Current Mood: Chill

And by British, I of course mean reviews. Books, comics, games, and movies…mostly movies. While on my “vacation” I had lots of time for movie watching and did just that, as well as read a few books and comics so over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing said media. Upcoming for review…

Ultimates V1-2
Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter - Guilty Pleasures
Star Wars Darth Bane - Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn
Legacy of the Jedi 01 - Legacy of the Jedi (by Jude Watson)
Jedi Apprentice 01 - The Rising Force (by Dave Wolverton)
Chuck & Larry
Sansho the Bailiff
Live Free or Die Hard
Superbad
Home Movies Season 2
Boondocks Season 2
Outlaw Star
Hard Boiled
Election
Clerks 2
Replacements
3:10 to yuma
The Kingdom
Band of Brothers

I”ll start with the bad and mediocre. The bad being, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”. I laughed a total of two times during the movie. It was just one long gay joke. The only saving grace…oh I think you know. Jessica Biel’s fine, fine ass. In the immortal words of Adam Sandler in the movie Billy Madison…”Soooo hot, want to touch the heinie.” That might be the best ass in Hollywood.

Want to touch the heinie

On to more bad. Next is the boring, pointless, uninteresting pile of literary feces by the name of “Legacy of the Jedi” (by Jude Watson). It was a 3 part series. After reading the first, I skipped it’s sequels. So bad. Nothing more needs to be said…skip it!

On to mediocre, we have the straight to DVD “Big Stan” starring Rob Schneider. It had everything I like in a comedy. It was crude, politically incorrect, violent, and nonsensical. It also had Bob Sapp, Don Frye, and Randy Couture in it who are all big names in MMA. Also stars Jennifer Morrison(House) and David Carradine. It’s not a movie I’d buy, but worth checking out with some friends.

And one last mediocre. Jedi Apprentice 01 - The Rising Force (by Dave Wolverton). It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. Hence…mediocre. I’m just gonna copy&paste a review I put up elsewhere…
“Much better(referring to the craptastic “Legacy of the Jedi), but still a bit slow. Gave some pretty good insight into Obi Wan and Qui Gon Jinn’s early relationship and how he came to be Qui-Gon’s Padawan. Nothing terribly interesting.” If you’re bored, it’s raining, the spank bank is empty, the electricity is out, you own the book, and have nothing else to read…give it a shot. But don’t go out of your way to read it.

And that’s it for today. Live long and prosper…or don’t, whatever.

Current Mood: Sick & Sick & Sick

Starring Cate Blanchett, Ted Theodore Logan, the original Talk Soup guy, Schillinger, Lumbergh, Katie Holmes breastesses, and written by Sling Blade.  If you caught all those references, yay for you.

I avoided this movie for many years because it didn’t look all that good. Reviews were pretty bad as well. After a few years I’d hear references to the film here and there, and most was positive. So I begrudgingly added it to my netflix list.

I should have stuck with my original instinct. It was average at best.  The only saving grace was the aforementioned Katie Holmes breastesses.  They were quite impressive.  Not too big, not too small.  Nice bounce.  Seriously though…they were nice.

As for the movie, not as impressive as Katie Holmes breastesses.  I knew who the killer was 20 minutes into the movie which is impressive since the movie went nowhere for about 35 minutes.  The ending was a complete mess.  One of the worse endings I have ever witnessed.  If you hadn’t guessed by now, I say skip this movie.  You could probably find Katie Holmes breastesses online anyway.

Current Mood: Surprised

Finally seen Dark Knight and wow.  I had waited cuz I wanted to see it in an Imax theater and due to unfortunate circumstances I wasn’t able to get out to see it until yesterday.  So me, mom, my two cousins and a friend made the 2 hour trip to Olathe to watch it.  And it was so worth it.

