Random Avalanche

Iron Man 2 Alternate Takes (video)

Four Chord Songs Live – NSFW language (video)

Grammar Nazis (video)

Error – NSFW language (video)

Protective Cat Attacks Babysitter With No Mercy (video)

New Euphemisms You Should Know (video)

Darth Vader’s recording for TomTom GPS (video)

Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told (video)

Creepy Canadian Game Show Kisses Just Like Mom (video)

Athletic Trainer: Smooth Professional (video)

100 Best Movie Lines in 200 Seconds (video)

Kids Reenact: MTV’s “The Hills” (video)

- Church, for my niece’s first communion http://twitpic.com/1kf83a

– My nephew also got baptized today http://twitpic.com/1kg8j0

– ay? The radio antenna of my work vehicle is missing? I don’t really listen to the radio, but still… -_-

– Got home from work. Apparently there was a power outage. It was caused by a traffic accident that knocked down some power poles in my area.

– Work putting on the hardwood floor at my home commences. Give us a month (and a few weeks change), I’m sure we’ll be done by then.

– HeHe I just drove 102 miles, in 1 hour and 12 mins. No CHiPs, No CHiPs!

– Somebody at work already put a dent on one of our new vehicles? That’s just sad.

– Super Street Fighter IV is already out and it’s awesome like this image – http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3263/mmssf4castsheet.gif

– Today we moved a bed out of a room, and we made it much more difficult than it had to be… >_> …and “re-doing house” project continues…

– Watched UFC 113. Excellent fight card. One of the best UFC events I’ve seen in a while.

- aw naw they didn’t just go there – http://www.explosm.net/comics/2041/ – Happy Mother’s Day ^_^

http://twitter.com/albert5x5

This past Friday night, I had the chance to attend Kevin Smith‘s “Plane Of Hate – Talkin’ Dirty At The House Of Blues Los Angeles.” Unlike the last Q&A I went to, I did not bring my camera this time, so I apologize to those expecting me to have some video footage of the show. I had a “standing only” ticket, which means that I can sit or stand anywhere at the venue except for the reserved sits in the pit. I pretty much just stood at the back and still had a decent view of the stage; which by the way consisted of just one mic and a chair. The crowd had a great mix of fans, old and young, plus I’ll admit to say that I completely noticed the fact there were tons of hotties in the audience (way to go Smith!).

From about 8:20PM – 11:05PM, Kevin Smith did his usual Q&A show. Here’s a list recapping several of the topics he talked about. I don’t really want to explain things in detail, as it wouldn’t do his stories justice.

Kevin Smith talked about…
…the South West Airlines “situation.”
…his friend Malcolm and him traveling with a “Prom Bus.” Even took it to one of the film shoots for the movie “Cop Out.”
…Malcolm being a homosexual. Thought it was funny that when they were young, he teased Malcolm of being gay, and then it turned out he really was.
…Malcolm being a “bear” in the gay community and had a “cub” for a boyfriend.
…Insights to gay sex, thanks to Malcolm. Yes, Kevin Smith does not shy away from graphic descriptions.
…Traveling in a “Rock Star Bus” for the SModCast tour
…Being approached to do a movie about the TV show “SWAT,” but didn’t know much about it except for the theme music
…Why he is officially “the Decider” for the “Kevin and Bean Radio Show.”
…Buying a box theater in Santa Monica, and calling it SMOD-Castle. He literally signed his name on the lease hours before this show.
…Using SMod-Castle for possible weekly live SModCasts or even a Catholic Mass except with the words changed up.
…Directing Cop Out and making the effort of getting the movie off the ground with it’s budget
…Not being a “serious director, setting the bar low when making a movie, and how he and Tracey Morgan were described to be like a couple of 10 year olds making a youtube clip
…trying to tell Bruce Willis how to act like Bruce Willis, and how that’s not a good way of getting in Bruce Willis’ good side.
…how Bruce Willis was “yelling” at him for not knowing his lenses when he is the director (the clown prince of directors as Kevin calls it)
…finding out what a “chuffa” is, when Bruce Willis was literally taking pages off the script when filming.
…how he was scared of Bruce Willis, because he was the first “real movie star” he’s ever worked with (don’t tell Affleck) and was intimidating. In many ways though, Willis was actually helping out in the movie making process due to his experience.
…he wanted Willis to be “David Addison” of the TV show moonlighting and was obsessed about it, despite once again getting on Bruce’s nerves.
…how excited he is that the Weinsteins might own Miramax again, and how he wants to be 100% exclusive to them if that happens.
…a possible future Clerks 3 but can’t see him bringing back Jay and Silent Bob. 
…his experience being involved with “that F-ing Canadian Show” (as his wife calls it) “Degrassi.” Said that this allows him to able to hang out with 14 year olds who know him from the show, although understands how creepy that looks.
…the work still in progress movie “Red State” and how it was partly inspired by the Phelps family of the Westboro Baptist Church.
…Thinking about a particular scene that he is inspired to film, then build a whole movie around that, is the first process he takes when making a movie.
…his discovered love and experience with the Fleshlight, how surprised he was to see it on Amazon.com and how it became the sponsor for SModCast.
…using a fleshlight 6-8 times a day some times, with the help of smoking weed
…George Carlin, and how inspirational he was. Carlin allowed him to connect with his parents when he was young. Kevin truly loved and appreciated George Carlin’s influence to his life.
…his connection to “The Green Hornet” movie. 
…How sex with his wife is hugely responsible on why their marriage works.
…His experience with how he started smoking weed regularly.
…Smoking weed with his wife for the first time, and how high he became.
…Ordered 15 bags of groceries from yummy.com when he was high
….being high while taking a dump in the toilet was an experience for him. He was in the bathroom for almost 2 hours, not realizing it, and couldn’t hear his wife banging on the door wondering what happened to him. “It’s Ropey, It’s Ropey” (yeah, I’ll leave that statement to your imagination).

