Movies I've Seen Recently...

Forgetting Sarah Marshall  (2008)  A

Funny, outrageous, and sweet all around, is how I would describe "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." It's like a predictable
traditional romantic comedy, but it's not all together predictable or
traditional in content. The comedic scenes in this film are numerous
with some really classic memorable moments. All the characters were also fun to watch, from Kristen Bell, Bill Hader, Mila Kunis, and Russell Brand in a great stand out role. Jason Segel did a really good job writing and acting in the lead role of
this movie that will surely be a classic rom-com for many in years to
come.

* bonus music videos by Infant Sorrow...
- "We've Got To Do Something"

- "Inside Of You"

The Forbidden Kingdom  (2008)  B-

So it turns out that "The Forbidden Kingdom" is in fact targeted as a family/kids friendly movie; in the same vein like a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." So as expected, most everything with the movie, from the characters, plot, to the action, are simply straightforward and direct, more so than a usual "serious" kung fu flick. There were several things about the whole movie that I can complain about, but I'll excuse most of them due to the lighthearted nature of the whole thing. I admit that it's a relatively fun movie to watch, with great visuals and martial arts choreography by the legendary Yuen Wo Ping (not exactly his best work though). Of course the main draw to watch this is to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in one movie (although that should have happened ten+ years ago), and you'll have a bit of a treat watching them fight each other in a five to seven minutes kung fu sequence. The whole movie could have used more close captioning though, if you know what I mean.

Justice League : The New Frontier  (2008)  B

Not your typical super hero cartoon movie for kids, "Justice League : The New Frontier" feels a lot more "mature" in tone, characters, and plot. Based on the graphic novel series by Darwyn Cooke, the art work may look simplistic at first, but it actually works beautifully when animated. The story and super heroes here harken back to the late 1950's, but the social, political, and philosophical commentaries can easily be relatable to any era. Juggling a ton of characters in this story couldn't have been easy to do for a 70 minutes feature, but director Dave Bullock and writers Stan Berkowitz and Darwyn Cooke did a marvelous job pulling it off. Seeing that last epic battle at the end of the movie was also quite heroic and inspirational, as it only should be.

Lie With Me  (2005)  C+

Here you go, a soft porn art film, and it became a bit of a combination of being so hot and boring at the same time. "Lie With Me" has a lot of sex and nudity, practically taking up 80 percent of the whole movie. While the sex is the first thing you can't help but think about when watching the movie, it's actually more like a character study of someone who doesn't believe she can have great sex and love someone at the same time. The problem I found is that the movie overdid the subtlety of the characters depth, which ruined my believability of their actions in the story. Despite that fact however, Lauren Lee Smith may have just done her best acting job as the lead character Leila, whose performance absolutely captivated me throughout the movie.

Now here's an interesting book that's been released recently. "Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do" by Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson. While I myself haven't read the book, I did watch an interview with the authors about it, and some of the things I got from what it's about is surprising to hear. One particular thing got my attention, in that the book has information that suggests that the kids of today who don't play video games, are now becoming the minority of the youth society. Wow, that's pleasantly shocking to me. Is it time for everybody as a whole to stop treating video games like something that people are suppose to outgrow? The Nintendo Wii in itself has got people of all ages, from little kids to middle age folks, to grandparents playing video games, that we really should stop treating video games as a "kid's hobby." When I first started playing video games with the Atari 2600 in the early 1980s, I wished that this "hobby" of mine would one day be accepted as a valid form of entertainment for all ages, such as TV, music, and movies are. With books such as this being published, and more adults getting into gaming, I may just live to see that day happen.

- watch the interview with the authors of Grand Theft Childhood (video)

Random Fences

zoo bear twirls stick (video)

pinatas from human giant (video)

The Geronimo Terrorazor (video)

invisible skater boys (video)

Mario Theme on Bottles with an RC Car (video)

stop motion life (video)

saran wrap prank (video)

kitty boxing (video)

homemade DS (video)

Mick Jagger Sings Chocolate Rain (video)

When it comes to releasing new music nowadays, competition for exposure has been one of the hardest hurdles to face. Having a song released on the radio or music TV simply isn't enough anymore. With that in mind, the next era of music exposure has finally been met, premiering and selling a new song single in a.... video game! 80's rock icons Motley Crue is releasing a new album this year, and I wouldn't even have known that, if it wasn't for the fact that they just released one of their new songs for sale; "Saints Of Los Angeles", in the video game "Rock Band." That's right, their new song showed up in a video game before radio, music TV, or even in concert. More rock icons are even following suit, with Def Leppard debuting a new single in Guitar Hero III, and Metallica doing the same with Rock Band sometime in the near future. I personally think this is a great idea, and I went ahead and showed my support by downloading that Motley Crue song for $1. The song itself is decent and probably not enough for me to buy the upcoming album, however it's relatively fun to play in the video game, so not bad indeed.

check out videos of "Saints Of Los Angeles" being played on Rock Band
- Saints of Los Angeles Expert Full Band Rock Band
- Rock Band - Saints of Los Angeles - Expert - Guitar 100% FC
- Saints of Los Angeles (Rock Band Expert Drums 5 stars)
- Saints of Los Angeles- Motley Crue- Rock Band [Vocals]

Movies I've Seen Recently...

Smart People  (2008)  B-

The tone of "Smart People"
is very downbeat, and not really all that exciting. It is a character
piece mostly, littered with some english literature/history, but not at
all devoid of humor. I did enjoy the subject matter about how book
smart people can be very socially awkward, confused, and repressed.
Leading them to some embarrassing situations and unhappiness despite
their intelligence. The whole cast are really good in this as well, practically Dennis Quaid as the jerk of a father and college professor, Ellen Page as the republican daughter with a sharp tongue, and Thomas Haden Church as the adopted brother/uncle who brings balance to all the intellects as the normal everyday guy. Good decent movie, that reminded me a little of the
film "Wonder Boys."