Imax is possibly the greatest invention ever.  The screen was massive.  Even better, the screen was gorgeous.  When it had the shots from above the city, it felt like you were above the city.  I imagine anyone with Vertigo would freak the fuck out.  Anyway I love me some Imax

Another piece of awesomeness…The Watchmen trailer.  Color me impressed.  Doctor Manhattan looked great which was my biggest fear…well besides the total anal raping of the incredible story which is still up for debate.  It looks really good.  Gonna have to read it again before the movie comes out.

Now onto the movie.  In the famous words of Joey from Blossom…”Woah”.  It was what I expected and more.  The Joker was incredible, and they will almost certainly catch hell if they try to bring him back.  Heath Ledger owned that role.  He should at least be considered for an Oscar.  And I’m somewhat surprised at how well Harvey Dent/Two Face was done.  Batman has the best villains of any character by far.

Now on the opposite side of things “Batman’s” voice irritated me this movie.  Just about half of what he said in the movie, sounded forced, cheesy or both.  Which bothers me somewhat as I really liked the way it sounded in Batman Begins.  Though I think Bale did a better job in this movie as Bruce than he did in the first one.  All in all, a great movie.  My favorite super-hero movie but Iron Man is close.  I’ll have to watch ‘em both again, see how they hold up.

Great fricken movie.

Also did a little shopping. Got Tre a bunch of clothes for school. Bought a few used, cheap games for him…and me. Including the awesomeness of Shaq Fu…oh yes Shaq fuckin’ Fu! As for me, I bought a few shirts, a nice Jordan jacket, and 3 more hats. A second Kangol, a Chiefs hat, and a Hurley hat. They’re sweet! Thats a total of 14 hats now. All in all, a good loooong day. We left the house at about 9:45AM and got home around 11:00PM. We had a good time though.

Until next time my oh so faithful readers…I’m out.

Current Mood: Happy

…so I guess I’ll make a post…about something. Ummm, went and got my ID photo taken. Watching me sign my name was extremely comical. It’s been a long time since I’ve done it. All is now prepared for our trip. Got a TomTom One GPS Friday. My mom’s sense of direction is legendarily bad. Without the GPS we’d likely end up in Florida. Also got about 12 rechargeable batteries so my camera is always functional as well as another 1GB SD card for it. I am set!

While out getting my ID, we of course went to Wal-Mart and I bought my first Blu-ray movie, Hellboy. My original copy went MIA, most likely due to she who shall not be named. Bought another copy of NBA2k8 so Tre could have his own copy and not destroy mine. Drew(cousin) came along and kept me company, so that was nice. Pretty good time.

Finally got my new laptop and it is glorious. It’s incredibly light. Also has vista home, and I gotta say, I’m not dissatisfied with it despite all the horror stories I’ve heard. Only complaint is how the folders are setup. It has a built in webcam and it’s glorious. Of course it’s only use will be to take pictures of my incredibly handsome mug. Not big on the whole conversating thing. I get on messenger about twice a month.

Bought a couple of movies as well. Got Dexter: Season 1, and Flight of the Conchords: Season 1. Lets see, what else? Oh! Got this spiffy little camcorder called the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder($129.19) It takes 60 minutes of video, and then you just flip out(hence the name) the built in USB connector, plug it into your computer and transfer the file(s). Fuckin’ easy as hell. I’ll put some video samples at the bottom that I just took while making this post.

That’s about it really. She who shall not be named is still a fuckup. Didn’t call the kids once this past week, plus 2 incidents that is firmly placing her among some of the most “brilliant” minds…in her mind. She’s…no need to bring this post down. Comic-Con baby!

And here be the vids…I didn’t edit them at all. Just the raw avi file straight from the camera so they’re a little big. Not too much so. Just click on the picture.
1 of Tay(10.1mb’s), and one of Tre(17.6mb’s).

