MySpace

My slogan new for 2006: “A different kind of company… a different kind of Frank!”

So I opened a new MySpace account, thanks to Ron. Now, I’m not really worried about becoming too addicted to it like many others simply because I’m already online all the time (that is when I’m not at work or at the gym.) I'm already quite addicted to the internet in general.

I look at all the people I went to high school with and I honestly don’t recognize nearly a single person. It’s really amazing how much people can change over the course of seven years.

Chronic Of Narnia

I haven't watched Saturday Night Live in ages, probably because I don't watch TV anymore... anyway, this is a pretty funny rap song they made.

Memorable Movie Quotes Of 2005

It's just occurred to me that I didn't actually see as many movies as I normally do this year... anyway, here are some quotes from 2005 movies that more or less sum the year up. I'm sure there are more that are just as accurate or even better, but I'm exhausted and am only putting the ones down that come to mind. I also only put one quote per movie even though several of these movies had multiple appropriate quotes.

• "I can feel your anger... It gives you focus... Makes you more powerful" - Darth Sidious / Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
• "I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved one is just... poison in your veins. And one day, you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed so you'd be spared your pain." - Henri Ducard / Batman Begins
• "You can know all the math in the verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she's hurting before she keens. Makes her home." - Malcolm Reynolds / Serenity
• "You know what it's like getting up every morning? Feeling hopeless, feeling like the love of your life is waking up with the wrong man. But, at the same time hoping that she still finds happiness, even if it's never going to be with you." - Albert / Hitch
• "Hell's waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here" - Marv / Sin City
• "Now is the time that we must choose between what is right, and what is easy." - Albus Dumbledore / Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• "I've got to be more careful where I park this thing." - Willy Wonka / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• "Have you ever broke something so bad that it can never be fixed?" - Will Stronghold / Sky High

I've had a lot of bad luck with my car this year... broken clutch, rear ended, two tires exploded, car alarm from hell, replaced dead battery. The story of my car troubles came to an end for the year on the morning of Sunday, December 18 sometime between 6:00am and 6:20am when a crazy bitch came crashing into the driver's side of my car (my door to be exact) at 50 miles per hour. No, I wasn't killed or even hurt for that matter, although I probably should have been one or the other (this simply just continues the myth/lore/legend of my immortality.) Anyway, the following movie quote truly brings my year to a close; however, it's not from a 2005 movie.

"Well, they finally did it. They killed my fucking car." - The Dude / The Big Lebowski

Josh's X-Mas Surprise

I thought it would be interesting to post about the Christmas gifts I got for Josh because they're not your typical holiday gifts. I went ahead and gave them to him tonight.

Josh's first gift was a battery powered dildo with multi-speed control. That thing really vibrates quite hard! The funniest part about this present is the fact that Josh isn't gay, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'll give that dildo a test drive! At the very least, I know he'll place it on his coffee table at his apartment simply to make his roommates feel uneasy. I'm also sure he'll take the opportunity to dick-slap some people with it!

Gift number two is a cock pump. No guessing is required on this one... he'll definitely try this one out! This too will most likely end up a center-piece on his living room coffee table, but not before getting some serious use! LOL!

Reviewing The Year

I know the year isn’t quite over yet, but I can’t help but to sit back and reflect on it for a bit. This last year was not great by any means of the imagination, but it wasn’t the worst one either; however, overall I have to say it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. There was definitely much more sorrow and pain than happiness and joy. I can’t decide on a worst moment simply because there are entirely too many candidates to select from, but I can clearly say I know what the best moment was… it was when my mom offered to give my ferrets a home so I wouldn’t have to lose them.

I don’t really believe in “right” or “wrong” choices… to me there are numerous levels of “good” and “poor” choices. A “good” choice is logical one where all of the consequences, positive and negative, are considered and accepted regardless of the outcome. A “poor” choice would be one that is illogical or where one is not willing to accept the consequences of the decision. Well, that’s my philosophy on the matter anyway.

I don’t feel I made many “poor” choices this year. In fact, I’m proud of the fact that I probably made more “good” choices this year than ever before. It just so happens that many of those “good” choices had very bad outcomes that have taken their toll on me throughout the year. I don’t believe that a bad outcome or having to accept the negative consequences of a decision makes it a “poor” one… I just didn’t expect to have to pay the price of the negative consequences so many times over and over again. In retrospect, I don’t think I would have changed a single decision that I consider to be a “good” choice simply because it had a horrible outcome. So it is nice not to regret anything over this last year.

The only resolution I really have for next year is that I would like to have a clear path for my life. Whether the path is difficult or easy to walk is beside the point… I just want one that I can see. And I hope next year is happier than this one.

What If...?

A few days ago I was rummaging through my closet trying to find anything that may need to be dry cleaned. During my search, I ran across something I haven’t seen in years… that in itself is absolutely amazing because I just recently moved a few months ago, so I should have seen it at some point during the process packing or unpacking… but I didn’t. It appears to have been hidden between some old dress shirts that I haven’t worn in years. In retrospect, I probably should have taken it to get dry cleaned when I found it because if I remember correctly, the last time I had it on I think I may have accidentally got some traces of hydronium (the cation that naturally occurs in water) on it… actually it was probably a weak acid monohydrate produced from ionization by the hydronium. I think if it were pure hydronium, it would have eaten away at it over the years.

Oh, “it” was a white lab coat. My mom got it for me early on in college, back at a time when I had plans on studying to becoming a doctor. I’m not really sure what specifically derailed me from that path. Perhaps it was a mixture of loneliness, depression, alcohol, etc… Whatever the reason, I’m clearly not a doctor at moment. I do wonder “what if” sometimes, more so recently over the last several weeks. The fact of the matter is that I don’t have to wonder “what if”; I’m still young enough to return to that path that I abandoned years ago.

I’m very conflicted on what to do though. When I put the white lab coat on and look in the mirror, I see the person that I should be. What’s holding me back from becoming that person? I definitely have the mind for it… I don’t really have a personal life, so I won’t really be sacrificing that… I do have a powerful drive (sometimes beyond even my control) to be the best… so why don’t I just do it? Maybe it’s because I feel that there are times in life you mess something up so much that it can never be fixed… maybe I’m beyond repairing what I’ve already damaged in my life.

The Thrill Of The Fight

Back when I was a sales manager, there were many avenues to becoming the best in the district/region… exceeding sales budgets being one the key goals. So everyday, I was trying to prove I was the best. There was always some means of measuring success from one sales manager to another… and for the most part, I always was the best. I had to be the best… something inside of me that I can’t even control drives me to win (sometimes even at all costs)… I’ll get to that more in just a bit.

My current job has no means of competition. I mean, all I really do is oversee and protect the store’s total net operating profit, which includes payroll, inventory, store maintenance, etc… in addition to being second in command. So there really are no means of being the best in the management position I’m currently in.

So for the most part, my time in this position has been rather boring. If I’m not trying to be the best, I become completely apathetic. For the last couple months, I’ve felt pretty devoid of emotion anyway, so the growing apathy at work just makes things worse for me personally.

