speed record for a vehicle (on earth) is only 760 mph (thanks, Wikipedia!). Heck, 42,000 mph is even faster than New Horizons (wooo! Pluto!!), so, unless you have some ultra-futuristic car in your possession...
Second, think of all the gas and oil changes you'd need to go through during this drive.
And you don't EVEN want to contemplate how much a speeding ticket would cost.
And going back a bit, a million miles is defintely over-kill. Where is the person you want to be with? (maybe they're trying to reach the Plimsouls?) As long as they're somewhere on the planet, you're not going to need to drive that much to get to them. (Unless they're trying to avoid you, in which case, maybe you should take a hint) In fact, if you drove a million miles, you'd undoubtedly end up PASSING them, at least one time.
So, I think we've learned something about Wang Chung. They were obviously space-traveling aliens with no concept of the safety of others (seriously, how many accidents are gonna happen if you're traveling that fast?). Besides, if you really do need to get to someone a million miles from where you are, you can take a page from the Grass Roots and just walk it.
~Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
Dude.
First of all, the circumference of the earth is only 24,900 miles. Which means driving a MILLION would mean going around the world 40 times.
And you are going to do that to be with them tonight? Which means you'd have to accomplish your million-mile-trek in under 24 hours. (We'll be fair and give them 24 hours, but that would mean, really, that Wang Chung is stating their declaration of being with us tonight at midnight. But seriously, they probably said it around like, 2 in the afternoon, which means they'd have even less time to get to us "tonight" than I'm thinking...)
Anyway, in order to drive 1,000,000 miles in 24 hours, you'd need to drive at a constant 42,000 mph.
There are a number of problems with this.
First, the top land-speed record for a vehicle (on earth) is only 760 mph (thanks, Wikipedia!). Heck, 42,000 mph is even faster than New Horizons (wooo! Pluto!!), so, unless you have some ultra-futuristic car in your possession...
Second, think of all the gas and oil changes you'd need to go through during this drive.
And you don't EVEN want to contemplate how much a speeding ticket would cost.
And going back a bit, a million miles is defintely over-kill. Where is the person you want to be with? (maybe they're trying to reach the Plimsouls?) As long as they're somewhere on the planet, you're not going to need to drive that much to get to them. (Unless they're trying to avoid you, in which case, maybe you should take a hint) In fact, if you drove a million miles, you'd undoubtedly end up PASSING them, at least one time.
So, I think we've learned something about Wang Chung. They were obviously space-traveling aliens with no concept of the safety of others (seriously, how many accidents are gonna happen if you're traveling that fast?). Besides, if you really do need to get to someone a million miles from where you are, you can take a page from the Grass Roots and just walk it.
Monday, June 29, 2015
there are days, like today, where work was frustrating and overwhelming, and I've been awake for 19 hours, and hashtag notgreatburgerfordinner, but I got to play with my son for a good three hours at the park, and watch Irina and Si run around at Bounce U, and I saw a text from Harper that said she'd been writing, and Saren was here listening to awesome Zelda music when we got home, and I've got my wife waiting in a bed to sleep next to.
So it's not all good, but...it's all good.
So it's not all good, but...it's all good.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Life begins
So, I'm 40 now.
That truly does seem weird to type.
But, really, other than the fact that I've been around for four entire decades, today doesn't feel much different than yesterday. I suppose some of that may be due to us not having done anything extraordinary to celebrate, or it could just be that once you get to a certain point, birthdays more or less become just another day. And while 40 is a 'milestone', this one was an 'under the radar' one, I guess.
Anyway, I think to fill this blog post out a bit (I was going to say 'make it more interesting', but....), I'll do one of those lists that were popular in the blogosphere back when people still said the word 'blogosphere' (you know, like 15 years ago)
So, here are 40 things that you may or may not know about me:
1) The very first concert I ever went to was The Black Crowes.
2) I've had backstage passes for (and thus got to meet): Oingo Boingo, Garbage, Ben Folds Five, and Jill Sobule.
3) I've dressed up in two mascot uniforms: Michigan J. Frog and The Noid
4) I went trick-or-treating every Halloween until I was 21 years old.
5) I didn't own (or want) a cell phone until I was in my 30s.
6) The first CD I remember buying was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "What Hits?"
7) I've run out of gas three times.
8) I've never been in a fist fight.
9) I was a Boy Scout for about a year.
10) In my Freshman year of High School, I joined the wrestling team. I dropped out several weeks before our first match.
11) I made a promise to myself when I was 36 that I would have completed a novel by the time I was 40.
12) Nope.
13) I'm more or less okay with that.
14) I realize that I've kind of cheated for these past few #s. I'm more or less okay with that, too.
15) It took me three times to pass my drivers test when I was a teen. Parallel parking is just stupid.
16) I've had mono.
17) Before the television station I work for got bought by the corporation that owns it now, I composed and printed two issues of a station newsletter.
18) During my Senior year of High School, my breakfast nearly daily was a can of Coke and a Twinkie.
19) It was after high school that I switched over to drinking Pepsi.
20) The last time I threw up was... 17 years ago? I think that's right. Saren was just a baby, so that's got to be about right. It was a bad burger from Wendy's that caused it.
21) Ugh, we're only halfway? I did not think this plan through at all.
22) There's a certain 5-letter word that whenever I hear it, I automatically have a phrase I respond with. (I'm being deliberately vague, because I don't want the power of that word to fall into the wrong hands.)
23) Growing up, we had a cat named Rascal. I stole him from someone's driveway.
24) Years later, we lost Rascal when we took him for a ride to go get pizza. (I don't know why we took him in the car with us when we were going out to get dinner. It was just a thing we did. But, we left the car unlocked, and while we were inside picking up the food - someone opened our car door and took him. Or he ran out. Honestly, the whole memory is pretty vague in my mind, and seems somewhat unreal. Maybe I dreamt it? But, yeah, the karma thing is pretty evident now.)
25) I've been told that I snore.
26) I've shaved the following body parts: Head, face, armpits, legs.
27) While shaving my legs (the one and only time) - I cut my right shin pretty badly, and still have the scar.
28) Between the ages of 17 and 21, I often went commando.
29) I've been homeless.
30) I took one year of Latin, one year of German, and two years of Spanish in high school. None of it really stuck.
31) I'm allergic to shellfish.
32) I've never broken any bones.
33) Lots of kids make up languages. I created the Denixian language AND an alphabet (mostly so I could write notes in 'code'.)
34) I don't like Ranch Dressing, and sometimes think I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't.
35) I also don't like guacamole or avocado.
36) I do like to pronounce avocado as "ah-voc-ah-doe"
37) I consider my eyes to be my best physical feature. (My awesome wit is overall my best attribute.)
38) When Stephanie and I met, my hair was dyed jet-black. I used to dye it (often different colors) pretty frequently.
39) I was going to make the last # a joke saying "I don't know how to end this list." But now I'm at #40 and I don't want to do that because it seems to predictable. I do that a lot. Don't go with something because it seems to predictable. Which, it is, because *I* already know it's going to happen. So I often feel like I need to surprise *myself*, which is a pretty tough job. But, really, I don't know how I'm going to end this list.
40) thought of an ending. Whenever I'm going to bed, I always say to Steph, "See you in the year 2000". (Yes, the year two-thousand is now fifteen years ago. But that only makes the saying more awesome.)
So, to anyone reading this out there - see you in the year 2000.
That truly does seem weird to type.
But, really, other than the fact that I've been around for four entire decades, today doesn't feel much different than yesterday. I suppose some of that may be due to us not having done anything extraordinary to celebrate, or it could just be that once you get to a certain point, birthdays more or less become just another day. And while 40 is a 'milestone', this one was an 'under the radar' one, I guess.
Anyway, I think to fill this blog post out a bit (I was going to say 'make it more interesting', but....), I'll do one of those lists that were popular in the blogosphere back when people still said the word 'blogosphere' (you know, like 15 years ago)
So, here are 40 things that you may or may not know about me:
1) The very first concert I ever went to was The Black Crowes.
2) I've had backstage passes for (and thus got to meet): Oingo Boingo, Garbage, Ben Folds Five, and Jill Sobule.