At one memorable moment of the night, one lady asked Kevin how his wife “handles” a person like him. At first Kevin and the lady bantered around that question, but the lady would not stop talking! It got to the point where Kevin told them to cut her mic off, which I thought was outrageously hilarious that happened.

As far as a Kevin Smith Q&A went, this one wasn’t bad at all. Entertaining and hilarious sure, but there were stories that I’ve already heard in past shows, as well as from his SModCast. I suppose some stories can’t help but be repeated, depending on what question he is answering from the audience member. All in all though, I had a good time.

Random Daybreak

Japanese Gum Commercial (video)

Justin Bieber Doesn’t know what German Is.. (video)

Street Fighter: Legacy (video)

Glee’s ‘Vogue’ Vs. Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ A Comparison (video)

Telephone – Lady Gaga,Britney Spears and Beyoncè (video)

Throbbing Hard Weather Pattern (video)

GoldenEye Stand-Off (video)

Two Handed Great Sword Demonstration (video)

Psychic Psucks (video)

Dog Does Crazy Dance for Food (video)

Death Metal Ke$ha (video)

The 10 Most Controversial South Park Clips (video)

Are Super Hero movies allowed to be treated seriously? To try and make a “serious” movie about a super hero in a costume fighting crime, doesn’t seem like something that’s wanted by the general public. By “serious,” I mean film making that’s usually seen in high drama movies like “The Departed,” “No Country For Old Men,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” or “The Hurt Locker.” Movies that are entertaining to watch, but are still able to make you think about what you just watched by stimulating your mind. It seems to me that people don’t want “to think” too much when watching a Super Hero Movie, and that’s just sad to me. I’m generalizing here of course, but I get this impression that a lot of people just want pure fantasy escapism entertainment with their comic book super hero movies, with just a tiny minimum amount of thought provoking ideas thrown in. You know, cater to the common denomination.

As a long time comic book reader, I’m quite aware that the stories found in those books are a lot more sophisticated than a layman would expect from a “comic” book. I’m talking about stories that can rival any form of story telling media from classic literature to modern art films. The only difference is that some of those stories have people in costumes. However comic books have always been seen as an industry that’s just for kids, and the people who still believe that are happy to stay ignorant about it. Because of that mentality however, they also see movies based on comic books to primarily be just for kids as well. If not directly only for kids, at least the movie has to be simple enough to enjoy. This is a huge travesty to me, as I feel like the genre is not getting the full respect it deserves as a story telling medium.

Here’s a few examples I’d like to point out…

X-Men 2 – Considered an epic tale about individuals fighting to stay alive, but people watched this for the action sequences and not really for a thought provoking story.

Spider-Man 2 – While it has general themes about moral responsibility and what not, it’s still a typical good vs evil story that’s easy to digest.

Iron Man – An action movie that has a theme of redemption and the evils of war, but people associate this movie for being fun to watch a guy in an armored suit blow stuff up!

The Dark Knight – It’s really a crime drama that involves a man in a bat-suit, but it’s still somewhat a typical good vs evil story that’s more or less easy to digest. People actually called this movie “too earnest” for a super hero movie. “Where’s the fun?” they say.

Kick-Ass – Starts off as a satire on super hero movies with touches of realism thrown in (heroes CAN die, internet celebrity, etc…), but in the end devolves into a typical good vs evil battle.

All those movies are undeniably enjoyable to watch, but with the possible exception of “The Dark Knight,” none of them really try and expand on how far a super hero movie can go with it’s story telling. The typical tale of good vs evil that kids can easily digest still reigns supreme. Any sort of analytical mind concerning who the characters are or what the story is trying to say is really not that important for many. People just want to see people beat each other up in a fashionable manner in their ideal super hero movie. I suppose it’s fair to have a preference to that simple entertainment value, but it annoys me when people actually complain when a Super Hero movie actually tries to be more serious for once, as if it wasn’t allowed to.