Anyway, another store in the district (my old store) and my staff are having a competition this month. It’s basically my operations staff performance on selling extended warranty versus theirs.

Most people who know me have really never seen a truly dark side of me… one of the darkest being my cut-throat, vicious, and absolutely cold-hearted competitive streak. Probably only my immediately family and maybe a few friends have ever seen my true untamed and savage nature while in competition.

First off, winning is never enough. I only accept total domination… complete victory. The goal is never simply to just beat the opponent(s)… it’s to completely obliterate them. Like I said, this isn’t really a side the most people have seen of me… people definitely get glimpses of it when they play even the smallest of games.

Take the game of RISK for example. It’s a simple board game of world domination. Each player starts off with the same number of armies and countries. The object is to invade other players’ countries and take them over. Whoever takes all the countries wins. Simple enough, right? Nope… not for me. I usually sit back and amass my armies to absolutely ridiculous sizes… sometimes overpowering all the other players 50 to 1. It’s not just a matter of taking their countries… it’s the psychological breakdown of their confidence. I want them to see that it’s not only improbable for them to beat me, but impossible. We never even finish the game because everyone quits when they feel there is no possible chance of beating me. I must attain complete dominance.

Hell, even when I taught fencing at the University of Texas… anytime we had a tournament, I was just plain vicious. The object is to achieve a touché (essentially a hit) on the opponent. Best two of three wins the match… since that ends pretty quickly, we usually played best three out of five. Easy enough… just get three touchés and you win the match. Not in my strategy. I would never allow an opponent one hit. I would just parry for about three minutes straight (an eternity in fencing). This not only defeats the opponent’s confidence, but it takes a toll on them physically… after doing 30+ lunge attacks in a single match, one’s legs begin to become very fatigued and sore. After I felt that I had them mentally and physically defeated, I would go ahead and attack… one after another until I had my three touchés, never evening allowing them to catch their breath or rest for a single second. Again… proving I’m the best and establishing complete dominance.

So I ask myself… does this brutal competitive streak really bring the best or the worst out in me? I obviously perform my best at these times, but am I a horrible person for my cut-throat manner of winning? Something in me just changes during times of competitions... the thrill of the fight... something unrestrained and primordial... is this just a part of me that I keep supressed... is this my true nature? I don't know. What I do know is that even being consciously aware that my competitive nature makes me down right malicious at times, I still know that I will win this competition… I also know that my margin of victory will be extremely enormous... leaving my opponents overwhelmingly obliterated.

Smallville Rocks!

Alright, I finished all my Smallville DVD’s (seasons 1-4) last week after my stopover at the ER, but I haven’t had anytime to really talk about it because work has completely consumed my life through the duration of the holiday season. Seeing how I finally have some free time now, there are some things I gotta get out about this series, the good and the bad.

I’ll start with what I didn’t like because I have less criticism for the series and more acclaim for it.

Areas of opportunity:

• What bothered me the most is vilification of Jor-El. Even now, this just disgusts me to the core. Jor-El is supposed to be a highly benevolent person, yet the series makes him out as a villain with ulterior motives for sending Kal-El (aka Clark Kent / Superman) to earth. WTF!!! He sent his only son to earth because his planet was going to explode! This just pisses me off! Many of the wonderful characteristics and honorable personality traits that Superman develops is from Jor-El.
• I was also troubled by the effects of different colored Kryptonite rocks. Obviously green Kryptonite is deadly to Clark… and red Kryptonite fucks his mind up. I feel this is well known fact to anyone who is familiar with Superman lore… however, the series decided to add black Kryptonite and apparently splits people. Why did they invent a new kind of Kryptonite? There are already other established Kryptonite colors they could have picked from… there’s blue Kryptonite that strengthens Superman (and is deadly to Bizarro), there’s gold Kryptonite that has the potential of vanquishing all of Superman’s powers permanently if he were to be exposed to it, etc…
• I didn’t like the introduction of characters that Clark isn’t supposed to meet until he’s older. Lex Luthor is the only acceptable character for this show because much of the series’ plot revolves around the notion that Clark and Lex could have been friends before they became arch-enemies. Other characters like Lois Lane and Perry White should not have made appearances in this show! He’s supposed to meet these people after he’s made the clear choice to split his persona into that of Clark Kent and Superman… in the show, his character is the combination of what will be known as the typical Superman character and the Clark Kent character. Most of his future disguise (regardless of what Jennifer seems to think is only the eye glasses) is the character of Clark Kent that he becomes. This is the character that Perry White and Lois Lane know… not the Clark Kent of this show whose personality is a mixture of Superman and Clark Kent.
• Finally, too many people know Clark’s secret in this series. At the rate of people learning his secret, the entire town of Smallville should know his secret by the time the series comes to an end.

What makes the show great:

• I love the fact that the series sometimes uses the John Williams Krypton theme music. As much as I am a Star Wars whore, my favorite John Williams music is his Krypton theme. I think the Ron should be in total agreement with me on this point! Here's a clip of the Krypton music for those who are unfamiliar with what I'm talking about:
  
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• Up until Bryan Singer created the X-Men movies, comic book movies really sucked for the most, except for Superman (the first movie that is)! Btw: Bryan Singer is also the director of the new Superman movie, so I’m 100% confident that it will be truly awesome. Anyway… my point about the original movie is that it was great… and I loved the fact that the Smallville series incorporated actors from the original movie into the story line. Christopher Reeve, who played Superman, was given the role of Dr. Swan in the series before he tragically died in October of 2004. Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane, was given the role of Bridgette Crosby in the series. Terrance Stamp, who played General Zod, provides the voice of Jor-El in the Smallville series. Annette O’Toole, who played Lana Lang in Superman III, has the role of Martha Kent in the series.
• I also enjoy the interpretation on how Lex Luthor becomes evil. I like to think that every starts out good… it’s just some become evil through the journey of life. So it’s interesting watch Lex struggle with his own being… trying to do what’s right, but ultimately just making the wrong decisions that puts him on the path to becoming the greatest criminal mind the world has ever known. In the end, you have to give him some respect… a normal human being constantly fighting the world’s greatest superhero. You’d expect some villain with super human powers to be Superman’s arch nemesis, but it’s simply a normal human being who happens to be criminal mastermind.
• The series also stays true to Clark and Lana’s relationship. They can’t really ever be together because ultimately Lois Lane is the love of Clark’s life. What’s funny though is that the same reasons that Clark and Lana don’t work out are very similar to why Clark and Lois don’t really work out. I call it a typical hero problem. Lois is in love with Superman, but not with Clark. She loves the superhero, not the mild mannered reporter. This seems to be a common problem amongst superheroes. The lyrics of Chad Kroeger’s Hero speak directly to this problem.
• Lastly, I think it was a wise choice to focus on the character of young Clark Kent and avoid bringing in the Superman costume. Superman is someone he becomes at a later age once he’s fully secure with who he is. It would be grossly premature to bring the notion of the Superman costume into the Smallville series.

So there’s my two cents on how the Smallville series is doing. Overall, I think it’s awesome! It kills me that I have to wait several more months for season 5 to be released on DVD!