3) I've dressed up in two mascot uniforms: Michigan J. Frog and The Noid
4) I went trick-or-treating every Halloween until I was 21 years old.
5) I didn't own (or want) a cell phone until I was in my 30s.
6) The first CD I remember buying was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "What Hits?"
7) I've run out of gas three times.
8) I've never been in a fist fight.
9) I was a Boy Scout for about a year.
10) In my Freshman year of High School, I joined the wrestling team. I dropped out several weeks before our first match.
11) I made a promise to myself when I was 36 that I would have completed a novel by the time I was 40.
12) Nope.
13) I'm more or less okay with that.
14) I realize that I've kind of cheated for these past few #s. I'm more or less okay with that, too.
15) It took me three times to pass my drivers test when I was a teen. Parallel parking is just stupid.
16) I've had mono.
17) Before the television station I work for got bought by the corporation that owns it now, I composed and printed two issues of a station newsletter.
18) During my Senior year of High School, my breakfast nearly daily was a can of Coke and a Twinkie.
19) It was after high school that I switched over to drinking Pepsi.
20) The last time I threw up was... 17 years ago? I think that's right. Saren was just a baby, so that's got to be about right. It was a bad burger from Wendy's that caused it.
21) Ugh, we're only halfway? I did not think this plan through at all.
22) There's a certain 5-letter word that whenever I hear it, I automatically have a phrase I respond with. (I'm being deliberately vague, because I don't want the power of that word to fall into the wrong hands.)
23) Growing up, we had a cat named Rascal. I stole him from someone's driveway.
24) Years later, we lost Rascal when we took him for a ride to go get pizza. (I don't know why we took him in the car with us when we were going out to get dinner. It was just a thing we did. But, we left the car unlocked, and while we were inside picking up the food - someone opened our car door and took him. Or he ran out. Honestly, the whole memory is pretty vague in my mind, and seems somewhat unreal. Maybe I dreamt it? But, yeah, the karma thing is pretty evident now.)
25) I've been told that I snore.
26) I've shaved the following body parts: Head, face, armpits, legs.
27) While shaving my legs (the one and only time) - I cut my right shin pretty badly, and still have the scar.
28) Between the ages of 17 and 21, I often went commando.
29) I've been homeless.
30) I took one year of Latin, one year of German, and two years of Spanish in high school. None of it really stuck.
31) I'm allergic to shellfish.
32) I've never broken any bones.
33) Lots of kids make up languages. I created the Denixian language AND an alphabet (mostly so I could write notes in 'code'.)
34) I don't like Ranch Dressing, and sometimes think I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't.
35) I also don't like guacamole or avocado.
36) I do like to pronounce avocado as "ah-voc-ah-doe"
37) I consider my eyes to be my best physical feature. (My awesome wit is overall my best attribute.)
38) When Stephanie and I met, my hair was dyed jet-black. I used to dye it (often different colors) pretty frequently.
39) I was going to make the last # a joke saying "I don't know how to end this list." But now I'm at #40 and I don't want to do that because it seems to predictable. I do that a lot. Don't go with something because it seems to predictable. Which, it is, because *I* already know it's going to happen. So I often feel like I need to surprise *myself*, which is a pretty tough job. But, really, I don't know how I'm going to end this list.
40) thought of an ending. Whenever I'm going to bed, I always say to Steph, "See you in the year 2000". (Yes, the year two-thousand is now fifteen years ago. But that only makes the saying more awesome.)
So, to anyone reading this out there - see you in the year 2000.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
and other stuff
You'd think I'd be more prepared for these blogging days, and have pre-planned topics. You'd think wrong, though.
So, an update blog post it is:
we got a dog. I'm sure that when Stephanie blogs omorrow, there will be pics, and she may even write about the whole sitch, so I won't go into major details, but, yeah, we are now dog owners. Her name is Ori (short for Orianna) and she's a chihuahua/something mix (my best guess is Jack Russell Terrier, but we don't really know) and she's about three years old. She's very sweet.
Silas turned six, which is just amazing. Low-key birthday, as that was all he wanted. Found out that Silas and Minecraft share a birthday, a fact that is highly amusing to me.
My asthma returned pretty hard core, and for a few nights I had to use my inhaler multiple times throughout the day/night. It's gone back into hibernation mode, recently, which is a huge relief.
um....
that's probably gonna do it.
So, an update blog post it is:
we got a dog. I'm sure that when Stephanie blogs omorrow, there will be pics, and she may even write about the whole sitch, so I won't go into major details, but, yeah, we are now dog owners. Her name is Ori (short for Orianna) and she's a chihuahua/something mix (my best guess is Jack Russell Terrier, but we don't really know) and she's about three years old. She's very sweet.
Silas turned six, which is just amazing. Low-key birthday, as that was all he wanted. Found out that Silas and Minecraft share a birthday, a fact that is highly amusing to me.
My asthma returned pretty hard core, and for a few nights I had to use my inhaler multiple times throughout the day/night. It's gone back into hibernation mode, recently, which is a huge relief.
um....
that's probably gonna do it.
Friday, May 15, 2015
never odd or even
Wasn't sure what to blog about today, but then, Oh ho!!, I remembered - today is 5/15/15.
wow!
Then then, I remembered that other than pointing out the coolness factor of that, I don't really have anything to say about it. But, it is cool.
(And, yes, the palindromic dates have been happening all this week, and continue for the next four days, but you have to admit that out of them, TODAY is the best.)
To celebrate today's date, here are two appropriate (and wonderful!) music videos:
wow!
Then then, I remembered that other than pointing out the coolness factor of that, I don't really have anything to say about it. But, it is cool.
(And, yes, the palindromic dates have been happening all this week, and continue for the next four days, but you have to admit that out of them, TODAY is the best.)
To celebrate today's date, here are two appropriate (and wonderful!) music videos:
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Coming attractions
Lots of movies coming up – Some look great, some..not so much.
A small sampling:
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Opens – May 1st (tomorrow!!)
Synopsis – The Marvel Movie Making Machine Marches on, making more money. (mmm.)
Would I see it in the theater? – Somewhat
surprisingly, no. I’m sure it’ll be a great movie, but I waited for DVD
(or Netflix? I can’t remember now) for the first Avengers, I can wait
for this one, too.
Maggie
Opens - May 8th
Synopsis - Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a father of a daughter (Abigail Breslin) who is turning into a zombie.
Would I see it in the theater? – If I had free
passes, sure. I’ve sat thru most of Arnold’s flicks (yep, even Last
Stand) so I’m intrigued at his take on a more dramatic role.
Tomorrowland
Opens – May 22nd
Synopsis – George Clooney takes some kids on a rocketing adventure into a futuristic alternative world. Or something.
Would I see it in the theater? – Sure would! I’m
surprised this hasn’t generated more buzz/excitement, really. Of course,
anything Disney-related gets a lot of goodwill, so even if the movie is
horrible, I’ll still see it eventually.
Love & Mercy
(June 5th)
Synopsis - Biopic of Brian Wilson.
Would I see it in the theater? - Yeah, this gave me good vibrations. (heh) But I'll happily watch this when it hits DVD/Netflix.
Would I see it in the theater? - Yeah, this gave me good vibrations. (heh) But I'll happily watch this when it hits DVD/Netflix.
Jurassic World
Opens June 12th
Synopsis – Chris Pratt on a motorcycle. With Velociraptors.
Would I see it in the theater? - Um. Does a T-rex
crap in the woods? This looks like so much fun. I remember seeing the
original Jurassic Park in the theaters for my 18th birthday, it would be kinda cool to see this one for
my 40th.
Inside Out
Opens June 19th
Synopsis – Pixar’s Herman’s Head.
Would I see it in the theater? – I’d like to.
Pixar rarely does anything wrong (ignoring Cars and it’s
sequels/spinoffs) and this looks like another classic.
Terminator: typo Genisys
Opens July 3rd
Synopsis – IN the future, an AI program called
Skynet somehow develops the ability to time travel, and figures that’s
the best way to kill what it deems its biggest threat – people named
Sarah and John Connor.