Horton Hears A Who!  (2008)  B+

"A person is a person, no matter how small," is actually a very powerful and inspirational message that is said in "Horton Hears A Who!" The whole story is like a commentary on helping others, trying to understand the misunderstood, social classes, faith, belief, etc.. pretty heady stuff for a movie that is seen primarily as a kids movie. Jim Carrey is great and funny as the courageous elephant Horton, who takes it upon himself to make sure that the world of "Whoville" is safe, despite the fact that the rest of the animals think he has become "influentially dangerous" because of his beliefs. Steve Carell is also equally great as the stressed out Mayor of Whoville, who wants to warn his world's people of the imminent danger they are in, despite the fact that they are oblivious and ignorant about his warnings. The visuals are definitely eye candy, which will first and foremost
please young children, but I personally think it's older kids and
adults that'll appreciate the movie more.

Run Fatboy Run  (2007)  B-

It looks like David Schwimmer has some hope in being a good director of romantic comedies, as proven by the movie "Run Fatboy Run." I'm sure it helped that actor / co-writer Simon Pegg is involved in this film though. Simon Pegg as always plays a loveable but flawed character, who at the beginning of the film leaves his fiancee; played by Thandie Newton, on their wedding day, while she was pregnant with their child. The movie does start off a little bit slow however, and the stand-out comedic moments don't come as often as you probably wish they would. As soon as his quest to compete in the same marathon that his ex-fiancee's new boyfriend is running in, is where the real fun of the movie begins. The characters and the plot of the film doesn't really stray too far from the tried and true formula of a romantic comedy, but I think it's worth a viewing either way.

Sky High  (2005)  C+

If you were to reimagine the Harry Potter universe but exchange all the magic and wizards with powers and superheroes, the result would almost shamelessly be "Sky High." Sure it's fun watching a movie about the kids of super heroes going to a High School that teaches them how to use their super skills, but the movie is done more or less as a typical kid's fantasy film. They could have had more inspiration put into this concept, but it was mostly focused on the standard teenager dillemas, except veiled in a universe that has a super hero high school. It's enjoyable enough if you just take it for what it is on the surface, although I did appreciate the social class commentary about "Heroes" versus "Sidekicks."

We Are Broken Random

Kobe Bryant car jump first attempt - before SFX (video)

Courts chip away at Web sites' decade-old legal shield (link)

Arizona Bill Worries Video Game Industry (link)

showdown (video)

banana scare (video)

best game ever (video)

boomshuffle (link)

daily D.I.Y. (link)

The Dangers of Being a Television News Reporter (video)

the 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time (video)

"Death by Blogging." Have you heard of that concept before? Apparently blogging has become one of the most stress inducing professions in America. Because of the by the minute nature that blogging can be, the pressure of keeping it as updated as possible with content can get to people. Then there's the whole idea of competition, since there are tons more blogs out there, so that's even more pressure to get a blog stand out.

I'm sure by now it's pretty obvious that I'm pretty active with my blog. I have to admit that there have been times I would feel compelled to find any kind of topic, just to make sure that I don't miss a day updating this blog. While I cater this blog to be shared with people who may read it, it's still first and foremost a journal to me more than anything else. I suppose knowing that fact helps eleviate some pressure of needing my blog to be perfect and popular.

Happy blogging, to my fellow bloggers out there!

p.s. here's a pic of the puppy a friend of mine just adopted. The puppy found this position comfortable enough to sleep in.

crap crap crap crap crap

All these years I've been able to avoid getting dragged into those time sucking, addicting, online multiplayer games, like Diablo, Ultima Online, Star Craft, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, Everquest, Halo, World Of Warcraft, etc... The streak is over though, as I finally have found myself hooked on an online game. Call Of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare. That's right, the current "hot" First Person Shooter to play online actually got me on it's bandwagon. I just couldn't believe it actually happened. I was so content playing offline with games like Rock Band too, and that even has an online multiplayer option. I've also been able to hold myself in check with online games like Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter, or Dead or Alive, and fighting games are my preferred choice for online competition too. But nope, I just had to try it out COD4 despite hearing how addicting it can be (my brother was already hooked).

Part of the problem is that the online multiplayer portion has an element of "leveling up your character" based on how much and how well you play. I start off at level zero and build it up, acquiring new weapons and what not. It's the whole, "ooohhh, just need to gain one more level before I quit," or "eehhh, I just need to get a few more kills to get a certain weapon upgrade" mentality. Next thing I know, I've been playing online for far more hours than I really should. Damn game creators Infinity Ward figured out another way to keep us to continuously play the game, despite the standard "defeat the competition" mentality. Now we're competing against ourselves to upgrade our levels too. I can only assume that future online FPS games are going to start using this tactic as well.

It doesn't help that I have the late night freed up from not working the graveyard lately, so now I'm finding myself using that time that I would have been at work, playing online on this friggin game. Right now I'm telling myself that I just need to get to level 40 (out of 55+) to get this particular weapon that I really want. Right now though, I'm at level 15, so I got a ways to go. Who knows, by the time I do get to level 40, I'll just say "well, may as well play all the way to level 55." Damn game, how dare it be so fun and addicting.

Random cruchcrushcrush

every Anchor dance now (video)

spongebob darkpants (video)

very angry boss (video)

prank backfired (video)

Korean drummer steals the show (video)

teen mom PSA (video)

duck hunt meets anime (video)

dog butt face (video)

World's Worst Intersections & Traffic Jams (photos)

hack n mod (link)