NOTE: I really enjoyed the new Superman Returns teaser trailer! The trailer uses the Krypton theme, which make me giddy like a little school girl! And I absolutely love the fact the Bryan Singer is still using Marlon Brando as Jor-El in his new movie. I really have a great appreciation for the manner in which Brando played Jor-El in the first Superman movie!

What I find ironic is that Jor-El essentially speaks to Superman from beyond the grave… in a very similar manner that Brando is still playing the part of Jor-El!

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

It amazes me how much effort we place on stupid shit at work that really has no positive effect on the business. I took this video off of our security cameras, and one of my PC Techs, Joseph, editted it and added a soundtrack to it.

The video is a bit choppy and blurry, but I'll give you the rundown on what happened. Saturday morning Sean walked into our warehouse while some of the warehouse associates were playing basketball. (This would be the same Sean who dealt with the bitchy customers fighting from the Black Friday post, and the same person performing the Beavis and Butthead Dance.) Anyway, someone threw the ball really hard and missed quite badly. The ball hits the corner of door that Sean was entering and then hits him firmly in a sensitive spot of the male anatomy.


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The camera records at 10 frames a second as opposed to normal video which is about 30 frames per second... hence the choppy look. The ball is moving so fast that it's really difficult to even see it.

Black Friday

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is historically the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the holiday season. Most retailers will open very early… we opened at 5:00am.

Yesterday was my fifth Black Friday with the company, second with the store I’m currently at. It’s always extremely busy each year on this day… however yesterday; we had more people than ever! This is the first year we weren’t able to fit everyone waiting outside to get in into the store at the same time. We had to let people into the store in shifts. There was a line just to get into the store for over three hours!

To prepare for the considerably substantial number of people shopping with us, especially early in the morning, we made maps of the store, vouchers for really hot ad items that we had a limited quantity of, etc…

Here’s how crazy some of the people were this year waiting to get in… I had Sean, one of my merchandise managers, go outside to hand out maps of the store. The first thing he hears as he gets out the door is two female customers arguing… more accurately, he heard, “Fuck you, you skanky ho! I’ll kick you’re fucking ass!”

Joe, one of the sales managers, had to deal with two other customers fighting in line to get. One customer who did not get voucher for a $200 laptop told another customer who did get a voucher that she and her boyfriend would kill her if she bought the laptop. Luckily the police showed up almost immediately. Unfortunately, the small city of Sunset Valley only had one police officer on duty, so he had to call the county Sheriff’s office to come out too. So for the first several hours of the morning, we had police on crowd control.

Overall, besides the insane amount of people running around the store all day long, the day ran quite smoothly. Even so… my version of hell would be a continuous Black Friday for eternity!

XBox360-Mania

For those who don't know, the XBox360 is due to be released on Tuesday, November 22... and there is a lot of hype building on it. I've work at an electronics retailer for about five years, and I've never seen so much brouhaha over anything we sell like this! We had people camping outside our store! WTF!!! This isn't the release of a Star Wars movie... it's a game system for the love of god!

More Than Meets The Eye

I saw this on a car at the Tinseltown 20 parking lot yesterday before Harry Potter... I gotta find one of these for my car, except I'm gonna get a Decepticon one! I already found some at stickergirl.com.

BTW: I really didn't like this Harry Potter movie very much... I can't quite put my finger on it... something about the movie just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm gonna need to see it again (when I'm not drugged up), and perhaps I'll like it more.

The MIsery Of Migraines

I hate migraines… they always derail my focus and shake my confidence! Out of nowhere, they just attack. While I can typically handle the immense amount of pain and get rid of them in just a matter of hours, the thing that bothers me most about my migraines is the fact they usually leave my mind in a mental mess for about a day.

I always feel that the unknown is exciting and thrilling, but at times also scary. This is normal though… nothing unusual. It’s just most of the time when things feel daunting or even overwhelming, I just don’t know where or who to turn to for comfort.

Where do I go if I get in over my head? Who will save me when I need to be rescued? What do I do when completely consumed by fear? I don’t know… there may not be any answers.

My Smallville Marathon

So as it turns out, I had the last three days off. So what do I do? I waste it, naturally! Hehe!

I’ve watched no less than 50 hours of Smallville over the last 3 days, and I’m only half way through my DVD sets! What’s truly sad is that I’m actually trying to schedule my entire next week around trying to finish the DVD’s. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it though… just not enough time!

I don’t want to sound like a total bum… I did do other things too… I ate and slept. I also had lunch two days with Josh and Joe while I was doing some research at work for a few hours. But for the most part, it was all about the Smallville marathon! I’ll need to write a thorough review of the series once I complete it… it’s incredible!

How Much Is My Blog Worth?

WTF!!! This is bullshit! How could this happen? It should be over $10,000! LOL!

My blog is worth $9,032.64.
How much is your blog worth?

Rate Your Life

Here's another personality test I ran across on The Barlow's site. I feel a bit conflicted about the results though. Well, good or bad, it's fairly accurate. I guess it just shows that there are some areas of opportunity. Heh!

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.2
Mind:	6.7
Body:	9
Spirit:	7.5
Friends/Family:	3.2
Love:	0
Finance:	8.4
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Tired, But Still Kicking!

Wow… the last two days at work have worn me out. I’ve just felt completely depleted. My day on Monday consisted of organizing the warehouse after a massive shipment and preparing for the seasonal new hires. Yesterday was just long because I had to close after Josh, Ross, and I had to attend a district hr meeting in the morning. The only thing I really took away from that meeting was that sex with your subordinates is bad.

The holiday season at work is now here, which is always a mixed blessing. On one hand, it’s completely consuming… but on the other hand, I have no time to think about how lonely I feel because I’m always at work nonstop. So, I’ll take the good part! Hehe!

I slept really well; in fact probably too well. I slept about 10 hours, so naturally I get a migraine for oversleeping! God forbid I try to catch up on some sleep! I had an appointment with Justin today at the gym… I swear he’s trying to kill me! With all of the balancing with heavy weights, all I really need is a group of people beating me with canes at the same time, and then I can become a member of the League of Shadows (er, from Batman Begins!)

Speaking of comics, I just got an email yesterday from Sony Pictures… it appears that Thomas Haden will be the next Spiderman villain. He’ll be playing Flint Marko, aka Sandman. I’m only now becoming pissed off about this choice of villain! There are so many other Spiderman villains that would be so much better… Venom, Green Goblin 2, Hobgoblin, Carnage (my personal favorite), etc… Whatever, I just hope it’s good.

Yoda Rap

Yeah... this has been on the net for a few days now. It's pretty short and quite funny. Supposedly it's an easter egg on the new Revenge of the Sith DVD, but hell if I know where it is on the disc!


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Create Your Own Avatar

The Barlow came across this cute site that allows you to create your own avatars. Here's one of me... I still don't know what to think about it. It's missing a lightsaber!


Click here to create your own avatar!

When Bored...

