Summer Movie Review

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last updated! Anywho, I'm sure you're all dying to know my opinion on the big summer blockbuster movies. I'll start worst to first.

Transformers 2
I really had high hopes for this one since the first one was so good. What I thought was good was seeing Optimus Prime kicking butt and taking names. That was about it. The movie was way too long, had too many robots, too much robot swearing, too much marijuana, too much robot anatomy, too much super lame dialog, too much robot leg lovin', too much robot bodily functions, and most offensively, too much of the Jar Jar twins. I really wanted to watch this show with Jesse but after seeing it I knew that it wasn't appropriate for him. Transformers 3 has already been announced for July1st, 2011. Hopefully the series can improve.

Final score: 1.5 out of 4 stars


X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I have a better name for this movie: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Here's the good, they stayed pretty faithful to the comics as far as the true origin story. Wolverine's brother Sabretooth looked and acted much better than in X-Men 1. Deadpool. Cyclop's optic blasts were finally as powerful as they should be. The bad, the plot was silly, some of the special effects were cheesy and some of the acting was laughable. The ugly was the last guy and that the movie had multiple ending depending on which theater you were in. Overall I liked the show but I didn't love it. Wolverine 2 is being planned out, but no future release date yet.

Final score: 2.5 out of 4 stars


Terminator Salvation
One misconception that people have about the Terminator movies is that they are really good movies. Truth is, they are really good action movies, but the acting, which the exception of T2, isn't great. This is no exception. This is a loud movie with lots of explosions and killer robots, and it's fun. The visual effects were very impressive, as were the sound effects. There is an Arnold look alike in there as well, but the Governator did not make an appearance. Terminator 5 is in the works for a summer 2011 release.

Final score: 2.5 out of 4 stars

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
This movie is a bit of a mystery. The acting was silly, the SFX were ok, the plot had holes that you could steer an aircraft carrier through and there really wasn't anything original or new, yet it was quite entertaining. It does meet the trifecta of awesomeness: Ninjas, explosions and babes. Darth Maul returns as the silent ninja Snake-Eyes, and his moves are as impressive as they have ever been. My main complaint about the show was the mask that Cobra Commander put on at the very end. I've seen more sinister looking CPAP masks. Past that, the show really did play out like a live action version of the cartoon.

Final score: 3 out of 4 stars


Star Trek
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. This movie was amazing in so many ways. I have very little to complain about when it comes to this show. The awesomeness that Star Wars was in the 80's is what this show will be for the next decade. I can't wait to buy it and watch it again and again.

Final score: 4 out of 4 stars

Honorable Mentions: In all my movie going experiences I haven't been able to see Harry Potter 6. I've heard it's good, but I'll probably wait until it comes out on video to see it. Melissa saw The Proposal three times in the theater and loved it. The kids and Melissa saw Pixar's Up! but weren't thrilled by it.

Not to be outdone

About the same time that Jesse started riding his bike Owen began to ride a scooter and his little tricycle. Owen is definitely channeling the spirit of Evel Knievel, just like his dad. :)

Learning to ride

This weekend my son Jesse's world just got a whole lot bigger. We've been trying to teach him how to ride a bike more intensively the past few weeks, but on Saturday everything just seemed to click and off he went.

Is Star Trek better than Star Wars?

Yes.

Now let me say that I have forgotten more about Star Wars than most people will ever know, and my favorite movie of all time is still "The Empire Strikes Back", but with the launch of the new Star Trek movie I had to rethink my stance. The first Star Wars movie to me was magical and one of my very first memories. Then came Empire which was better in every single way. Finally Jedi came out in the summer of 1983 and I remember watching it 3 times in a row at the Sandcastle theater. Then came the 16 year drought. Rumors would come up every now and then about George Lucas wanting to go back and do episodes 1-3, but nothing ever happened until around 1997 when filming started. I was ecstatic! When the first trailer came out I think it crashed the internet. Everyone wanted to see it and see more of it. Then Phantom Menace came out, and what a woeful movie that was. Highlights: Darth Maul and cool lightsaber fighting. Downers: Everything else except the podracing. Maybe Episode 2 would be better... Nope. Not even a hyperactive Yoda could save this one. Please let Episode 3 be what the fans want! Once again George Lucas gave us a film that could have been great, but was not. The Star Wars prequel trilogy was SO DISSAPPOINTING!!!!!!! The acting was awful, the story was convoluted, and it never even came close to making me feel like the original trilogy did with the exception of the "Duel of the Fates" song.

Then came the new Star Trek movie. J. J. Abrams knows how to tell a story infinitely better than George Lucas. The Star Trek movie was funny, smart, engaging, crisp and extremely enjoyable. It wasn't a perfect show, but never at any point did I think that something was silly or lame. Star Trek aliens looked like aliens without the need to be digital. They were dudes in costumes!!! George, Jar Jar sucked and Yoda looked fake. The star ships in Star Trek were amazing. I'm convinced that ILM's FX department took a quantum leap forward when they did Transformers, and haven't looked back since. Transformers looked great, but then they did Iron Man, and a new level of awesomeness was established. Star Trek looks that much better, but like the very first Star Wars movie, the special effects were used to help tell the story, not be the reason for the movie.