Which brings me to the movie “Watchmen,” which was very much a non-typical super hero movie. That was a super hero movie that actually treated it’s material seriously, by not relegating itself to just a simple story about good vs evil. The general complaint by many seems to be that it was boring, which might be because these costumed heroes talked too much, and it lacked a lot of action sequences. A sex scene in a super hero movie? A super hero who shows his penis? Graphic violence? Psychological insight to a vigilante? Indictment against politics and war? Moral ambiguity? Relationship melodrama? What’s all these elements doing in a super hero movie? I roll my eyes to those complaints, because here’s a super hero movie that’s not trying to hold your hand on the subject matters, and it’s generally shunned by the public.
* click here to read my previous write up about people’s reactions to Watchmen *

So people generally only want fantasy escapism in their super hero movies? I say to them “grow up!” Comic books have grown up, you can too.

It was just a week ago when I first found out that “Meg & Dia” was performing at the Porter’s Pub in UC San Diego, May 4, 2010 (last night). It was a little last minute so I never requested to get that night off from work, and plus wasn’t I just in San Diego last week? However “Meg & Dia” is one of my favorite bands out there and I wasn’t going to let a night of work, 100+ miles, and a “UCSD student + guest only” rule, get in my way of seeing them live. It’s been over 8 months since they performed here in Southern California and I’ve been itching to see them again. So what did I do? Called in from work, drove down to San Diego, and took the risk on whether I could get in.

Thankfully the drive down wasn’t bad at all, and I only encountered a little bit of traffic. I arrived at UCSD and met up with my friends at around 7PM, then stood in a line with maybe about 30 people already there. While in line, I actually saw M&D bassist Jonathan Snyder passing by, so I was able to talk with him for awhile. At that point I still wasn’t sure if I was getting in or not though. We were able to convince two students in line in front of me to vouch for me, so that was a sigh of relief. Then one of our friends showed up for the show after all and happens to be an actual UCSD student, so she went ahead and made me her guest (thanks!).

We got in by around 8:10PM, where I decided to just wander around the venue since I decided that I didn’t want to idly stand by and just wait. I went from hanging out with my friends, to watching the Lakers vs Jazz game by the bar, and even saw Meg, Dia, Jon, and Carlo hanging around. Unfortunately drummer Nick wasn’t there. Me and my other friend was chatting with Carlo the most, and talked about what song we’d like them to play and how long the set list is. At that time “Scooter & Oliver” was already performing their set, so my apologies for not being in the audience for them (they did a cover of the Jackson 5 song “I Want You Back” – nice).

By about 9:30PM, Meg & Dia started off their acoustic set with “Roses.” The band had a very relaxed, almost spontaneous vibe to their performance that night. It showed with the technical errors, mistakes in some of the songs, and at one point they were even trying to figure out how to properly play one of the songs. Being who they were though, they were able to make any kind of mistakes humorous, and it only really makes the audience feel even more connected with the show. Between songs they also told stories or interacted with the audience, and the sisters bantering with each other was pretty entertaining.

Out of the many times I’ve seen them live, this particular set list felt very special. They played a wide variety of songs from all three of their albums, played a couple of covers (Ingrid Michaelson, Blind Melon), and one track that never made it on an album (Halloween). The one song that I’ve always wanted them to play is “Fighting For Nothing” and I finally got to hear it live! I can only wonder if it was always suppose to be part of the set list or if it was because we suggested it to Carlo earlier. By the end of the set, they played a total of 13 songs, which is the most I’ve ever seen them play live. Nice!

Afterward we did the usual meet & greet with the band, I went ahead and bought a vinyl record of their album “Here, Here and Here,” got autographs, photos, the works. Eventually by 11PM, everybody was told to exit the venue, but still me and my friends were just hanging out outside. Got to see the band outside as well, and after a good chat with Jon and Carlo, I decided to call it a night. I considered going back into the bar, as they were having a karaoke session; which I imagined Meg and Dia could have been participating (should have checked I guess). Got home a lot sooner (and faster) than even I expected, but all in all it was a great night.

BTW Carlo said that while there are no set future dates for the next few months (as they are going to be recording a new album), the summer will have something in store for us fateful fans (so keep an eye out). Speaking of which, the fact that we were still able to get a group of us MaD fans to come to the show proves that the “boardies” still live, even if the message board where we were spawned from is already done and finished with. To Meg & Dia, we will always be known as “boardies.”