I saw this personality test on Laura's blog this evening... since I was bored out of my mind, I went ahead and took one of the longer questionaires. I was surprised to see that the results are almost identical to other personality tests I've taken in the past. I think the last time I took one, I was an ENTP, this time around I was ENTJ. This last test showed the P (Perceiving) to be 49.89% and the J (Judging) to be 50.11%... so really I guess it could go either way. LOL!

Extroverted (E) 72.86% Introverted (I) 27.14%
Intuitive (N) 55.38% Sensing (S) 44.62%
Thinking (T) 52.38% Feeling (F) 47.62%
Judging (J) 50.11% Perceiving (P) 49.89%

ENTJ - "Field Marshall". The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 1.8% of total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Main type	Variant

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Type 3 Image Awareness |||||||||||||||||||| 86% Type 4 Sensitivity |||||||||||||||||| 73% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||||| 56% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||||||||||| 80% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||||||||||||||| 76% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||||||| 66% Your main type is 2 Your variant is sexual

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Great DIrector's Cut!

I’ve never really been big in purchasing the “Director’s Cut” of movies when I already own a copy of the original movie. Typically, there are only a few deleted scenes added to the special “Director’s Cut.” Huge rip off!!! This time around though, I heard the Director’s Cut of Daredevil was different… not only were some deleted scenes placed back into the movie, but some scenes from the theatrical version were taken out… the story actually changed a bit! So, I bought it yesterday (along with Revenge of the Sith of course) and I just finished watching it.

(Side note for those of you who know me quite well… I have not yet watched my new and legal copy of Revenge of the Sith. Why? Simple… I was stuck at work all day yesterday and watched it over and over again for 18 hours… my brain can’t take anymore Star Wars right now!)

Anyway… now from the start, I’ve always thought that Daredevil got an unfair rap… Yes, the comic books for Daredevil always sucked… and yes, the film had its problems and it was far from perfect… but the fact that many critics placed the film on their "Worst Of" lists for 2003 is simply ludicrous. This was clearly a case of critics jumping onto the hate bandwagon for a large scale film (Ron does this all the time now! Heh!) And, unfortunately for Ben Affleck, he is constantly the target of critic hatefests… sorry dude, Gigli didn’t help matters! LOL!

The Director’s Cut of Daredevil is a huge improvement over the original. It fleshes out many aspects that were glossed over in the 90 minute theatrical release. From what I can remember of the comics, this version is also far more loyal to the feel of the comic book Daredevil world… but again, I was never a really big Daredevil fan (long story)… but I did always relate to the tortured soul of Matt Murdock.

The best part is that the film is now darker overall, more violent and just plain grittier. The fights, particularly those near the end with Bullseye and Kingpen, are more extensive. They are bloodier and more intense and they work better in the context of this new cut. I noticed that this version is now rated R!

The most significant aspect of this new cut might be that the story of Elektra now takes a distant backseat to Daredevil. This may actually explain the choice to go with the more streamlined original theatrical cut, in which Elektra is almost as big a character as Daredevil himself… which I found absolutely ridiculous!

Now, with a longer and more extensive backstory, Elektra is only a marginal character and her part on the whole is reduced. Parts of the love story from the theatrical cut have also been taken out, which shifts the focus from a romantic action story to a dark origin film.

This version makes Daredevil's story and his struggles a whole lot more engaging. I now would be very interested to see a second Daredevil film!

The Tragedy Of Anakin Skywalker

So, Revenge of the Sith will be released this Tuesday. This really should have been the best movie for the Star Wars saga, as it was the climactic point at which the hero falls to darkness (where Anakin becomes the monster, Darth Vader)… but it wasn’t… because George Lucas was too caught up in special effects that he completely forgot about the importance of the story!!! I digress…

Anyway, the entire Star Wars saga, can be viewed not just as a mythic story of heroes and villains, but more so as a tragedy… the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker. There is a general pattern that tragic heroes typically follow, or at least in the stories I’m familiar with (i.e. Shakespeare, Roman & Greek Mythology, comic books, etc…)

• The hero usually has some sort of high social status (like a king, prince, knight, etc…) The important thing with this attribute is that you can clearly see that this person has the makings of greatness, potentially. The Force, according to Qui-Gon and the Jedi council, is extraordinarily strong with young Anakin. Though Yoda has his doubts, Anakin is granted permission to be trained as a Jedi.
• The hero will have a flaw (the tragic flaw.) In Anakin’s case, his lust for power and control… even control over life and death!
• Something happens in the story that creates a sense of urgency! Anakin’s mother is captured by Tusken Raiders. He haphazardly ignores Obi-Wan’s orders to stay put and journey’s to find his mother.
• Then there’s some sort of accident. Things happen a split-second too late… the hero operates on what he believes to be the case rather than what he actually knows to be the case. Upon rescuing her at Tusken Raider encampment, Anakin’s mother dies… so Anakin decides to slaughter all the Tusken Raiders (even the women and children!!!)
• Conflicts arise which cause the death or alienation of all of the hero’s former friends, allies, and/or mentors, eventually removing all forms of support for the hero. He must now face things all alone. Well, Anakin demolishes the Jedi Temple, including all of the occupants (mostly children.) Oh yeah… he chops off Mace Windu’s hand too, essentially declaring his support to Darth Sidious! (on a side note... what the hell is up with George Lucas's fascination with all of the chopping off of limbs.? Darth Maul is chopped in half, Jango Fett's head is chopped off, Anakin's arms is chopped off, both of Count Dooku's hands are chopped off, Mace Windu's hand is chopped off, Luke's hand is chopped off, and Darth Vader's hand is chopped off... it's like a Monty Python flick!)
  
• Now that the hero is isolated there are new problems… sleeplessness, rage, confusion, hallucination, and violence! Through episodes 4 – 6, Darth Vader is isolated from everyone… everybody is scared shitless of this guy because he is pure evil, killing those who fail or even disappoint him!
• At some point, the opposing forces must mobilize against the hero in order to bring the tragedy to its conclusion. This is easy… the Rebel Alliance proves this point! They want Vader and the Emperor out of power!
  
• At some point, the hero must realize the mistake he has made that is bringing about his demise. He must know that he, and he alone, is to blame for his downfall. Unfortunately (or more appropriately, tragically,) this recognition always comes to late to save the life of the hero. Though ordered to do so by the Emperor, Darth Vader does not kill Luke. He realizes in the final battle that he does have feelings for his son… he’s not completely a monster.
• While the hero's life is forfeit, he does receive some chance to redeem himself, at least a little… a display of courage, nobility of the heart, self-sacrifice, something to show us that while he was someone who needed to be defeated, brought down, or even a monster, he had good in him. Darth Vader saves the life of his son by killing the Emperor (which in turn hastens his own death as the Emperor’s Sith lightening is short circuiting all of Darth Vader’s circuitry.)
• We must recognize what a tragic waste the death of the hero is, what kind of person he could have been had it not been for his mistakes and downfall (back to the beginning… recognition of the hero’s potential for greatness!) In Darth Vader’s last few moments alive with his son, we see and feel that Anakin was worth saving.
• The tragic hero must die! So yeah, Anakin dies on Death Star II. Very tragic!
  