Would I see it in the theater? - I sure as hell
plan on it. I’ve seen all of the other Terminator films there (barring
the first, cuz I was just a wee lad when that happened), so I intend on
keeping the tradition alive. I was also at some
point this year planning on making a blog post about the Terminator
series, but all I really wanted to say in it was that it thrills me to
no end that thus far, EVERY single iteration of the series has had a
different actor playing John Connor.
I know that this is supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, and I can't control how Hollywood casts its films, but it would please me to no end if in the next two movies, John Connor was played by different actors each time.
I mean, dude. The whole PREMISE of the series is tinkering with the timeline. It only makes sense that one of the key figures would be effected by that. (Plus, it would explain why in T2 after they "stopped" Judgment Day, John didn't just disappear. Because, seriously. If there was just one timeline, and Judgment Day never happened, there would be no reason for T1 to have happened, which means John wouldn't exist. Unless there is ALWAYS a John Connor, of some sort.) You know what I mean?
Anyway. Yes, despite the misspellings, and that the last two installments were... not as spectacular as the first two, I am way excited about seeing this movie.
I mean, dude. The whole PREMISE of the series is tinkering with the timeline. It only makes sense that one of the key figures would be effected by that. (Plus, it would explain why in T2 after they "stopped" Judgment Day, John didn't just disappear. Because, seriously. If there was just one timeline, and Judgment Day never happened, there would be no reason for T1 to have happened, which means John wouldn't exist. Unless there is ALWAYS a John Connor, of some sort.) You know what I mean?
Anyway. Yes, despite the misspellings, and that the last two installments were... not as spectacular as the first two, I am way excited about seeing this movie.
Minions
(July 10)
Synopsis - Remember Despicable Me? Here's a prequel to that.
Would I see it in the theater? - Unlikely.
(July 10)
Synopsis - Remember Despicable Me? Here's a prequel to that.
Would I see it in the theater? - Unlikely.
Ant-Man
(July 17)
Synopsis - I think Marvel has a big ol dartboard filled with all the comics from their history, and someone landed on this one by mistake, but they were like, "Well, we HAVE to make it. The dartboard said so."
(July 17)
Synopsis - I think Marvel has a big ol dartboard filled with all the comics from their history, and someone landed on this one by mistake, but they were like, "Well, we HAVE to make it. The dartboard said so."
Would I see it in theaters? - Mmm....nope. This is purely a DVD-er.
Pan
(Also July 17)
Synopsis - Hook meets The Dark Knight.
Would I see it in the theater? - Tough call, but it doesn't quite make me want to go out and see it.
Pixels
(July 24)
Synopsis - Aliens invade earth using video game references.
Would I see it in theaters - Nope. Adam F'ing Sandler is one of the stars, for one thing. Which is a HUGE strike against it.
THat being said, it does look like a fun, stupide movie to turn off my brain to.
(July 24)
Synopsis - Aliens invade earth using video game references.
Would I see it in theaters - Nope. Adam F'ing Sandler is one of the stars, for one thing. Which is a HUGE strike against it.
THat being said, it does look like a fun, stupide movie to turn off my brain to.
Poltergeist
(Also July 24 - July is busy!! -also, the trailer for some reason says May 22nd, but imdb says July 24th, so [shrug])
Synopsis - That's fine, Hollywood. You can remake all the 80s movies you want, so long as you remember that Back to the Future and Clue are OFF LIMITS.
Theater worthy? - not really.
(Also July 24 - July is busy!! -also, the trailer for some reason says May 22nd, but imdb says July 24th, so [shrug])
Synopsis - That's fine, Hollywood. You can remake all the 80s movies you want, so long as you remember that Back to the Future and Clue are OFF LIMITS.
Theater worthy? - not really.
Fantastic Four
(August 7th)
Synopsis - 4 scientists get super-powered up, fight some super villain, cause lots of collateral damage.
Maaaaybe DVD-worthy. This just seems really boring. Or like it would need to be about 8 hours long in order to get everything in. Plus, you know none of the 4 are going to die, so there's no real "threat" to any of them. Yawn.
(August 7th)
Synopsis - 4 scientists get super-powered up, fight some super villain, cause lots of collateral damage.
Maaaaybe DVD-worthy. This just seems really boring. Or like it would need to be about 8 hours long in order to get everything in. Plus, you know none of the 4 are going to die, so there's no real "threat" to any of them. Yawn.
Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens
(Dec 18)
Synopsis - Dude. Really.
Would I see it in the theater? - Oh. Hell. Yes.
Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice(Dec 18)
Synopsis - Dude. Really.
Would I see it in the theater? - Oh. Hell. Yes.
(March 25th, 2016)
Synopsis - two of DC's biggest heroes clash, because reasons. Or, because money. ha ha.
Theater? - Absolutely. Amazing trailer.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
I went with this one instead.
I was trying to think of what to blog about, and additionally, what to title this blog post.
Titles I considered:
Major Malfunction
Anti-social media
I'm like Shania Twain
Major Malfunction would've been talking about a dream I had 26ish (!!) years ago.
Anti-social media was going to be complaining about facebook twitter and the like. (I'm old!!)
I'm like Shania Twain would have been me talking about how unimpressed with many of my recent entertainment choices (movies, books, and music) and asking for suggestions.
In some other universe, maybe, those other blog posts were written.
We got this one instead.
Titles I considered:
Major Malfunction
Anti-social media
I'm like Shania Twain
Major Malfunction would've been talking about a dream I had 26ish (!!) years ago.
Anti-social media was going to be complaining about facebook twitter and the like. (I'm old!!)
I'm like Shania Twain would have been me talking about how unimpressed with many of my recent entertainment choices (movies, books, and music) and asking for suggestions.
In some other universe, maybe, those other blog posts were written.
We got this one instead.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
it's a nice place to visit...
(warning - work related blog post)
One of the unspoken portions of the new years resolution that I made to blog more was to blog about work LESS. So far, pretty good, but today I'm blogging about work, although I do have other things that I'll mention so it's not exclusively about the jorb.
Back in November our company acquired another station (the local NBC affiliate). Lots of changes have come about as a result of this, weighing, I suppose, on the positive side. (I'm still employed, the station's prestige has improved....um.)
The NBC station, of course, had it's own facilities that it was broadcasting out of, and for a while, we were splitting the duties in two buildings. That (mostly) changed this past Friday, when the higher-ups decided to move all of the sales and traffic staff (that would include me) over to the NBC-building. (The master control, promotions and production staff are staying behind at our old building until the new one can be renovated to fit them all.)
Moving, as I have often said, sucks. Even (especially??) when it's your place of employment.
The NBC building is located in a highly industrialized, very ugly part of town. It's about one block away from the homeless shelter, and directly across the street from a cemetery. "At least our neighbors are quiet."
It's not all cons, though. The new location is (slightly) closer to our house (approximately 29 minute drive rather than 35 or 36), and the inside of the building is nice, in areas. The main breakroom (there are two, possibly even three) is an actual break room - tables, chairs, several refrigerators, vending machines, a working sink... and there are picnic tables and gazebos to eat outside if you want (I might do that tomorrow - several other coworkers did today, and this is the time of the year when it's actually nice enough to do that). All of us that came over to the building received an office (although they are all inside with no windows, and they look like doctor's offices from the 1980s...), and we also now have security badges in order to get in to the facilities.
Today was our first day in the new place.
Highlights included:
Passing the parking lot on the way in, and having to circle back around. (I have no sense of direction)
Hearing the news-copter take off and land. (it's loud)
Momentarily worrying when the high school that is right down the road got evacuated by the Hazmat team because a student brought some chemicals to class (nothign wound up happening, other than the email from management alerting us to the possibility of needign to evacuate).
NOT HAVING PRINTERS ALL DAY. (this was a huge deal, as about 90% of my job involves printing emails out) the IT department was working on it all day, but when i left this afternoon, it still hadn't been resolved. We'll see what tomorrow holds.
Not having phones for 50% of the day. (not as big a deal, but annoying)
Missing my window.
Dreading the eventual bus ride(s) in, especially since I will now need to transfer, and also walk somewhat to get to the station, and walking involves going through the previously mentioned not-so-great neighborhoods.