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Current Mood: Indifferent

…to post about, but figured I should blog. Been a few days, but just haven’t been in the mood. Still not. Sooooo…hmmm. Getting myself an ID Card Tuesday so I can actually get into Comic-Con. Can’t fricken’ wait. Then we’re heading to Pittsburg to do a little shopping. Mostly groceries, but I’m sure the kids will end up with something…they always do. Tre got a spiffy electric guitar toy today. It plays like 14 songs, and he can hook his mp3 player into it, and it is way too advanced for a 5 year old. But he’s enjoying it so I guess that’s what counts. I’ll probably get a DVD or two. Trying to cut back since I plan to get a Blu-ray player aka a PS3. May just get a few Blu-ray DVD’s as my new laptop has a Blu-ray drive. I hate saving money…and I’m not very good at it.

In completely different, yet still media related news, the new Bizzy Bone Cd is really good. Been listening to a lot of 90’s R&B, particularly Jodeci, Silk, and Shai. Also a bunch of underground Hip-Hop. There’s a lot of good shit out there if you look. I’m really digging Napster. On the other hand, I’m not really diggin’ the new Gnarls Barkley cd. It’s still good, but not near as good as St. Elsewhere. I’ll probably post an mp3 Saturday. I’m thinking K-Ci & Jojo.

Watched Juno again today. Great movie. Just fuckin’ hilarious. Random quotes from the movie…

“That ain’t no Etch A Sketch. This is one doodle that can’t be undid, Homeskillet.”
“Thundercat’s are gooooooo!” - My favorite quote
“Next time I see that Bleeker kid I’m going to punch him in the wiener.”
“You shoulda gone to China. You know, ’cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events.”
“Like I’d marry you, you’d be the meanest wife ever ok? And I know that you weren’t bored that day. Because there was a lot of stuff on tv and The Blair Witch Project was coming on Stars and you were like, “I haven’t seen this since it came out and so we should watch it,” but oh no we should just make out instead la la la…”
“Well, you know, I was thinking I’d just nip it in the bud, before it gets worse, because they were talking about it in health class, how pregnancy, it can often lead to… an infant.”

Not much else going on. Kids had visitation today. By all accounts everything went well. She who shall not be named, actually had the gall to call my mom a bad mother the other day. Yeah. Fuckin’ unbelievable. Also 7 days of drug/alcohol classes is apparently too much for her. “She can quit anytime she wants.” Her words, not mine. Apparently she doesn’t want to.

Anyway, can’t wait for Comic-Con! I’m almost looking forward to all the folks in costume than the actual show. It’s gonna be glorious.

Last night my cousin and Cody stayed the night and we watched two movies. Both of which I had seen before. American Pie and The Crow. American Pie is what it is. Low brow teen comedy. Good stuff.

The Crow on the other hand. Easily one of my favorite movies. Everything about it is incredible. The cinematography is my favorite part of the movie…yes really. It just gave the movie so much atmosphere. Of course, the action and story was very nice as well, and the acting was pretty good. It didn’t hurt that the star was Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee. I had followed his career since the beginning as I’m a huuuuge Bruce Lee fan. It’s a shame Brandon Lee died during the movie. Just like his dad before him, just when they were set to become huge stars, tragedy strikes them down. Sad bit of business.

My favorite quote from the movie…
“If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.”

If you haven’t seen it. First off, shame on you. Second of all, seriously, shame on you! And thirdly, go watch it now.

I would love to see a Sin City movie by the people behind the Crow.

Current Mood: Happy

…wish it was Sunday, that’s not funnay, I don’t have to runnay…Just another media Monday.

Sorry, the song(”Manic Monday” I think by Bananarama ) has been stuck in my head all morning. Anyway, I don’t have a life to speak of so here’s a recap of shit I’ve watched…

House returned and it’s still all kinds of awesome. I’m liking the dynamic with House, Wilson, and Vindictive Bitch even if it is a bit childish. Also Kumar is starting to grow on me…he’ll always be Kumar but he’s starting to find his way.

Of course The Office is always great and last Thursday was no different. I missed some of it thanks to Mother Nature and frequent cut-ins by the local news weatherman to tell us about said Mother Nature. Stanley was great and Michael actually handling it well in the end really helped this episode. Kind of disappointed they didn’t follow up on Toby from the previous week and his oh so creepy knee rubbing.

Earl is Earl. Consistent but nothing you have to see.