The Phantom Zone

So I had a completely weird dream last night… first off, I find it even more strange that I remembered my dream. Haven’t done that in a really long time… I just assumed I stopped dreaming! Hehe! Anyway, my dream was about being stuck in the Phantom Zone. For those wondering, WTF… the Phantom Zone is that weird twilight dimension discovered by Superman's father, Jor-El. Kryptonian criminals were banished to the Phantom Zone to serve out their sentences as disembodied wraiths. Inside, the exhiled inhabitants exist in a phantom state… unaging… requiring no food… air… or water… communicating with one another telepathically.


How did this shit get in mind? Probably because I was watching Superman II last night at the store. Jor-El and the Kryptonian Council sentenced General Zod and his two lackeys, Ursa and Non, to spend eternity in the Phantom Zone for their crime of sedition. Anyway, they are able to observe everything that takes place in the physical universe - either on Earth or in outer space - even though they cannot be seen or heard themselves. So in the comic book, all the inhabitants of the Phantom Zone, including General Zod, have learned that Superman is secretly Clark Kent by observing Superman from inside the Phantom Zone. I’ve always wondered why this fact was never in the movie.

I don’t know whether I’m more excited about actually seeing the next Harry Potter movie, or the trailer that’s been promised to play before that movie (the Superman Returns trailer.)

Funny Flash Video

GothamWhore always has wonderfully enjoyable content on his blog... check out this funny flash video that he came across!

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end.php

Pretty funny shit! :-D

Thinking About Vampire Movies With Halloween On The Way

I’ve definitely seen my share of vampire flicks, and before the mid 80’s, vampire movies were still suffering from a bad case of Lugosi-itis. For those not really into the vampire movie scene, that means the vampire genre still hadn’t been able to shake Bela Lugosi’s brilliant impression of a bloodsucker (no, not a lawyer) in Dracula more than 50 years earlier. Although other movies, and other actors, had all tried their hand at reinventing the vampire movie, the overwhelming impression was that a vampire was some guy who talked funny and wore evening clothes.

Tonight, I honor one of the great vampire movies, The Lost Boys (1987). Why this movie you ask… because I’m watching at the moment while I type this post out… it’s also the motivation behind me even typing this entry to begin with! Anyway, the movie freaking rocks! With this movie, vampires are hip and cool, who wear leather jackets and ride motorcycles and have great hair (well, for the 80’s that is). Best of all, they are young and attractive (always a plus), even when ready to make a withdrawal from your own private blood bank… in other words, they can suck me anytime! Heh! The movie’s tag line sums it up best: “Sleep all day… Party all night… It’s fun to be a vampire.”

Other fantastic vampire movies include: Fright Night (1985), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Vampire Hunter D (1985), Interview with the Vampire (1994), and Monster Squad (1987 – not specifically a vampire movie, but I love it just the same). Yes, there are others great ones, but these would be my favorites!

Dreadful Doom Movie

After reading about five great reviews on the new Doom movie, I fully expected the movie to at least be decent… so against my better judgment, I went to see it earlier today.

It was just as bad as I had anticipated before reading the reviews. Lesson learned… stop reading movie reviews! These people have lost there freaking minds!!!

In all fairness, there was one really great scene near the end of the movie that looked just like the classic Doom PC game. So if you’ve ever enjoyed playing the original game, you’ll get a kick out of that scene… that only lasts for about three minutes!

My recommendation… don’t go to the movie… instead, go purchase Doom 3 for PC. I’m certain you’ll be much more pleased with it rather than the movie. Better yet... if you're desperate for a great movie, wait for the new Harry Potter movie next month!!! That movie is going to kick ass!

No New Releases To Recommend Today!

Today’s New Release Tuesday sucked! Nothing particularly great came out on DVD today. One of my favorite things to do each Tuesday morning when I open is to go peruse the new releases and select my copies before the store opens… not today though! For the most part, it was just a huge disappointment!

I never saw the Bewitched movie with Nicole Kidman and Will Farrell… though seeing how it lasted like an entire three weeks at most of the theaters around here, I’m gonna take it that the movie probably isn’t very good. I could be wrong though, but I'm definitely not purchasing it on the off chance that I may be wrong!

Herbie: Fully Loaded was released today… also known as the last time Lindsay Lohan was cute! What happened with her anyway? She used to be quite attractive… now, not at all!

Also released today, House of Wax. Need I say more? To tell you the truth, I’d watch it just to see Paris Hilton get killed in it! It may be worth at least one viewing… probably not!

The only thing I may be interested in is the re-release of The Wizard of Oz. Wonderful movie… especially when you get drunk and watch it in unison with Dark Side of the Moon! I may need to schedule that for later on this week! :-D

At least Revenge of the Sith comes out next week! Yea!!!

It's Not Unusual

It's not unusual that we have entirely too much fun at work goofing off rather than actually being productive in any way, shape, or form! Here is William's academy award winning rendition of Carlton Banks doing the Tom Jones dance!


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New Warehouse Mascot

Sean, my merchandise manager, and I were have a nice conversation this morning (can’t remember what it was about… all I could think of was eating… I was so hungry) at the front of the store when Sam, my warehouse manager, comes running up and informs us of a sticky situation in the back of the warehouse.

As he was laying the wooden pallets down in the receiving area in preparation for today’s replenishment truck, he noticed that something was stuck to one of the pallets. One of those stick mouse traps was stuck to a pallet, and it was accompanied by a little friend (who I immediately named “Jack” for all intensive purposes… after Jack Sparrow.) Jack’s two back feet were stuck to this stick mouse pad quite firmly.

Sam is quite fearful of mice (and yes, this was not a rat, rather just a very large mouse.) He wanted to drop a sledgehammer on its head or throw him in the trash compactor. Needless to say, I did not allow Jack to be executed. Sean figured he could cut around some of the gooey crap around Jack’s feet to set him free… as Sean approached Jack with the shears, Jack found enough strength to set himself loose and ran across the warehouse to hide (which prompted Sam to run… almost screaming away.)

So, Jack is somewhere in the warehouse, don’t know where though. He must have thought that Sean was going to eat him or something. I was going to take a picture of him on my cell phone, but I didn’t want you animal activists to come after me with pitch forks and such… which by the way, the mouse trap was not ours, it was simply stuck to a tote from the distribution center… we don’t approve of using those kind of traps as I feel it is more of a torture device (hence the reason we tried to free him from the trap)… I’m all about the old style traps! Snap, your dead!

"You'll always remember this as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!"

Star Wars Limited Edition PEZ Collector's Set

This was shipped to the store yesterday afternoon. Apparantly PEZ is only making 250,000 of these collector sets (you're looking at #52,221.) Whoever would have thought that there would come a day that I would fork over $20 for PEZ?

Restoring The Rusty Routine

So Justin took my measurements this last Sunday (as it’s been about 10 weeks since the last time we took measurements.) I was actually a little concerned going into this because over the last 4 weeks, I’ve felt I lost a lot of weight (both fat and lean mass.) Though I’ve been keeping up with the resistance training, I’ve pretty much neglected the cardio.