So, that's that. I'm sure I'll adapt and get used to this new situation/location, but for now the newness is still fresh and I'm all prickly about it.
In other news, we bought the board game King of Tokyo yeseterday, and did a family run thru last night (Harper won - her strategy was to not go into Tokyo at all. hahaha), and today Silas & I played it some more (I won one game, he won the other) Pretty simple game, especially once you get into it, and it's fun, too. I really do enjoy playing our board games, want to do that more often.
One of the unspoken portions of the new years resolution that I made to blog more was to blog about work LESS. So far, pretty good, but today I'm blogging about work, although I do have other things that I'll mention so it's not exclusively about the jorb.
Back in November our company acquired another station (the local NBC affiliate). Lots of changes have come about as a result of this, weighing, I suppose, on the positive side. (I'm still employed, the station's prestige has improved....um.)
The NBC station, of course, had it's own facilities that it was broadcasting out of, and for a while, we were splitting the duties in two buildings. That (mostly) changed this past Friday, when the higher-ups decided to move all of the sales and traffic staff (that would include me) over to the NBC-building. (The master control, promotions and production staff are staying behind at our old building until the new one can be renovated to fit them all.)
Moving, as I have often said, sucks. Even (especially??) when it's your place of employment.
The NBC building is located in a highly industrialized, very ugly part of town. It's about one block away from the homeless shelter, and directly across the street from a cemetery. "At least our neighbors are quiet."
It's not all cons, though. The new location is (slightly) closer to our house (approximately 29 minute drive rather than 35 or 36), and the inside of the building is nice, in areas. The main breakroom (there are two, possibly even three) is an actual break room - tables, chairs, several refrigerators, vending machines, a working sink... and there are picnic tables and gazebos to eat outside if you want (I might do that tomorrow - several other coworkers did today, and this is the time of the year when it's actually nice enough to do that). All of us that came over to the building received an office (although they are all inside with no windows, and they look like doctor's offices from the 1980s...), and we also now have security badges in order to get in to the facilities.
Today was our first day in the new place.
Highlights included:
Passing the parking lot on the way in, and having to circle back around. (I have no sense of direction)
Hearing the news-copter take off and land. (it's loud)
Momentarily worrying when the high school that is right down the road got evacuated by the Hazmat team because a student brought some chemicals to class (nothign wound up happening, other than the email from management alerting us to the possibility of needign to evacuate).
NOT HAVING PRINTERS ALL DAY. (this was a huge deal, as about 90% of my job involves printing emails out) the IT department was working on it all day, but when i left this afternoon, it still hadn't been resolved. We'll see what tomorrow holds.
Not having phones for 50% of the day. (not as big a deal, but annoying)
Missing my window.
Dreading the eventual bus ride(s) in, especially since I will now need to transfer, and also walk somewhat to get to the station, and walking involves going through the previously mentioned not-so-great neighborhoods.
So, that's that. I'm sure I'll adapt and get used to this new situation/location, but for now the newness is still fresh and I'm all prickly about it.
In other news, we bought the board game King of Tokyo yeseterday, and did a family run thru last night (Harper won - her strategy was to not go into Tokyo at all. hahaha), and today Silas & I played it some more (I won one game, he won the other) Pretty simple game, especially once you get into it, and it's fun, too. I really do enjoy playing our board games, want to do that more often.
Sunday, March 01, 2015
vacation recap
I've been on vacation this past week, and it's been pretty enjoyable overall. Some of the highlights (note that Stephanie's blog already covered this, and with photographic accompaniment):
Last Sunday (February 22nd) was when we made the drive out to California (the main portion of my week off was to be spent in Anaheim). We left Las Vegas around 4pm, but due to the amount of traffic also making that drive at that time, and the insane rain storm that accompanied us along the way, we didn't make it to our hotel room until almost 1am. Super stressful drive. The battery light in the van came on twice, and a semi drifted into our lane, and even with the windsheild wipers on high, the rain was so thick that visibility was near zero.
We ate dinner at a Denny's in Baker, where the waiter ignored us for probably 20 minutes longer than he should have, and then after we left I confused a fake owl on the roof of the building for a real live one. (It was funny if you were there. Or if you were me, I suppose)
Monday was a better day, as the majority of that day we were in Disney's California Adventure. Highlights from there:
Getting a fast pass for the Cars Racer ride (I forget the real name, and am too lazy to look it up either on google or on Steph's blog entry).
Riding the Cars Racer ride (I see why the line typically gets up to 2 hrs. It's a fun ride. But the fast pass TOTALLY worth it)
The Tower of Terror. It was my second time riding it, so I at least knew what to expect, so it wasn't AS frightening as the first time I rode it with Harper two years ago. But this time I went alone, so all in all, I guess the terror level balanced out to about the same. Still a great ride.
Also watched one of the parades.
And we bought an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit antenna topper for the van. (We finally got around to putting that on the antenna today.)
Tuesday the 24th was the 17th anniversary for Stephanie and I. We used the magic morning feature of our tickets, meaning we got to go into the park an hour before most of the rest of the world. Of course, since Disneyland is EXTREMELY crowded, and many other people also have Magic morning passes, we really only got about 15 minutes of Magic Morning. But it was a good day. I rode the teacups (and even got in the purple cup, which according to internet lore, is the fastest of the teacups), rode Space Mountain (only Steph and I - the kids didn't want to), had a new Star Tours experience (C-3PO was our pilot!)and had super expensive food all day long.
Wednesday was our final day in Disneyland, and we used it to hit ToonTown and re-ride faves from the previous day (Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (Silas finally decided to go with us), Pirates) We also bought a stroller for that day, because carrying Silas around for two days in a row was wrecking havoc on my muscles.
Thursday we checked out of our hotel and drove thru LA, where we didn't meet Rhett & Link (from Good Mythical Morning), but after Steph mentioned the idea, it was all I could think about while driving. We arrived in San Luis Obispo late afternoonish and spent the evening walking around downtown and hitting the usual spots (Boo Boo Records, the bookstore next to it, the bench outside of BBR) At Boo Boo we picked up the new Guster CD (not bad), the new Decemberists CD (I liked this a lot), a rarities CD from Ben Folds Five called "Naked Baby Photos" (mostly pretty good, but has a number of highly skippable tracks), and the Frozen soundtrack. There was also a farmers market going on, and we checked that out, buying a package of awesome strawberries and some organic raw milk. That night, though,after dinner (awesome burger from Margie's Diner), my throat was starting to get sore. Uh-oh.
Thursday night into Friday morning I didn't sleep AT ALL. Or, it seemed that way. I know I must have slept some, because I had some dreams about plants that were used by politicians in San Luis Obispo to manipulate time and reality. The dreams became increasingly complex in plot, and would probably make a pretty good story. So, at least that good came out of it. But I was feverish and my throat got worse as the night progressed.
Friday mornng I was defintiely feeling sick, but the only thing on the agenda was to visit the beach, and i was well enough to not call that off. It was a little chilly (especially when the wind blew) but it was till a prtty good day at the ocean. sand castles were built and ruined, and I did force myself to completly submerge myself into the Pacific. (We forgot towels, so once i was finished playing in the ocean, I spent hte next 30 minutes waiting for the sun to dry me off)
We began the drive home around 3 (I think?) and with dinner and carsickness stops, we managed to get home a little bit before midnight. (Highway 58 is much less crowded than the freeways, but it's like that wanted to make that road as windy as possible. Mission accomplished, roadwork crews!)
Yesterday I didn't have to go anywhere (Stephanie had some cookie booths to attend, though) so I spent the day trying to recoup from this sickness.
Today I've been doing mostly the same (still have a cough and my throat is still a teeny bit sore), and now in just a few minutes we are all heading otu to do more Girl Scout Cookie booth selling. (Um, that's selling of Girl Scout Cookies, not selling the booths.)
Amazingly, I haven't checked my work email at all. I'm afraid to look, honestly. But, I figure it'll be there when I get back to it tomroorw. All in all, a good vacation.