Scrubs is still very funny and I’ll say it again. Scrubs final season yet ER is still going on.

Finished up Neil Gaiman’s Eternals. Good stuff. Looking forward to the upcoming series. Hopefully it’s a continuation of Gaiman’s work. Gonna read Live Wire next.

Went and seen Iron Man yesterday and it is fuckin’ awesome! Robert Downey Jr. played the role great. They sorta touched on Stark’s drinking problem which I’m guessing will play a bigger role in the sequel. As I’m sure War Machine will also make it’s first appearance as alluded to in the film, with Terrence Howard looking at the Iron Man prototype suit and saying…”Maybe next time.” And the teaser in the end credits was sweet. Ultimate Nick Fury!

Good year for for comic nerds, what with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk reboot, Dark Knight Returns, Hellboy 2 and the new Indiana Jones flick all hitting theater’s this summer. Can’t wait. I might go see Prince Caspian this month as well, depending on finances.

That is all…for Media Monday.

Current Mood: Happy

Well things keep getting worse for she who shall not be named and her insignificant other. Had another court date last week. She who shall not be named, was gonna plead not guilty “cuz she don’t have no drug problem.” Then the judge informed her if she was to do that, the prosecutor had the right to add more serious charges to the indictment including like 3 felonies. She plead no contest as did her insignificant other. They go back to court May 1st. Which should be interesting. Why you ask…again, you asked.

Well, they were supposed to have visitation today(mom’s b-day), but due to some unforeseen circumstances…like her vehicle being shot up Tuesday while her insignificant other was illegally driving…again. Nobody was killed, but his little brother got hit in the back(3rd time he’s been shot) and another relative of some sorts was hit in the leg. Of course she who shall not be named lied about it. Thus, why I expect their court date to be very interesting.

On a less absurd and much more positive note, Oogie weighs a whopping 11 and a half pounds or so now. Pictures when I’m done with this here post. I even got to see him laugh finally. I had heard rumors that he wasn’t always disgruntled but I passed those off as hearsay and tall tales. Low and behold, it was true. Even got pictures of it as proof. Much better quality than any Bigfoot or Loch Ness evidence. He’s quite the cutie.

Not much else going on. Gonna go see Iron Man on the 3rd or 4th. Be my gift to myself as my b-day quickly approaches…and anybody else who comes along. Already got Tre’s birthday gift buying done. Thought May might be a financial free month, but now my gotdamn dvd player is dying so gotta get a new one.

Anyway, here’s Oogie hamming it up for the camera…

..

Current Mood: Tired

Just some random musings on things I’ve watched, read, and plan to watch, read.

I’ll start with Thursday night on NBC. A nice return of the Office we all know and love. Michael’s odd form of crazy, Creed’s awesome one-liner’s…”Then I’ll have 2, only one more to go.” lol. The sweet relationship between PB&J. Just good stuff last night. My favorite line/moment of the night was Michael’s conversation with Oscar. When he called Oscar, “Oscar Meiner Wiener Lover” and referenced his homosexuality as “your condition” I was rollin’. And of course the end with PB&J was great, and love those little moments in the show.

Earl had one of it’s better shows of recent. Funny and touching. Really, really enjoyed this weeks episode.

Scrubs has yet to be watched, but it’s almost guaranteed funny.

Next up is movie time! First up is Transformers. I was a HUGE Transformers freak as a kid. My favorites being Soundwave, Starscream, and of course Optimus. So initially I was excited as hell when I heard there was a live action version coming out…then I saw the character designs and my excitement was gone. I loved it when Megatron would transform into a gun for one of the Decepticons to fire. Anyway, so I decided to boycott then new movie. I was sick of Hollywood raping my childhood with half-assed uninspired remakes of things I loved as kid. Then I suddenly had a munchkin(Tre’) to entertain and had just bought the HD-DVD add on for my 360. So I broke down and bought Transformers in HD-DVD. I figured it’d at least be pretty and you can’t go wrong with giant fuckin robots beating the shit out of each other. So I watched it, and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t a Transformers movie as I knew it, but it was a fun action movie. Not gonna lie, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Needed a little more robot on robot action, but what can you do.