Anyway, to my surprise, the measurements turned out much better than I had anticipated. I gained more muscle mass in my arms and chest, and I dropped two inches in the waist. My body fat even dropped one percentage point (which still puzzles me because I haven’t been doing the cardio that would have made this happen.) So overall, I was quite pleased with the outcome.

I really need to get back on cardio. I used to run every night or morning, but that hasn’t been since February. Starting tomorrow morning, I’m going to reinstate my morning physical training by running 2-3 miles each day. It’s really gonna suck because I’ll have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to do this (prior to going into work at 7:00am.)

There are definitely benefits of running each morning. First off, it really makes me feel wonderful all day (just not in the morning when I’m still half asleep.) Secondly, it generates a great source of mental discipline that I’ve slacked off on for too long this year. Lastly, it will give me more definition… I’m already quite lean and tone, but cardio is what will truly rip you up!

Hilarious He-Man Video

I debated on whether or not to post this video due to its enormous size... it's nearly 20 mb. In the end, I decided to post it anyway because it is just too damn funny not to! So, if you have a little bit of time, this is definitely worth watching (especially if you've ever watched He-Man!) The video itself runs for just over 4 minutes. Enjoy!


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New Release Tuesday

It's been a LONG while since a great DVD has been released. All the film companies have been waiting closer to the holiday season to release their "quality" products. Needless to say, Batman Begins was on the top of my DVD shopping list for the day. Anyway, I totally forgot that He-Man, Season I, Volume I (first 33 episodes) was also being released today!!!


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I always kinda wondered about He-Man... was he gay? Of course he was!!! That's what I like most about the cartoon! Hehe!

Every now and then when battling Skeletor, He-Man seemed to take an extra long hold of Skeletor's buttocks! LOL!

But what about Teela? Weren't He-man and her an item? Well, no! The only thing He-man liked about Teela was her stud of a father, Man-At-Arms. Ever notice how He-man always, excuse the pun, seemed to blow her off in favor of the men in their posse?

I mean, look at He-Man's dual identities... One minute he's the timid, effeminate Prince Adam, the classic 'Nancy-boy'... The next minute he's He-man, every gay man's sexual fantasy. He's a muscular, tanned, loincloth wearing stud.

You Can't Take The Sky From Me

I’ve waited awhile to post about Serenity… I wanted to make sure that I was over the OMFG-this-movie-rocks feeling you get when finally see a long anticipated movie. Being of sound mind at this point (now that the movie has been out for a couple weeks,) I can now state for a fact that… OMFG, this movie rocks!

Apparently, if you’ve never seen the short lived series that the movie was based upon, Firefly, you will still undoubtedly enjoy the movie, but you’ll be missing the heart of the movie. For example… for anyone familiar with Joss Whedon’s work (i.e. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, etc…) you know that the man has no problem killing off primary characters. It definitely creates suspense because nothing is predictable… he creates an atmosphere that anything goes… anything can happen. Anyway, he does exactly that in Serenity… he kills off a couple primary characters. This is much more of an impact for those who watched and enjoyed the series (in all honesty, if you watched the series, I guarantee you enjoyed it!) than those coming into the movie with no prior knowledge of the cast of characters.

So what makes the series or movie so great?

Joss Whedon! Joss is a fantastic writer! He was obviously involved with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (as he created them,) but he also wrote great scripts for other films such as Toy Story, Titan AE, etc… He is very character driven… this is what can make a bad movie with a horrible plot good, or a simply good movie great. Take the original Star Wars Trilogy for example. Most would agree that The Empire Strikes Back is the best, simply because of the attention and development of all the characters (George Lucas is great, but thank God Irvin Kershner directed this one!)

Each character in Firefly is great because the actor/actress portraying them fit the part perfectly, and each of the character is so sufficiently developed that I can easily say there isn’t a bad one amongst them. That’s really hard to find in a TV show or movie. Nowadays, it’s all about special effects, or commercialization, etc… there’s a major lack of originality in the film and TV industry.

So what’s it about?

Firefly is all about life on the frontier of space and the freedom of having a ship to call your own and only yourself to answer to. There are lots of parallels to the expansion of the west... including six shooters (the Alliance… the melding of the US and China into the last government on Earth… controls energy and more advance weapons) and characters including a preacher and a town prostitute. There is a blend of action as well as snappy dialog and plot twists (something Joss Whedon is known for.)

No aliens are included in the series as humans can be alien enough when left on their own and away from most justice and organized systems. The crew and passengers of the Firefly-class ship, Serenity, learn to work together finding their own strengths and more freedom then they’ve ever known.

It truly is one of the best series to come along in a while with interesting characters and great plots… so naturally it didn’t last very long. Fox television canceled it after only 9 episodes had aired (all 11 episodes are included in the DVD set.) It fortunately has found a new batch of fans with the series release on DVD with enough interest (and overwhelming sales) to convince Universal Studios to buy the rights. In turn, they created the film, Serenity!

I posted the lyrics to the Firefly theme last week. What I like most about the lyrics is that it describes the main character, Captain Malcom Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillion) so perfectly! Here’s an audio clip of it for those interested in hearing it.


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Relaxing And Pondering

The parts of the day I didn’t spend in sweet slumber, I watched two movies. The first, American Psycho (great movie), I watched in anticipation of tomorrow’s DVD release of Batman Begins! Christian Bale is completely and utterly hot in both movies!

The second movie, Thirteen Days, is about how the Kennedy Administration handled the Cuban missile crisis during the thirteen days in October of 1962 that it occurred! Back in college, I jumped at any every opportunity to write any kind of paper on John F. Kennedy or Robert F. Kennedy!

It wasn’t actually until October 22, 1962, that President Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba, a mere 90 miles off the shores of Florida. After weighing such options as an armed invasion of Cuba and air strikes against the missiles, Kennedy decided on a less dangerous response... blockade. In addition to demanding that Russian Premier Khrushchev remove all the missile bases and their deadly contents, Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine (a blockade is technically an act of war, so the term “quarantine” was used instead) of Cuba in order to prevent Russian ships from bringing additional missiles and construction materials to the island. In response to the American naval blockade, Premier Khrushchev authorized his Soviet field commanders in Cuba to launch their tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by U.S. forces. Deadlocked in this manner, the two leaders of the world's greatest nuclear superpowers stared each other down for seven days… until Khrushchev blinked. On October 28, thinking better of prolonging his challenge to the United States, the Russian Premier conceded to President Kennedy's demands by ordering all Soviet supply ships away from Cuban waters and agreeing to remove the missiles from Cuba's mainland. After several days of teetering on the brink of nuclear holocaust, the world breathed a sigh of relief.

One of my favorite quotes from John F. Kennedy is from a speech he gives in reference to this situation… anytime I hear it, it helps keeps me going when I don’t think I have anymore to give, and it gives me hope when I’ve lost all hope.

"Our problems are man-made. Therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved a seemingly unsolvable."

Anyway… I now await the release of Batman Begins!