Last Sunday (February 22nd) was when we made the drive out to California (the main portion of my week off was to be spent in Anaheim). We left Las Vegas around 4pm, but due to the amount of traffic also making that drive at that time, and the insane rain storm that accompanied us along the way, we didn't make it to our hotel room until almost 1am. Super stressful drive. The battery light in the van came on twice, and a semi drifted into our lane, and even with the windsheild wipers on high, the rain was so thick that visibility was near zero.
We ate dinner at a Denny's in Baker, where the waiter ignored us for probably 20 minutes longer than he should have, and then after we left I confused a fake owl on the roof of the building for a real live one. (It was funny if you were there. Or if you were me, I suppose)
Monday was a better day, as the majority of that day we were in Disney's California Adventure. Highlights from there:
Getting a fast pass for the Cars Racer ride (I forget the real name, and am too lazy to look it up either on google or on Steph's blog entry).
Riding the Cars Racer ride (I see why the line typically gets up to 2 hrs. It's a fun ride. But the fast pass TOTALLY worth it)
The Tower of Terror. It was my second time riding it, so I at least knew what to expect, so it wasn't AS frightening as the first time I rode it with Harper two years ago. But this time I went alone, so all in all, I guess the terror level balanced out to about the same. Still a great ride.
Also watched one of the parades.
And we bought an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit antenna topper for the van. (We finally got around to putting that on the antenna today.)
Tuesday the 24th was the 17th anniversary for Stephanie and I. We used the magic morning feature of our tickets, meaning we got to go into the park an hour before most of the rest of the world. Of course, since Disneyland is EXTREMELY crowded, and many other people also have Magic morning passes, we really only got about 15 minutes of Magic Morning. But it was a good day. I rode the teacups (and even got in the purple cup, which according to internet lore, is the fastest of the teacups), rode Space Mountain (only Steph and I - the kids didn't want to), had a new Star Tours experience (C-3PO was our pilot!)and had super expensive food all day long.
Wednesday was our final day in Disneyland, and we used it to hit ToonTown and re-ride faves from the previous day (Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (Silas finally decided to go with us), Pirates) We also bought a stroller for that day, because carrying Silas around for two days in a row was wrecking havoc on my muscles.
Thursday we checked out of our hotel and drove thru LA, where we didn't meet Rhett & Link (from Good Mythical Morning), but after Steph mentioned the idea, it was all I could think about while driving. We arrived in San Luis Obispo late afternoonish and spent the evening walking around downtown and hitting the usual spots (Boo Boo Records, the bookstore next to it, the bench outside of BBR) At Boo Boo we picked up the new Guster CD (not bad), the new Decemberists CD (I liked this a lot), a rarities CD from Ben Folds Five called "Naked Baby Photos" (mostly pretty good, but has a number of highly skippable tracks), and the Frozen soundtrack. There was also a farmers market going on, and we checked that out, buying a package of awesome strawberries and some organic raw milk. That night, though,after dinner (awesome burger from Margie's Diner), my throat was starting to get sore. Uh-oh.
Thursday night into Friday morning I didn't sleep AT ALL. Or, it seemed that way. I know I must have slept some, because I had some dreams about plants that were used by politicians in San Luis Obispo to manipulate time and reality. The dreams became increasingly complex in plot, and would probably make a pretty good story. So, at least that good came out of it. But I was feverish and my throat got worse as the night progressed.
Friday mornng I was defintiely feeling sick, but the only thing on the agenda was to visit the beach, and i was well enough to not call that off. It was a little chilly (especially when the wind blew) but it was till a prtty good day at the ocean. sand castles were built and ruined, and I did force myself to completly submerge myself into the Pacific. (We forgot towels, so once i was finished playing in the ocean, I spent hte next 30 minutes waiting for the sun to dry me off)
We began the drive home around 3 (I think?) and with dinner and carsickness stops, we managed to get home a little bit before midnight. (Highway 58 is much less crowded than the freeways, but it's like that wanted to make that road as windy as possible. Mission accomplished, roadwork crews!)
Yesterday I didn't have to go anywhere (Stephanie had some cookie booths to attend, though) so I spent the day trying to recoup from this sickness.
Today I've been doing mostly the same (still have a cough and my throat is still a teeny bit sore), and now in just a few minutes we are all heading otu to do more Girl Scout Cookie booth selling. (Um, that's selling of Girl Scout Cookies, not selling the booths.)
Amazingly, I haven't checked my work email at all. I'm afraid to look, honestly. But, I figure it'll be there when I get back to it tomroorw. All in all, a good vacation.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
anything but love
I was trying to come up with something to blog about today, and came up with this: I'd take famous phrases/song lyrics/whatever and swap out the word "love" with whatever comes up by hitting "random article" on wikipedia.
Will it be amusing or will it just read as non-sequitur nonsense? Let's find out!
All you need is Peter Boyle (film editor). Keith, Wisconsin is all you need.
I Osama Al-Zain you more today than yesterday. (But not as much as tomorrow)
Ground Forces of the Slovak Republic Actually
Tis better to have Grandborough and lost, than never to have Birkeland (lunar crater) at all.
What's Architectural model got to do, got to do with it? What's Dhumavati but a second hand emotion?
What is United Nations Security Council Resolution 468? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more.
Who wrote the book of Megalithic Yard?
Shakespeare in Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services
Hello, I Fred Chester Bond
Oxymerus lineatus makes the world go round.
Henley Branch Line and marriage, Krakoma and marriage - go together like a horse and carriage.
I can't help falling in Slush Puppie with you.
PS I Edmund Mortimer you
From Russia with Coptodon bakossiorum
What's so funny 'bout peace, Waco High School and understanding
Steve Dunwell in the time of cholera
Damn, I wish I was your Lhodrakarchu Monastery
Peter Richards (Royal Navy officer) potion #9
All is fair in Kalinga Park and war
I'm Tayan Nuur mine-in' it
William Wayne Justice conquers all.
Will it be amusing or will it just read as non-sequitur nonsense? Let's find out!
All you need is Peter Boyle (film editor). Keith, Wisconsin is all you need.
I Osama Al-Zain you more today than yesterday. (But not as much as tomorrow)
Ground Forces of the Slovak Republic Actually
Tis better to have Grandborough and lost, than never to have Birkeland (lunar crater) at all.
What's Architectural model got to do, got to do with it? What's Dhumavati but a second hand emotion?
What is United Nations Security Council Resolution 468? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more.
Who wrote the book of Megalithic Yard?
Shakespeare in Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services
Hello, I Fred Chester Bond
Oxymerus lineatus makes the world go round.
Henley Branch Line and marriage, Krakoma and marriage - go together like a horse and carriage.
I can't help falling in Slush Puppie with you.
PS I Edmund Mortimer you
From Russia with Coptodon bakossiorum
What's so funny 'bout peace, Waco High School and understanding
Steve Dunwell in the time of cholera
Damn, I wish I was your Lhodrakarchu Monastery
Peter Richards (Royal Navy officer) potion #9
All is fair in Kalinga Park and war
I'm Tayan Nuur mine-in' it
William Wayne Justice conquers all.
Friday, January 30, 2015
you won a sauce!!
[insert the Link-opening-a-treasure-chest-theme here]
Today was in.sane. at work. I don't want to bore any hypothetical readers (or myself, while typing it) so I'll bottom line it: LOTS of work. LOTS.
MOving on!
I'm doing...okayish with my resolutions. (I nearly typed "revolutions", which, nope, not doing very well with those at all. I blame my minions. Or lack thereof.) I've only read 3 books so far, and only watched 3 movies, so ...not superb, but better than nothing.
I have exercised every day (well, I missed one day - maybe the 21st? But I doubled-up on the following day), and amazingly it's starting to get easier! I'm not really seeing any results yet, but they year is young.
I've done some fiction writing, but don't have an exact word count at this time. I would guess that I'm probably a little under what i should be at this stage. Also, I don't think that any of the writing is anything I'd deem shareable. But at least it's happening.
I've done ZERO work on the Project, so that needs to be remedied within the next 11 months or so.
Anyway, not a lot else to report on right now,soi'llwrap this up. But i have to ask - is it just me or does it feel like it's been January all year long?
Today was in.sane. at work. I don't want to bore any hypothetical readers (or myself, while typing it) so I'll bottom line it: LOTS of work. LOTS.