* click here for the PHOTOS I took *

* click here for the VIDEOS I took *
- note - While the show was going, there were background noise coming from the Lakers vs Jazz game at the bar, and people talking at the patio behind me. Lighting wasn’t exactly the best either, so the quality of the vids aren’t exactly at it’s best. Oh, and my memory card ran out in the middle of the very last song.

What Do You Love to Talk About? You Love to Talk About Ideas

You like your conversations to be deep and meaningful. You are not a big fan of small talk. You are open to all sorts of conversation topics, especially if they are unique or interesting. You love it when a conversation takes you somewhere unexpected. You will talk about anything, even if it’s controversial or weird. You aren’t shy about speaking your mind. You may shock people with what you’re willing to talk about, but at least it’s more interesting than discussing the weather.

What I’m Listening To This Week…

1) FilmSpotting – #300 – top 20 films of the decade (part 1) + (part 2)
2) Alpha Rev – new morning
3) B.O.B. Presents – the adventures of bobby ray
4) Brian Posehn – fart and weiner jokes
5) Cypress Hill – rise up
6) Metallica – death magnetic

Random Armistice

Liz Attempts Daring Bed Jumps (video)

David Pedersen’s Video Resume (video)

The Simpsons Tik Tok Ke$ha Opening Skit (video)

President Obama Jokes About Jay Leno’s Ratings (video)

Sea Lion Steals Jack’s Fish (video)

Ostrich vs little girl on a pony (video)

Halo 4: Master Chief Sings (video)

Funny Kobe Bryant fan on news!! (video)

talk about a final shot (video)

Epic Rain Delay Theatre (video)

Star Wars Charity Car Wash (video)

Super Mario Crossover (game)

I can’t deny that “Foursquare” for your phone is a neat idea as a social networking tool to “give you and your friends new ways of exploring your city.” It even helps businesses by rewarding users to visit a place constantly by giving them achievement titles. Social Networking + Tour Of The City + Real Life Game. Oh I forgot to add one more thing to that, plus “Personal GPS.” You let an application tell the world exactly where you are and that could become a security issue. It’s like willingly allowing “Big Brother” to know where to find you. A site like http://pleaserobme.com/ even brought up this issue of “over-sharing” by listing all the updates that has the phrase “left home” in their status. That’s undeniably taking it too far by telling the world that you literally just left home.

With today’s social networks, there’s something of a need by people to tell their friends where they are. The idea is that you are mentioning what you are doing as your status update, and often that involves saying where you are. Nowadays It’s so easy to share a private information like that it’s scary, even if it’s only intended for the eyes of friends and family. I’ve been guilty of doing that myself on Twitter and Facebook, by doing a status update saying I’m at this or that event. If somebody wanted to stalk me, all they have to do is keep an eye on my status updates. Thankfully I’m not obsessive enough to say that I’m at a Starbucks in so and so, but I still realize the risks in even mentioning a general area of my location to the internet.

It comes down to choice, share or don’t share. You can also just say “I was at…” minutes to hours after the fact, but even then that’s still something to track. Either way it’s important to know the risks involved with over-sharing your information to the internet. Chances are, most people don’t care where you are or what you are doing, but it only takes one person to take advantage of this, and turn it into a nightmare.

- what the?! Ticketmaster sent me somebody’s SIX tickets for a Ziggy Marley concert at Harrah’s Rincon Casino in July?

- Somebody just gave me two cupcakes at work. Well here’s hoping it’s not laced with something… or should I hope that it is ^_^

- CA Governor hopeful Steve Poizner must be spending A LOT of money on ads. I see them everywhere! Is this how he’ll spend California’s money?

– Super Street Fighter IV in DA HOUSE! CHALLENGE! FIGHT! Oh wait, I actually can’t play until later this week, kinda busy =P

– Got new work vehicles. Took me a second, but NO power locks, windows, seats, or mirrors. Driving it old school. At least it has an AUX jack.

– Two hours ago, I was standing outside in the rain with no rain gear / umbrella… *sniffle* maybe not the best idea *sniffle*

– LOL another reason to own an iPhone I guess – http://bit.ly/aQY99W – Women Found More Likely To Give Their Number to a Man With an iPhone

– http://twitpic.com/1j7x64 – do they look guilty of something to you?

– UCSD, do you have a 95% Asian population or something. I’m just saying, not complaining, but WOW.

– What The? Just realized that my driver’s license had my Mother’s maiden name as part of my first name this whole time. I need to change that

– I thought I was losing excitement to see Iron Man 2, but after seeing the internet clips of scenes from the movie, I now say BRING IT ON!

– Hey look I’m in San Diego again. That’s twice within a week. Must be a personal record.

– I participated with my wife’s “bring your husband to work day.” I got to experience what she does for 9 hours today.

- Guess what we’re gonna do to the house… http://twitpic.com/1k22lw

http://twitter.com/albert5x5