Stock

I’ve been noticing an interesting trend with my employee stock purchase plan over the last two years. Each time that stock is allocated, usually sometime in the middle of a given month, the stock is more or less at the same price that it’s been at for the last couple weeks (sometimes it’s a bit higher... which sucks!) But each time, without fail, the day after the stock is allocated, the stock drops in price by $0.50 - $1.00. What the hell is going on here!? Is there some kind of conspiracy to rip us off of our employee stock benefit?

Sabbatical Nearing An End

As my week long vacation comes to a close, I’d have to say it went well. I didn’t go anywhere special… didn’t do anything crazy… wasn’t even relaxing for the most part, but I still really enjoyed it. This was probably one of the best weeks I’ve had in a really long time! Just got a lot accomplished.

• Keeping my old job… not moving on. Various reasons, but nonetheless, staying put and I’m pretty content with that.
• Finally got a new remote-start / alarm for my car after I destroyed my other piece of shit one back in early July (refer back to previous post, The Series of Unfortunate Events Continues). It’s a new brand, and it works marvelously!
• Went to the optometrist after five years now to get a new contact lens prescription… as it turns out, my vision actually is about the same. I’m probably gonna get the laser surgery next year since my eye sight is now stable at nearly blind.
• Got my dryer rewired for the new apartment… to be exact my dad did the rewiring. I didn’t want to be held responsible if the place burned down while I was drying clothes. Anyway, now that it’s functional, I’m nearly all unpacked now.
• Purchased a 42” Panasonic plasma tv a couple days ago. This ensures I’ll be broke until the end of the year. It looks freaking awesome!

Overall, I’m pleased with my time-away from work. I was able to get some things accomplished that I’ve been putting off. Though there wasn’t a lot of rest time, I do feel refreshed. Sometimes certain people and circumstances make my life quite unbalanced, for good or bad… and I just need a little time to regain my focus.

Black And Gus?

This silly video is compliments of Sir Charles the Great (aka Blaque Vader... Nior Vade en francais or Negro Vaderoso en espanol.)


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Finding Abby Road

As I searched through a box full of dvd's that I've yet to put up, simply because I have nowhere to put them at the moment, I ran across something I thought I had lost several years ago… my Abby Road cd. Why is this a big deal you may wonder. It's an old album. For the most part, I don't even listen to cd's anymore, it's all about the XM now. There is something special about Abby Road to me though. I love the Beatles, this is true... and they've made countless of other albums I enjoy.

For this one though I find it astonishing, given the hostile and bitter feelings the members of the group bore for one another at the time of its recording, that this album was ever made. The fact that it is easily one of the greatest ever recorded, by them or any other group, is no less than a small miracle. Even more amazing to me is the fact of how hopeful the entire album sounds. It always has a way of lifting my spirits whenever I'm down, even when I'm feeling perfectly fine. Always guaranteed to get a smile!

Ffuts Ym, Ffuts Driew

What I enjoy most about life is its little surprises. Just when you think you have something completely figured out, you find out that you truly don’t! Sometimes it’s for the best, sometimes for the worst… at the very least, it’s always intriguing!

Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur

I’m on vacation at the moment, until Wednesday... A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, and relaxation… of which I haven’t had the opportunity to really enjoy yet do to weird situations with offers and counteroffers with various employers, amongst other issues as well.

I need a ratchet set so I can rewire my dryer… I’ve only been putting this off for about two weeks now. Other than that, all I have to say is “tortilla!” (What ever the hell that’s supposed to mean!)

Store Wars

Surfin the net, as I usually do when I'm bored out of my mind, I ran across this hysterical Star Wars spoof.


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The First Porn Video

Since I know that my fabulous friend Josh has a most extensive library of internet porn, I decided to post this short little video... this one's for you Josh!


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Joss Whedon - Firefly

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand

I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me

Take me out to the black
Tell 'em I ain't comin' back

Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me

There's no place I can be
Since I've found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me

Thundercats On DVD

December 6, Thundercats: Season 1, Vol 1 & 2 is slated to be released on DVD! Exciting shit! The cartoon intro's always get me so hyped up!!! LOL!


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Panthro is definately my favorite Thundercat... he's just so cool! Nearly every Thundercats fan I've talked to regards Panthro as the token minority character. And it's basically true. As hard as it might seem to get a black stereotype into a children's cartoon about a bunch of humanoid cats with Twisted Sister hairdos, they pulled it off. Essentially, Panthro is the 'black guy' of the group. And if you've watched enough cartoons in your day, you'd know that the producers somehow firmly believe that every black guy must talk like a weathered jazz musician who knows how to fix cars, and Panthro's no exception. Also, I'm not sure if I'm right on this or not, but I always considered Panthro the oldest of the group. I'm not sure if that's due to his grand insight, calm and collected outlook on things, or simply because he's bald. Either way, even for a Thundercat, those are some pretty fucking pointy ears.

Btw, it just occured to me that it looks a lot like Mumm-Ra lives in the same pyramid that's on the back of a one dollar bill! Speaking of Mumm-Ra... the badass villain of the show seemed to have all the tools... red eyes, Adonis physique, sword, confetti hanging off his helmet... but there was one very dubious way to end his evil ways: show him his reflection. Nice, huh? Lion-O and Mumm-Ra would be about to fight their long-awaited duel, and all us kids (yes, Jennifer and Kristy watched the show too) would jump from our seats waiting for the swords to strike. Then Mumm-Ra would see his reflection in Lion-O's sword, turn into a mummy, and run off. This happened in about 80% of the episodes. Tell me something... if that's all it took, why didn't all the good guys just wear mirrorplates on their chests? Mumm-Ra's really stuck in a tough spot... let's say he was pining to attack, but all the Thundercats were off eating in a Chinese restaurant. There's no way Mumm-Ra could even think about winning the battle there... those places are covered in mirrors.

Down & Out!

This grandma goes down for count! Mental note to self: be mindful of the soccor ball's location at all given times while walking near the field during game play!


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Still Alive

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated! So, I'm almost completely settled in to my new place. There are still some outstanding issues (i.e. dryer not working, no internet.)

On to the subject of no internet... I didn't realize how dependent I was on the internet. I do just about everything online. Essentially, I have SBC (with a freaking contract of course), but the phone lines are owned by Grande Communications. Both companies tell me that I'll be up and running in no time, but I'm still with out my dsl. If John Lennon were still around, I could see him adding internet access to and updated version of Imagine... "Imaging all the people, living life with out the world-wide web!"

Anyway, I had an appointment with Justin this morning, which means I had to be all the way back up in Round Rock. Since I was in the area, I went ahead and stopped by my mom's house to see my ferrets and wash some clothes (and get on the internet.)

Kobayashi Maru

After an evening workout at the gym, I ran over to my mom's house to replace a dead-bolt that she's been having issues with. That was absolute pain in the ass!!! The lock didn't quite fit right, the door was metal, and my mom could find her drill! After about 15 minutes of brute force, everything finally fell into place!