Watching Star Trek filled me with mixed emotions. It was amazing and brought back characters that everyone knew in a way that was fun and imaginative. And that's what bugged me too. Everything that Star Trek was, the new Star Wars movies weren't. They could have been fantastic and wonderful, but they weren't. The new Star Trek franchise has already signed on for 2 more movies with the same cast and crew. I can't wait! Even if the next movies are only half as good as the first, it will still be light years ahead of those other Jedi guys. So here I am a lifelong Star Wars fan deciding that that which I loved so well was good for what it was, but there is something new and shiny and better. I'll never completely give up Star Wars, but if you hear me saying "Live long and prosper" instead of "May the Force be with you" you'll now know why.

Playtime with Bruticus

I am very grateful that I kept my toys in good condition. Lately my boys have been on a Transformers kick, especially Owen who loves to play with the triple transformer Astrotrain, who, as the name implies, is a space shuttle, train and robot. Owen loves playing with it in space shuttle mode! Anywho, once a week I'll break out an old transformer from my box o' antinques and let Jesse see that his Transformers are a lot better designed and articulated than mine, however his are all plastic and mine are metal, as robots should be!!! Last night I busted out Bruticus, one of several combiner robots that I have. It was way fun! Owen was happy to play with the little space shuttle guy, Jesse loved the tank and jeep, and I loved that I still had all the pieces to put it all together!

Free Comic Book Saturday

It's that time of year again when you can venture on down to your favorite comic book shop and pick up free stuff! Go here to find the nearest participating location, then go there this Saturday May 2nd. Enjoy!

A child's prayer

Every once in a while something happens that validates your existence.  Yesterday my little Owen said his first prayer without any help, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. 

A good year for movies

Geeks and nerds rejoice! 2009 is shaping up to be a great year for us to watch a movie or two.

March

I know March has come and gone but it gave comic book geeks a long awaited translation of a graphic novel that many thought could never be filmed in Watchmen. The movie follows a group of heroes and their activities from the late 40’s to the mid 80’s during Nixon’s third term. When the movie comes out on DVD it will feature the nearly 3 hour movie, an animated version of the pirate story (a comic within the comic) and another short featurette. In all about 6 hours worth of stuff watch.

May

May 1st. May starts with a bang with the first movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman will return as the clawed mutant who is teamed up with other governmental experiments Sabretooth, Gambit and Deadpool. Unfortunately for this movie it only has one week to shine before it will be eclipsed by the new Star Trek movie.  

May 8th. The original Spock will be in this one, and from what I’ve heard this will be one of the best in the franchise. This movie is a prequel of sorts that shows how the original members of the starship Enterprise met and came together.  

May 15th. I loved reading Angels & Demons, until the penultimate chapter. I’m sure the movie will be every bit as engaging, but if I watch it I’ll just leave or turn it off before the climax.

May 21st. Ever since BSG went off the air there just hasn’t been enough evil robots. That will all change with the new Terminator Salvation movie. Set in the future and without the Governator (except for a cameo shot) this will be the first in the series to sport a PG-13 rating. The early buzz has good things to say about this flick, and did I mention that Batman is the leader of the human resistance?

May 29th. I love Pixar movies, and with the exception of Ratatouille (which happened to take place the same time we had a mouse infestation in our house), have watched them all plenty of times. Their newest venture, Up looks like it will be another winner.

June

June 24th. Of all the movies coming out this year I think this is the one I’m most excited about! Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. More robots, more cool transforming, and a chance to go to a theater with Jesse and have him geek out with his old man.  

July

July 15th. Hogwarts fans unite! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be hitting the big screen. I’ll probably see this one on DVD. I just remember the book being a little depressing, but of course the ending is what people will be waiting for. The final movie will actually be a two-parter, which means when it’s all said and done you’ll have nearly 16 hours of Harry Potter movies to watch.

August 

August 7th. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I was very excited to hear that my favorite cartoon of the 80’s was being made into a movie, because who doesn’t love to see big robots change into stuff. My next favorite cartoon is probably a tie between ThunderCats and G.I. Joe, but only the latter is coming out this year. The one preview I’ve seen makes it look like a dumb fun popcorn movie, but I’m not really holding my breath that this will be an overwhelmingly awesome show. I will be looking forward to seeing Ray Park (Darth Maul) as the ninja Snake Eyes, but past that I’m just luke warm on the movie.

October

October 16th. Most kids have a fond recollection of the book “Where the Wild Things Are”. Now instead of reading all ten sentences, kids will be able to watch an hour and a half movie!

November

November 20th. This one is for you Babe! Twilight 2: New Moon. I’ll be home watching the kids while Melissa and the girls go watch this one.