MOving on!
I'm doing...okayish with my resolutions. (I nearly typed "revolutions", which, nope, not doing very well with those at all. I blame my minions. Or lack thereof.) I've only read 3 books so far, and only watched 3 movies, so ...not superb, but better than nothing.
I have exercised every day (well, I missed one day - maybe the 21st? But I doubled-up on the following day), and amazingly it's starting to get easier! I'm not really seeing any results yet, but they year is young.
I've done some fiction writing, but don't have an exact word count at this time. I would guess that I'm probably a little under what i should be at this stage. Also, I don't think that any of the writing is anything I'd deem shareable. But at least it's happening.
I've done ZERO work on the Project, so that needs to be remedied within the next 11 months or so.
Anyway, not a lot else to report on right now,soi'llwrap this up. But i have to ask - is it just me or does it feel like it's been January all year long?
Thursday, January 15, 2015
pond puppies
when i get super tired (orjust can't seem to think of the write word to say) I tend to pull random words out of nowhere. Steph has dubbed this "the pond" (it comes from an allegory (metaphor? I'm not entirely sure what word I'm looking for here, because, in case you hadn't figured it out, I am pretty ...um. sleepy.) that Steph had long ago about the brain being a giant ocean of thoughts and words and images, and my semi-coherent/tired ramblings were being pulled from "the pond" of my brain.)
ANYWAY. This post is gonna be a pond post. Just stream of consciousness ramblings with no real point or ...something. It's gonna be like 2008 all over again. ha ha.
And of course, the minute i right the freaking "prolouge" of this adventure, I blank on what else I was going to say, because that's the type of writer I am, apparently. Or ...
OVer the past month or so at work, I've been turning the television in my office on (but I leave the sound down low, because I'm more interested in listening to my grooveshark music than watching the boobtube). Anyway, even with the sound down and just occasinoally glancing at the screen, I have been reminded of how much I dislike news. It's all "shooting, shooting, deadly car accident, shooting, new movie coming out!" The 12noon news in particular is basically (at least the last ten minutes daily) just "here's what videos are trending on youtube". Seriously. It's ...kinda weird.
Oh, also, the Today Show adopted a new puppy. (thus the title for today's blogpost.)
last night i woke up once Steph got in bed and I told her "don't forget about the turnips", which is hilarious in and of itself, but then her reaction was simply to pinch my mouth shut. (Gently, and with love. It is hard to explain, but it was very funny. To me.)
all right, i thought I had more to say, but eveidently i don't, and also you know what day it is. (It's Thursday. And Thursday means mail. Except that we didn't get any mail today. Or yesterdsay, either.)
ANYWAY. This post is gonna be a pond post. Just stream of consciousness ramblings with no real point or ...something. It's gonna be like 2008 all over again. ha ha.
And of course, the minute i right the freaking "prolouge" of this adventure, I blank on what else I was going to say, because that's the type of writer I am, apparently. Or ...
OVer the past month or so at work, I've been turning the television in my office on (but I leave the sound down low, because I'm more interested in listening to my grooveshark music than watching the boobtube). Anyway, even with the sound down and just occasinoally glancing at the screen, I have been reminded of how much I dislike news. It's all "shooting, shooting, deadly car accident, shooting, new movie coming out!" The 12noon news in particular is basically (at least the last ten minutes daily) just "here's what videos are trending on youtube". Seriously. It's ...kinda weird.
Oh, also, the Today Show adopted a new puppy. (thus the title for today's blogpost.)
last night i woke up once Steph got in bed and I told her "don't forget about the turnips", which is hilarious in and of itself, but then her reaction was simply to pinch my mouth shut. (Gently, and with love. It is hard to explain, but it was very funny. To me.)
all right, i thought I had more to say, but eveidently i don't, and also you know what day it is. (It's Thursday. And Thursday means mail. Except that we didn't get any mail today. Or yesterdsay, either.)
Thursday, January 01, 2015
Movies seen in 2014 (and other things)
A year ago, when 2014 started, I told Harper that my goal for the year was to see at least 100 movies.
Fortunately, I actually kept track of them all, and, thus, have documented proof of having accomplished this goal.
I started the year keeping short notes on each film, just as either a reminder of what it was about or my feelings on having seen it, but didn't maintain that throughout. I wish I had, because things like "Simon Killer" and "A Single Shot" could be about ANYTHING. Sadly, I didn't use the Haiku Review format, but I guess there's always next year. (Meaning this year. Ahh, calendarific semantics.)
1)
Now You See Me – lotta flash, not a lot of substance. Also, paced weird.
2) Despicable Me 2 – eh. Had some cuteness, but not as good as the first.
3) Iron Man 3 – decent, better than 2
4) The Last Stand – pretty crappy action flick with Ahnuld
5) The Wolverine – entertaining
6) Pacific Rim – giant robots vs giant monsters. Got a little over the top near the end.
7) The Conversation – 70s thriller about eavesdropping. Kinda slow, would probably make a good remake.
8) The Wall – German/English film, started off very intriguing – woman is cut off from the world by an invisible wall out in the woods, but got very dull near the end.
9) Kick-Ass 2 – not nearly as fun as the first
10) Monsters University – since I don’t remember anything about Monsters, Inc, this was more-or-less a stand-alone film. It worked pretty well, I thought.
11) Dolan’s Cadillac – based on the short story by Stephen King, wasn’t a masterpiece, but was entertaining enough, I guess.
12) Ted – completely unfunny. Should’ve known, since it was Seth “Family Guy” McFarlane’s baby, but alas, I was hoping it would be at least a *little* bit amusing. It was not.
13) We’re The Millers – ridiculous (in a good way) comedy with Jason Sudekis and Jennifer Anniston. Not great, but had enough laughs to be worthwhile.
14) Carrie – 2013 remake. Just average, overall. Probably not necessary to have made this.
15) Prisoners – Drama about two families who have young daughters that are abducted. The main suspect is let go by the police, and one of the fathers decides to exact vigilante justice. I haven’t decided if I liked the movie completely or not, but it’s stuck with me.
16) Rise of the Guardians – Pretty. Imaginative.
17) Taken 2 – had low expectations going in to this. They were not met. Pretty pointless sequel.
18) Maniac – gory horror movie with Elijah Wood as a serial killer. The gimmick was that a lot of the movie was shot thru his POV, so the viewer partakes in the killings. Overall kinda icky.
19) Dark Skies – “horror” movie about a family being harassed by The Greys. Keri Russell was in it, and she was decent, but overall pretty lame movie.
20) The Brass Teapot – somewhat predictable, but still enjoyable, morality tale about a couple that finds a magic teapot that pays out whenever they hurt themselves.
21) Pandorum – I’d seen this before, but forgotten I had. Pretty good sci-fi/horror flick about an ark ship’s survivors waking up from deep sleep only to discover they aren’t alone onboard. Sets up a sequel, which I’d happily watch.
22) +1 – not particularly logical, or coherent, or worthwhile. The potential was there, but the execution fell thru. It was about a glitch in time (maybe?) at a college party that caused the last 15 minutes to repeat itself. Neat idea. Maybe with different writers it could’ve been awesome.
23) Escape Plan – action/thriller with Stallone & Schwarzenegger. Not bad.
24) Would You Rather – low-budget horror flick that was somewhat predictable and completely unrealistic, but still somehow compelling to watch. Rich psycho gets strangers together to have them play a “game” where they have to torture each other/themselves in order to get money.
25) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – a little long (could easily have been about 15-20 min shorter) but pretty decent adaptation of the novel, I’d say.
26) Thor: The Dark World – ehh. Wasn’t really feeling this Thor sequel. The first one was surprisingly enjoyable, but this one just didn’t work for me.
27) Elysium – sci-fi action thriller with Matt Damon in the future. All about class warfare. Decent.
28) Frozen – saw it (in the theater!!) in 2013, saw it again on DVD when Irina got it for Easter. Goosebumps and chuckles. Good flick.
29) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
30) A Single Shot
31) Haunter
32) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – some parts were pretty funny, but nothing out and out hilarious, and overall a LOT of unfunny bits, and also a tad too long. Oh well.
