W The Movie - WTF?

I don't know what to think of this... the facepaint gives it a very trippy King Diamond/Damon Zex vibe... I want to watch more in that "staring at a trainwreck" kind of way.

It's That Time Of Year

Sanity returned to the world this past Sunday, as football is officially back in season. That long, HORRIBLE drought between the NBA finals and the return of real sports is over. It's a shame it had to come back with the f'ing STEELERS winning a game, but hey - at least Santonio Holmes landed one of those TDs. Oh, and Brady finally got an f'ing deal signed. So, yeah... get your ass to camp, son. I'm guessing even with the late start, he'll make an appearance in at least one of the preseason games, probably multiple.

Of course, we all know preseason NFL is garbage -- but at least it's there while we wait the next 3 weeks or so until the College Football season kicks back into gear. The teams started camp this week, and I have faith in Tressel and the rest of the coaching team to field a strong bunch again this year. I know there's a LOT of questions on the offense, and based on past experience, I wouldn't be surprised if Tressel fell into a 2 QB system before deciding who the clear starter is (though I HOPE that doesn't happen), but meanwhile, those first four games should be a good warm-up. The schedule feels fairly week this year, especially to start. I mean seriously, a I-AA?? I know it's Tressel's old school, but STILL. Check out the helmets of the first four games this year, IN ORDER:

I mean seriously, was that intentional commentary by the scheduling committee? Washington could end up being a tough game, but the others? Well, the helmets say it all.

Of course, unless you have tickets or DirectTV, you're probably not going to be able to watch those games anyway, thanks to these assholes. I love how they're playing up the conflict to be a problem with the cable providers, completely glossing over the ridiculous price and placement demands they're making of these places for a TOTALLY NEW, UNPROVEN entity. I mean seriously, do they really expect this to get ANY worthwhile numbers outside of college football & basketball season? It's not like they're going to have the rights to show bowl games or NCAA tournament games on there....

I'll leave ya with a bit o' non-football related content. Saw this video today from the folks behind a couple quality webcomics I read. It's one of the characters from Looking For Group, with a fun little Disney parody song:

Action Movie MAYHEM

Been a good week for action movies! This weekend my Dad & I saw Live Free or Die Hard. You never know what you're getting into with these supersequels (part FOUR in this case), especially when it's been twelve YEARS since the last installment, and the star isn't exactly a young 'un. That said, I have to say this movie paid-off BIG TIME. It was extremely well done, a great addition to the Die Hard franchise, with some perfectly classic John McClane moments. Yes, there was some unbelievable stuff in there (the jet vs. semi-truck being the worst), but keep up your suspension of disbelief and enjoy the old-school action and great one-liners. And I have to say, the PG-13 rating didn't seem to hurt the movie at all. Only one F-Bomb in the whole movie, but the cursing (or lack thereof) didn't bug me at all. You NEED to see this movie. They even updated the song!



Monday night I saw Transformers with Hutch, Holly, Randy , Gary and Hutch's friend Tony. I have to say I had my qualms going in -- I played with Transformers, watched the cartoon and even read some of the comics, but I was never a HUGE Transformers fan - GI Joe always won top-spot for me. Still - how could a live action film do it justice? Well, I'd have to say this one did a pretty good job of it. The BEST part was hearing Peter Cullen's voice narrating & doing Optimus Prime once again. Totally brought me back to my childhood & gave me chills. The robots were VERY well done, looking well integrated into the scenes. The fight scenes were a little too busy to follow at times, and there were some rather big plot jumps (not necessarily a HOLE, but skipping something that should've been resolved) - but just like with Die Hard, I think it takes a backseat to a fun, VERY well done action movie. I could've done without Bumblebee pissing on the dude though...

Solid Footing

So our deck is done! (Well, the CONSTRUCTION of the deck is done).

We went ahead and loaded it all up last night with our brand new outdoor furniture (including Evie's own little picnic table Grandpa got her) and our old grill. Take a look:



I think it's great! And done in time for a Memorial Day cookout even! Too bad it's supposed to rain this weekend... We'll also have to UNLOAD the entire thing within a week or two and seal/stain it, but for now we're living it up!

If it does rain, then at least I won't have to regret missing the great weather if we wind up seeing PotC: At World's End (which I definitely hope to do). Can't wait, should be a good one! (Though the threequels haven't been working out so well for other franchises... but I have hope.)

Gotta run - but I also wanted to share this PG edit of 300:

Movies... Third Time's Still A Charm?

Yeah, I'm still here. Been a little busy lately, what with Amy being nasto-sick this week, and being out of the office at work Tuesday, Wednesday and half of Thursday for a training thing out in Dublin.

I DID get to hit up Tropical Bistro for the lunch buffet Tuesday (excellent as always) and finally got to try Benny's Cheesesteaks for lunch Thursday. I'd have to say I definitely enjoyed the cheese steak (I even opted for the cheesewhiz, going for the more authentic). I'm obviously no South Philly person, but at least one person who IS enjoyed it. I'd definitely go back, but given how freaking way-outta-the-way it is for me from home OR work, I don't know how often that'll be realistically.

So, in other news, after poking around in Trusted Opinion a bit more this evening, rating some more movies... that prompted me to hit-up IMDB and look for what movies were coming out this Spring/Summer/later this year that I was interested in checking out. (Those that I've already heard at least something about, of course...)

Sadly... or maybe predictably, most of them were sequels or adaptations. What's REALLY odd is the sheer number of the THIRD installments in a franchise coming out this year. While Hollywood may be "out of ideas" as the common criticism goes, they sure seem to have hit on quite a few successful franchises lately to be cracking out this maybe #3s.