Also watched Stardust. Originally a book written by one of my favorite writers Neil Gaiman. I had a longer post concerning this movie but something fucked up and I lost it, so in summation, I will be buying this movie in the near future. Great fantasy movie.

I read The Secret Garden for the first time in like 20 years. Great book…for tweens. Next up in the literature department is The Eternals by the aforementioned Neil Gaiman or Live Wire by Jay MacLarty, the third book in the awesome Simon Leonidovic series.

In more pressing matters, is the sudden relationship between anime and Hollywood. We’ve already got Speed Racer coming. And according to Attack of the Show, Steven Spielberg is doing a live action version of Ghost in the Shell, M. Night Shyamalamadingdong is doing Avatar, and in the biggest head scratcher is Leonardo Dicaprio producing and starring in Akira. Fuck you Hollywood! So little creativity, so many greedy suits. I do however have a small interest in a live action Avatar, though finding someone good enough to fill the title role will be a bitch. He’s so damn likeable in the series.

That is all.

Current Mood: Cool

…yeah, I didn’t think so. Anyway, it’s been awhile so figured I’d make an update post. You know, the goings on in my oh so exciting and drama filled existence.

So as you may or may not know, we now have full custody of my sister’s kids. They’re adjusting well. It was made easier since they were living here already anyway.

Tayonna is still bad as hell, but she’s listening to me a little now. I’ve found if I ask her nicely to stop doing something, she listens to me a lot more than when I get loud. So she gets to hang out with me some now.

Tre’s pretty much the same as he’s always been. Oh and he’s much cooler now. Why you ask…trust me, you asked. Well, he really likes the movie Labyrinth. You know. the awesome movie with David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, and the awesomeness of Jim Henson. I LOVED that movie as a kid. The real test of his cool-ocity will come when I introduce him to Dark Crystal.

Little Nevin, now known as Oogie, Yoogie, or Yoogie Bear is doing exceptionally well. Gained quite a bit of weight since we got him. Gaining almost a pound a week. Nearly a pound and a half this past week. There’s recent pics of all 3 of the kids on my myspace. Couldn’t put them on here cuz I don’t have my photo editing software on my mom’s computer.

As for she who shall not be named…I don’t know. I’ve said a total of maybe 10 words to her since shit went down. 5 of those 10 words consist of, “You wanna talk to Tre?” She’s oblivious. She can’t figure out why everyone is so upset with her. It’s a little sad. Makes me wonder sometimes. Anyway, her and her not so significant other must go to rehab. They also must both get jobs(at least 40 hours a week), and a house, by I think it was September. Otherwise they risk losing the kids forever and they’ll go up for adoption. Family gets first crack at them though, so nothing would really change for us thankfully. I couldn’t imagine the kids with some strange family.

On to more lighthearted goings-on. Took Tre to the movies Saturday. Allen, Drew, and Cody also came along for the free ride lol. We went and seen Horton Hears a Who. It was surprisingly good. A good number of laugh out loud moments. I’ll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD…you know, for the kids. Gotta say I was a little annoyed by the religious undertones. I like my mindless, fun, animated movies to be mindless, fun, and entertaining. I’ll go to church if I need a sermon. Or wait for the Mormon’s to show up…though I think me and my cousins chased them off for good. I’m long past being “saved”. Though I guess it fit in with the whole easter weekend.

Went to my grandparents the following day for the the aforementioned Easter. Decent time. Grilled some burgers, Tre and Tay got their easter egg hunt on, and I listened to music. Good day. I’ll get the easter pics up…eventually. Not sure if they’re any good, or how many. I didn’t take any.

As for me. I cope, I adapt, I survive, then I move on. I’m easy that way. If I can say any one thing about my family, it is that we’re survivors. We’ll get past this and soon as we think we’re in the clear, I’m sure something else will come up, and we’ll get past it as well…like we aways have.