33) Simon Killer
34) Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidoc
35) The Heat – not bad! Funnier than expected.
36) Saving Mr. Banks – pretty good drama about Disney acquiring the rights to Mary Poppins from the author of the books.
37) Escape From Tomorrow – waste of time. The draw for this was that it was filmed in Disneyland/World without permission, but it was too “quirky” for quirky’s sake, and the “protagonist” was a complete jerk I didn’t care about. MEH.
38) The Internship
39) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – a wee bit overlong. Smaug, the dragon, though, was pretty darn impressive.
40) Kit Kittredge – An American Girl – had seen this before. Liked it more the first time, but it was still decent.
41) Contracted – blegh.
42) Hotel Transylvania
43) A Perfect Getaway – went a little off the rails at the end, but a pretty enjoyable thriller.
44) Life of Pi – visually pretty amazing.
45) After the Dark –A “philosophy” class does several thought experiments about the end of the world and who gets to live on in the bunker after the bombs fall. They get an A for effort.
46) The Shining – I kinda don’t get why this is so highly praised/analyzed. IT was a mediocre adaptation which left me thinking that the book was better.
47) Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2
48) Robocop (2014) – remake that wasn’t bad as its own, but came nowhere near the awesomeness of the original.
49) Dredd
50) The LEGO movie
51) Zoolander
52) Oldboy
53) 13 Sins
54) How I Live Now
55) Tucker & Dale vs Evil
56) Blindness
57) Dark Touch – even at 91 minutes, and even watched at double speed, this felt incredibly long. It was just so …boring. (Was about a trio of young children who are abused and have telekinesis. I think.)
58) Oldboy – 2014 remake of the Korean film. I might be the only person on earth who enjoyed them both equally.
59) Non-Stop
60) Enemy
61) Paranormal Activity
62) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
63) Gravity
64) Muppets Most Wanted
65) The Amazing Spider-Man 2
66) The Never Ending Story
67) Big Bad Wolves
68) The Purge – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining
69) The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
70) The Last Days on Mars
71) Transcendence – bleh, coulda been much better.
72) Her
73) Curse of Chucky – pretty much as dumb as expected.
74) Under the Skin – what.
75) Find Me Guilty
76) Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
77) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
78) Justice League: War
79) Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
80) X-Men: Days of Future Past
81) Alan Partridge
82) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
83) Identity Thief
84) Godzilla – the 2014 version. Parts of it looked pretty cool, but overall…meh.
85) Neighbors – extreme and crass, but with moments that were pretty funny. Watching the gag reel, I discovered that Seth Rogen has one of the most annoying real life laughs ever.
86) Snowpiercer
87) Locke – sigh. 85 minutes of Tom Hardy just driving and talking on his phone to various people. Kept waiting for a twist or a payoff, but …nope.
88) Maleficent – it was cheesy-ish, but I liked it.
89) Europa Report
90) Joe
91) Carrie – rewatched the 2013 remake. I liked it better this time around, actually. (I have also just recently reread the book, which may have helped.) There were still flaws with this, but it wasn’t a bad movie by any means.
92) Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – I liked it better than the first (not that this was a good movie, just that it was slightly more enjoyable)
93) Olympus Has Fallen - White House Down was better
94) White Dog
95) The Machine
96) The Signal – the trailer promised weirdness and mystery. The trailer lied.
97) Son of Batman – the first DC Animated movie that didn’t really work for me. Part of it was the voice actor they got for Batman – he felt off. Part of it was the story – just sort of meh.
98) Captain Phillips
99) The Purge: Anarchy – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining.
100) The Wave – German movie about the dangers of fascism – even in supposedly “enlightened” high schoolers.
101) Batman: Assault on Arkham – this one was FUN!
102) The One I Love – a couple in therapy goes on a weekend getaway in order to get to know themselves…in the Twilight Zone.
103) Doc of the Dead – didn’t really inform me of anything I didn’t already know, but it’s always nice to see Bruce Campbell in stuff.
104) Edge of Tomorrow – AKA All You Need is Kill, AKA Tom Cruise Dies a Lot. Solid, fun sci-fi flick.
105) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - I would not be opposed to this series continuing. (Although I don't know where else they can go.) Also, more women characters (human and ape) would be extremely welcome.
So, that's that. The worst movie seen was easily, hands down "Under the Skin".(oh, looking over the list, I forgot I also wasted my time on "Escape From Tomorrow". That was also REALLY bad.)
Best movie? Hmm. I'm not sure I could narrow that down.
Moving on, this year I do have some goals (or gimmicks or whatever you want to call them), and since I'm at the keyboard, I might as well share them.
For 2015 I plan to:
Blog more. (Accomplished already!)
Write at least 2015 words every month on a fictional story. I don't need to finish the story, I don't need to start it - it could just be outlining or working on a particular scene, and it doesn't have to be the same story each month. Just need to write something fiction, and have put in at least two thousand and fifteen words into it. (I realize this seems like setting the bar pretty low, since the total word count for the year would only be 24,180 - which is not even half of what the Nanowrimo goal is, but considering my writing output lately, I think it is a rather achievable target.)
Watch as many movies as possible. (I was going to again set the mark at 100, but I'm feeling like that might not be able to happen this year.) I might do an A-Z thing on Netflix later, too. I've been wanting to do that for a while - start with the "Recently added" section, and find the first movie that begins with A, and then watch that. Then, move from there on to the B title, and so on. (If there is no movie with the correct letter in the section I'm in, I would move down to the next section, until I found one.) Anyway, that's a possibility for later in the year, especially if I'm lacking in interesting titles of things to watch.
Work on the Project (yes, the very same project I was mentioning on this blog back in [sigh] 2007.)
Ex...er....cise?
Read at least half the amount of books that Stephanie reads this year. I'm pretty sure that she is shooting for a goal of 60. I think I can manage to read 30 books in 365 days. I always give my star-rating on Goodreads.com, but I might start jotting down quick notes/thoughts about the books too. As I get older, I find that having things documented is a much better way to remember them. Heh.
That's more or less it. Or at least, all that I can think of right now. Bring on 2015!
Fortunately, I actually kept track of them all, and, thus, have documented proof of having accomplished this goal.
I started the year keeping short notes on each film, just as either a reminder of what it was about or my feelings on having seen it, but didn't maintain that throughout. I wish I had, because things like "Simon Killer" and "A Single Shot" could be about ANYTHING. Sadly, I didn't use the Haiku Review format, but I guess there's always next year. (Meaning this year. Ahh, calendarific semantics.)
Anyway, here is the list of movies seen by me in 2014:
2) Despicable Me 2 – eh. Had some cuteness, but not as good as the first.
3) Iron Man 3 – decent, better than 2
4) The Last Stand – pretty crappy action flick with Ahnuld
5) The Wolverine – entertaining
6) Pacific Rim – giant robots vs giant monsters. Got a little over the top near the end.
7) The Conversation – 70s thriller about eavesdropping. Kinda slow, would probably make a good remake.
8) The Wall – German/English film, started off very intriguing – woman is cut off from the world by an invisible wall out in the woods, but got very dull near the end.
9) Kick-Ass 2 – not nearly as fun as the first
10) Monsters University – since I don’t remember anything about Monsters, Inc, this was more-or-less a stand-alone film. It worked pretty well, I thought.
11) Dolan’s Cadillac – based on the short story by Stephen King, wasn’t a masterpiece, but was entertaining enough, I guess.
12) Ted – completely unfunny. Should’ve known, since it was Seth “Family Guy” McFarlane’s baby, but alas, I was hoping it would be at least a *little* bit amusing. It was not.
13) We’re The Millers – ridiculous (in a good way) comedy with Jason Sudekis and Jennifer Anniston. Not great, but had enough laughs to be worthwhile.
14) Carrie – 2013 remake. Just average, overall. Probably not necessary to have made this.
15) Prisoners – Drama about two families who have young daughters that are abducted. The main suspect is let go by the police, and one of the fathers decides to exact vigilante justice. I haven’t decided if I liked the movie completely or not, but it’s stuck with me.
16) Rise of the Guardians – Pretty. Imaginative.