Here's what made my list, roughly in order of expected release:

• Hot Fuzz
• Spider-Man 3 *
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End *
  
• Live Free or Die Hard
• Shrek The Third *
• Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
  
• The Simpsons Movie
• Ocean's 13 *
  
• Black Sheep
• Ratatouille
• Transformers
• The Bourne Ultimatum *
  
• I Am Legend

So, you'll note the FIVE starred third installments listed above. As well as a FOURTH installment (Die Hard) and a FIFTH installment (Harry Potter). I'm sure there are other movies coming out soon that I'll be interested in seeing, but scanning ahead through IMDB's coming movies list, these are the only ones that really caught my attention so far.

I also saw two OTHER third installment movies coming out this year... Resident Evil: Extinction and Rush Hour 3. I have really NO interest in seeing Resident Evil. I'm sure I'll end up seeing Rush Hour 3 at some point, but I'm pretty well Chris Tucker'd out for the time being. His shtick got old REAL fast.

What movies are you folks looking forward to seeing the rest of this year?

That Post-Marathon Glow

Well, that's been here and gone by this point. Still, I had a great time. I posted by full review on a couple different forums, including the Sci-Fi Marathon forum and Columbus Underground. Not that it's really all that in-depth, but go there for a longer recap. For the short version - attending (in our extended group): me, Dad, Gary, Hutch, Randy, Jeff, Angel, two of Jeff's friends I don't really know, and Mike F. Always a blast hanging out with everyone, and this was no different. One of the best get togethers of the year, IMO. Best & Worst:

• Best Movie I'd Already Seen: Flash Gordon. MAN, I love that movie. It's a CRIME it's out of print.
• Worst Movie I'd Already Seen: Star Trek: The Motion Picture *yawn* pan-pan-pan "here's the outside of the Enterprise" pan-pan-pan "here's the outside of VGER" pan-pan-pan "here's the audience napping" pan-pan-pan
  
• Best Movie I Saw For the 1st Time: Fido. A fun new take on zombie movies.
• Worst Movie I Saw For the 1st Time: Automatons. SWEET MERCIFUL JEBUS MAKE THE BAD MEN STOP. Someone hand me a knife - even the MEMORY of this movie makes me want to gouge my eyes out. I'm not sure, but I think they may have been trying to make some political statement? Maybe?
  
• Best Food: Fully Loaded Gateway Fries. YUM!
• Worst Food: Greek Wrap. My fault for not paying closer attention, but it contained no meat. Not bad as much as just not what I wanted.

So yeah, the Marathon's over for another year. Back to normal life. In which I STILL haven't ditched the damn cough that's been nagging at me for a couple weeks now. It got better for a bit, and most all the other symptoms are gone, but this shit is getting old, man.

Take your mind off the doldrums with some fun games:

• IndestructoTank
  
• Desktop Tower Defense
  

And if Flash games aren't your speed, see Emily Short's Interactive Fiction games. The only ones I've played at length are Galatea and Glass, but they're both very well done, immersive interactive fiction (that's a fancy way of saying "all text") games.

Psyched For The Sci-Fi (Marathon, That Is)

The 24th Annual Ohio Sci-Fi Marathon is this weekend at the Drexel Gateway theater! Noon Saturday to (roughly) Noon Sunday. I'm totally psyched.

My Dad & I have been going to the Marathon every year since the THIRD annual marathon back 1989 at the Drexel North! (Don't do the math, it doesn't work out.) Well, sadly, my dad actually missed one year, but I haven't missed one since. We cut out early a couple of the early years (I was still very prone to migraines those first few years), but we were there. We even got our pictures in the Dispatch while waiting in line one of those years at the Drexel North. To see a history of all the years, locations, and films shown, check out the Marathon History link. Suffice to say I've seen Them! on the big screen far too many times.

Over the years, we've picked up quite a few other folks for the outing - Gary (for quite some time now), Hutch, Randy, Featherstone, and many others have dropped in from year to year. We're doing our part to try and keep it alive at least!

This year's flier is here [pdf].

The (tentative/theoretical) schedule is:

Doors should open at about 10:30. Like last year we'll have a reel of pre-blast off trailers starting at about 11 or 11:15.

Noon Countdown & Blast Off
12 MONKEYS

2:30 KING DINOSAUR

4:05 THE GREAT YOKAI WAR - Ohio Premiere

6:20 Costume Contest
6:30 PUZZLEHEAD - Ohio Premiere

8:10 FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACEMONSTER

9:55 FIDO - Midwest Premiere

11:40 AUTOMATONS - Ohio Premiere

1:10 CHOPPING MALL

2:45 NIGHT OF THE COMET

4:25 MINDWARP: AN INFINITY OF TERROR

6:00 SLITHER

7:45 STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE

10:10 FLASH GORDON
Noon Presentation of Certificates to survivors (if any)

Should be a great time. Can't wait! You should join us!

Can I Get An ALL SYRUP Squishee?

So apparently, though the deal hasn't been finalized yet, they're working on a promotional deal which would turn some 7-11s into Kwik-E-Mart reproductions to help promote the Simpsons movie. Not only would it copy (at least some of) the look, but you'd also be able to get some classic Simpsons products, like Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees!

Check it out.

All I can say is that. is. awesome.

No mention of Duff Beer, but I suppose that'd be a tough one since they're PROBABLY spinning the movie toward a younger audience.

POTC3 Trailer - W00T

May 25th is ENTIRELY too far away.

EDIT: Grrr... stupid "Pirate Player" flash nonsense doesn't embed properly, and tries to take over the whole page instead.

Go see the new trailer here , or in High Def at Yahoo.

And commence drooling.

Silent Star Wars

This is so well done - my only beef is that I wish it was longer! There's so much MORE he could've gotten into the concept. Maybe even keeping the same length, but breaking it into three separate parts (all about this length) rather than all rolled into one?