Anyway, before I left, my mom gave me the best news that I've heard in a really long time. My mom, Kristy, and Kimball offered to care for my ferrets so that I don't have to give them up (all I need to do is provide the financial support for them, which is completely fine by me.) I was so shocked... so truly happy! I've only really cried 3 times since my grandmother died (twice when my heart was broken, and once when my ferret Kodo died unexpectedly,) but I came pretty close tonight after hearing this joyous news! I can't describe how relieved and blessed I feel! I was so sure I was going to have to give my babies up!

Cleaning The Past

Don’t let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief, shining moment that
was known as Camelot.
I have a nice desk in my study… each time that I’ve moved, I went about moving it the lazy way. I’d seal up the drawers quite securely, and then we’d carry the heavy thing out. This time I actually decided to clean out all of the contents from each drawer. There were things in there I haven’t seen in over ten years.

I found some old pictures of my old dog, Aspen. She was my birthday present for my 11th birthday. We found her at the Cedar Park Humane Society… she was six weeks old when she came home with me. I kept the pictures of course.

Anyway, I also found an old rose that I received from someone I loved dearly many years ago… she gave it to me on the last day I saw her. She told me that I would always be in her heart, but she didn’t love me (story of my life.) Needless to say, I threw it away tonight.

I also found the knife that impaled me when I was 16 years old. I had totally forgotten that I even kept that thing. Time may heal some things, but scars do remain… this scar is still clearly visible right under my rib cage. Not sure why, but I went ahead and kept the knife tonight.

The whole time I’m cleaning out the desk, my ferrets are right there watching me with curiosity... I can’t help but wonder what I’m going to do with them. It breaks my heart to have to give them up. I’m so lost on what to do.

I Am The Walrus, But Only On TV

Ever have one of those days where you're not really sure if your actually awake, but nothing really suggests otherwise... and it hurts to breathe, but only on one side of your body (probably due to sleeping back-ass backwards on a green sofa)... and your head hurts, but only when you say certain words out loud to yourself such as "sentient" and "conversance"... and everything you eat for breakfast tastes like the hot air from a car (with black leather interior) baking in the sun on July 5, 1995... that pretty much sums up my morning.

Days like this always end up with about 5 hours of wasted dead time blocked together at some point in the middle of the day. There will of course be a short nap that induces a migraine as well. Best of all, a realization that "fuck... there was something really important I needed to do today, but now it's too late!" Who knows, even the viewing of a movie at the theater that has about a 47% chance of being humorous (even in some convoluted manner... i.e. laughing hysterically at something that in all reality shouldn't be funny, but it still is), 39% chance of being completely unoriginal, and 14% makes 100%.

Today's thought of the day is brought to you by The Facts of Life!


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Bill On Superman

Anyone who's seen both volumes of Kill Bill should agree that the first is a lot better than the second. The first flowed so much more naturally, while the second one was just plain slow. The second one did however have a wonderful part in it that I remember vividly.

Near the end of the film, David Carradine compares Uma Thurman's character (a character born to kill... trying to live a normal life) to the character of Superman.

"Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman, Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he is Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses the business suit, that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race."

I agree with this for the most part. The only argument I would make is that Clark Kent is Superman's critque of the human race, but not in the negative way that David Carradine describes. It is true that Kent is a bumbling idiot... but he's also extremely loyal, caring, and giving. This is what he knows exists in all humans. That is Superman's true critique on the human race.

And it is true that Superman will never have a normal life. All he can do is disguise himself as a normal human and try to get by. He won't ever be normal. He'll always be different. This is something that he has accepted, but still hurts him nonetheless.

Nasty Nate Strikes Back!

I'm a huge advocate of having fun at work. Beating the hell out of three defenseless bags of ice... fun!


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I can feel your anger. I am unarmed. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!

Tired Or Sad.... Maybe Both

Today’s the last day of work, more or less, for about 10 days… and I’m drained… I think I’ve spent a grand total of 15 minutes at home this last week! Too bad I won’t really get to rest til sometime next week as I now have to begin packing and preparing to move later this week.

I need to do something about my ferrets since they can’t come with me. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them yet. I do know that I’m going to miss them terribly! No matter how alone I’ve ever felt, at the very least I always had them… now I won’t even have that. :-(

Han, Old Buddy, Don't Let Me Down

Sesar pays tribute to one of the great Star Wars characters that is commonly overlooked by most fans... Lando Calrissian!

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Superman Returns Teaser Trailer!!!

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Didn't See That Coming

On very rare occasions, people’s actions surprise me. For the most part though, just about everything everyone does falls right inline with the character I perceive them to have.

I wouldn’t say that my father and I are particularly close by any means. Sporadically, we’ll go out to dinner or see a movie, but that’s about it. We don’t talk about anything except for politics (which I don’t really care to talk about anymore.) I’ve always felt a little left out in my family… Jennifer was always my dad’s favorite kid, and Kristy was my Mom’s. Now they’ll both swear that they don’t have favorites, but we all know better!

Nonetheless, that being said, I still feel that I know my father pretty well… hell, I’ve known him my entire life! He’s very smart, hard working, and open-minded… but he’s also often quite cheap, completely indecisive, and very reluctant to help others.

Anyway, over this last weekend, he went to Beaumont, TX (near Louisiana) to help out with the hurricane victims! I’m still shocked! I have no idea what possessed him to do such a thing… it’s just so out of character! He just went on his own accord… on his spare time over the weekend… even took a day off of work to help out.

Whatever the reason, I’m so very proud of him for doing it! Most of all, I’m proud to be his son!

One More Personality Test

Modern, Cool Nerd 60 % Nerd, 65% Geek, 21% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the ones you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 48% on nerdiness You scored higher than 94% on geekosity You scored higher than 26% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Sitting Here Bored

So today, I once again had to go to another store in San Antonio to help them fix some issues that have plagued them for quite some time now. As I left, I noticed a baby bat on the wall of the store. That was really the climax of my day... at the moment, I'm at a dead stop on the interstate. I'm literally sitting 25 ft from a terrible 9 car accident. I've been sitting here watching cop cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and helicopters come and go for the last 45 minutes!

Big Caulk Waiting For Me In My Office

I was suprised to find some caulk sitting on my desk in my office at work today. Apparently it has an aggressive initial grab, has excellent wet strength, and of course has easy clean up! A word of caution though... it's an eye irritant... avoid contact with eyes!

Dumb Ass!!!

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Dumb ass!!! That's pretty much all that needs to be said! (Though it is truly amazing how fast that arrogant little smirk transforms into complete pain!)

Just A Thought

It has occurred to me on several occasions that sacrifice and love may have a connection that goes back a long way. For nearly two-thousand years, one of Western civilization's great 'keepers' has contained this passage: "Greater love hath no man than a man lay down his life for his friend." (Ok... yes... this quote comes from the bible, John 15:13... but in no way am I a freaking bible freak... you get me! I just really liked the quote and its meaning!)

Anyway, I find the choice of words quite significant. Why not greater honor hath no man? Or greater righteousness? Perhaps it's because sacrifice... putting the needs of someone else before our own, is the cornerstone of true love. It's the bench mark by which we separate it from mere attraction or infatuation.

What the hell do I know about love though?! Really nothing. Just a thought. Speaking of which, time for another one of Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts:
"The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face."