17) Taken 2 – had low expectations going in to this. They were not met. Pretty pointless sequel.
18) Maniac – gory horror movie with Elijah Wood as a serial killer. The gimmick was that a lot of the movie was shot thru his POV, so the viewer partakes in the killings. Overall kinda icky.
19) Dark Skies – “horror” movie about a family being harassed by The Greys. Keri Russell was in it, and she was decent, but overall pretty lame movie.
20) The Brass Teapot – somewhat predictable, but still enjoyable, morality tale about a couple that finds a magic teapot that pays out whenever they hurt themselves.
21) Pandorum – I’d seen this before, but forgotten I had. Pretty good sci-fi/horror flick about an ark ship’s survivors waking up from deep sleep only to discover they aren’t alone onboard. Sets up a sequel, which I’d happily watch.
22) +1 – not particularly logical, or coherent, or worthwhile. The potential was there, but the execution fell thru. It was about a glitch in time (maybe?) at a college party that caused the last 15 minutes to repeat itself. Neat idea. Maybe with different writers it could’ve been awesome.
23) Escape Plan – action/thriller with Stallone & Schwarzenegger. Not bad.
24) Would You Rather – low-budget horror flick that was somewhat predictable and completely unrealistic, but still somehow compelling to watch. Rich psycho gets strangers together to have them play a “game” where they have to torture each other/themselves in order to get money.
25) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – a little long (could easily have been about 15-20 min shorter) but pretty decent adaptation of the novel, I’d say.
26) Thor: The Dark World – ehh. Wasn’t really feeling this Thor sequel. The first one was surprisingly enjoyable, but this one just didn’t work for me.
27) Elysium – sci-fi action thriller with Matt Damon in the future. All about class warfare. Decent.
28) Frozen – saw it (in the theater!!) in 2013, saw it again on DVD when Irina got it for Easter. Goosebumps and chuckles. Good flick.
29) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
30) A Single Shot
31) Haunter
32) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – some parts were pretty funny, but nothing out and out hilarious, and overall a LOT of unfunny bits, and also a tad too long. Oh well.
33) Simon Killer
34) Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidoc
35) The Heat – not bad! Funnier than expected.
36) Saving Mr. Banks – pretty good drama about Disney acquiring the rights to Mary Poppins from the author of the books.
37) Escape From Tomorrow – waste of time. The draw for this was that it was filmed in Disneyland/World without permission, but it was too “quirky” for quirky’s sake, and the “protagonist” was a complete jerk I didn’t care about. MEH.
38) The Internship
39) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – a wee bit overlong. Smaug, the dragon, though, was pretty darn impressive.
40) Kit Kittredge – An American Girl – had seen this before. Liked it more the first time, but it was still decent.
41) Contracted – blegh.
42) Hotel Transylvania
43) A Perfect Getaway – went a little off the rails at the end, but a pretty enjoyable thriller.
44) Life of Pi – visually pretty amazing.
45) After the Dark –A “philosophy” class does several thought experiments about the end of the world and who gets to live on in the bunker after the bombs fall. They get an A for effort.
46) The Shining – I kinda don’t get why this is so highly praised/analyzed. IT was a mediocre adaptation which left me thinking that the book was better.
47) Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2
48) Robocop (2014) – remake that wasn’t bad as its own, but came nowhere near the awesomeness of the original.
49) Dredd
50) The LEGO movie
51) Zoolander
52) Oldboy
53) 13 Sins
54) How I Live Now
55) Tucker & Dale vs Evil
56) Blindness
57) Dark Touch – even at 91 minutes, and even watched at double speed, this felt incredibly long. It was just so …boring. (Was about a trio of young children who are abused and have telekinesis. I think.)
58) Oldboy – 2014 remake of the Korean film. I might be the only person on earth who enjoyed them both equally.
59) Non-Stop
60) Enemy
61) Paranormal Activity
62) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
63) Gravity
64) Muppets Most Wanted
65) The Amazing Spider-Man 2
66) The Never Ending Story
67) Big Bad Wolves
68) The Purge – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining
69) The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
70) The Last Days on Mars
71) Transcendence – bleh, coulda been much better.
72) Her
73) Curse of Chucky – pretty much as dumb as expected.
74) Under the Skin – what.
75) Find Me Guilty
76) Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
77) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
78) Justice League: War
79) Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
80) X-Men: Days of Future Past
81) Alan Partridge
82) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
83) Identity Thief
84) Godzilla – the 2014 version. Parts of it looked pretty cool, but overall…meh.
85) Neighbors – extreme and crass, but with moments that were pretty funny. Watching the gag reel, I discovered that Seth Rogen has one of the most annoying real life laughs ever.
86) Snowpiercer
87) Locke – sigh. 85 minutes of Tom Hardy just driving and talking on his phone to various people. Kept waiting for a twist or a payoff, but …nope.
88) Maleficent – it was cheesy-ish, but I liked it.
89) Europa Report
90) Joe
91) Carrie – rewatched the 2013 remake. I liked it better this time around, actually. (I have also just recently reread the book, which may have helped.) There were still flaws with this, but it wasn’t a bad movie by any means.
92) Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – I liked it better than the first (not that this was a good movie, just that it was slightly more enjoyable)
93) Olympus Has Fallen - White House Down was better
94) White Dog
95) The Machine
96) The Signal – the trailer promised weirdness and mystery. The trailer lied.
97) Son of Batman – the first DC Animated movie that didn’t really work for me. Part of it was the voice actor they got for Batman – he felt off. Part of it was the story – just sort of meh.
98) Captain Phillips
99) The Purge: Anarchy – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining.
100) The Wave – German movie about the dangers of fascism – even in supposedly “enlightened” high schoolers.
101) Batman: Assault on Arkham – this one was FUN!
102) The One I Love – a couple in therapy goes on a weekend getaway in order to get to know themselves…in the Twilight Zone.
103) Doc of the Dead – didn’t really inform me of anything I didn’t already know, but it’s always nice to see Bruce Campbell in stuff.
104) Edge of Tomorrow – AKA All You Need is Kill, AKA Tom Cruise Dies a Lot. Solid, fun sci-fi flick.
105) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - I would not be opposed to this series continuing. (Although I don't know where else they can go.) Also, more women characters (human and ape) would be extremely welcome.
So, that's that. The worst movie seen was easily, hands down "Under the Skin".(oh, looking over the list, I forgot I also wasted my time on "Escape From Tomorrow". That was also REALLY bad.)
Best movie? Hmm. I'm not sure I could narrow that down.
Moving on, this year I do have some goals (or gimmicks or whatever you want to call them), and since I'm at the keyboard, I might as well share them.
For 2015 I plan to:
Blog more. (Accomplished already!)
Write at least 2015 words every month on a fictional story. I don't need to finish the story, I don't need to start it - it could just be outlining or working on a particular scene, and it doesn't have to be the same story each month. Just need to write something fiction, and have put in at least two thousand and fifteen words into it. (I realize this seems like setting the bar pretty low, since the total word count for the year would only be 24,180 - which is not even half of what the Nanowrimo goal is, but considering my writing output lately, I think it is a rather achievable target.)
Watch as many movies as possible. (I was going to again set the mark at 100, but I'm feeling like that might not be able to happen this year.) I might do an A-Z thing on Netflix later, too. I've been wanting to do that for a while - start with the "Recently added" section, and find the first movie that begins with A, and then watch that. Then, move from there on to the B title, and so on. (If there is no movie with the correct letter in the section I'm in, I would move down to the next section, until I found one.) Anyway, that's a possibility for later in the year, especially if I'm lacking in interesting titles of things to watch.
Work on the Project (yes, the very same project I was mentioning on this blog back in [sigh] 2007.)
Ex...er....cise?
Read at least half the amount of books that Stephanie reads this year. I'm pretty sure that she is shooting for a goal of 60. I think I can manage to read 30 books in 365 days. I always give my star-rating on Goodreads.com, but I might start jotting down quick notes/thoughts about the books too. As I get older, I find that having things documented is a much better way to remember them. Heh.
That's more or less it. Or at least, all that I can think of right now. Bring on 2015!
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