Squeez Bacon

A few years after WWII ended, a young man working in a small restaurant in Sweden developed a new way to process bacon. By precooking it and blending it in a special way, he was able to make a fully cooked 100% bacon paste that could be squeezed from a tube. Knowing he had discovered something paradigm-shifting, young Vilhelm Lillefläsk quickly went into business. That, dear friends, is when Squeez Bacon® was born. And this delicious delectable from Sweden has finally been brought over to the USA - now with American Flavor!

We've been working for months now with Vilhelm Lillefläsk (yes, he still runs the company!) to bring Squeez Bacon® here, and boy are we proud. Why? Because Squeez Bacon® is simply the tastiest bacon food product ever made. Did you know that it's rumored ABBA met while eating Squeez Bacon® sandwiches? And even IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad (we've heard) never travels without a case! He loves it on his American style meatballs. Ojojoj!

Vilhelm Lillefläsk's Squeez Bacon® is fully cooked 100% bacon. Due to the patented electro-mechanical process by which Squeez Bacon® is rendered, it requires no preservatives or other additives. Each serving is as healthy as real bacon, and equivalent to 4 premium slices of bacon! You can put it on sandwiches, pizza, pastas, bacon, soups, pies, eat it hot or cold (warm Squeez Bacon® on toasted rye is to die for), substitute it for bacon in your recipes, or even eat it right out of the tube like we do! If it's edible, it's better with Squeez Bacon®. In the immortal words of Vilhelm Lillefläsk, "Aldrig kommer att ge dig upp!" Once you get a taste of Squeez Bacon®, you'll know exactly what he meant.

Warning, this is not for the squeamish!

I just got the original x-rays from my accident today, and I was quite shocked to see how badly my finger was dislocated. This was taken about an hour after it happened, and you can kind of see how swollen my hand got. The other x-ray that I posted previously was taken about a month ago. So if you ever wonder why I'm grumpy or irritable, now you know why :)

An X-ray of my hand

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. (Hint: it's in between the thumb and middle finger)

How to Nuke your city

Have you ever wondered how much damage a nuclear weapon would do in your city? Take the guess work of nuclear annihilation out of your life with new Ground Zero. Know your safe zones, and how much nuclear material you'll need to destroy your enemies. Just be careful, one asteroid impact will probably kill you and the hemisphere you're on.

Thanks for Verifying

Somewhere, someone that works for Blogspot is laughing.

Shiny and Convulsive

In researching how much I could make by selling off an old video card I came across this listing. In the 11+ years of selling on the site I've never come across a description that was worded quite like this. I gotta get me a chinese to english converter. For more funnies like this check out engrishfunny.com though be warned, some of the content is NSFW or approved by your bishop.

Think Outside of the...

Making my computer Super!

For my birthday my sweet wife got me a gaming case for my computer. I haven't been able to use it until last week when I finally made the upgrade. I thought it would be interesting for all 1 of you that read this blog and care about geeky stuff like that how I did it.

Step 1 - After unplugging everything with the old case (custom artwork by Jeff Pugh) I took off the side panel.

Step 2 - With the side panel off and making sure to do all my work on an anti-static mat, I proceeded to pull out the power supply, motherboard, video and sound cards, hard drive and dvd-rom.
Step 3 - After taking out all the parts, I used a can of compressed air to clean everything. Overall I try to keep a clean rig, but all computers will get a bit dirty. It's especially important to keep the fan over the CPU clean because it could lead to the processor getting too hot and becoming damaged, effectively killing your machine.
Step 4 - It felt like my birthday all over again! I finally took the case out of the box and got to examine it. It's a very solid case with a smart design in putting the power supply on the bottom, making the center of gravity lower and reducing the chance for it to fall over if accidentally bumped.
Step 5 - This was the longest step by far. Installing the power supply and motherboard was very straightforward. Putting in the dvd-rom wasn't too bad but I had to take off the other side panel to do it. The hard drive was the most challenging part because of a separate holding bracket that you had to remove first then screw the hard drive into it. Once all the hardware was in I connected everything to the motherboard. Eventually I'd like to replace my dvd-rom with a black one so that it matches better, but also get one that will run off a SATA cable instead of the wide IDE one.Step 6 - Once everything was put into place I plugged in the power supply, hooked up a mouse and keyboard and booted it up. Success!!! Happy that everything was in the right place, including the cool red neon tubes in the center, I used some zip ties for cable management then replaced the side panels. In all it took about 1.5 hours to do. The case is not for beginners, but the manual was instructive and easy to follow. Thanks again to my wife for indulging my wish to have a new case. And in case you were wondering, my old case, an old video card, and some fan grills that didn't fit will all be going on eBay soon. That reminds me, my older sister Michele ended up buying my geeky tie collection :)

Farewell Geeky Tie Collection

I decided to finally get rid of my ties that I haven't worn for a few years. They are now for sale on eBay. The proceeds will probably go to either buying a Kindle for Melissa or a new motherboard for me. We'll see.

Sugden Look-alike Meter

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Sugden Look-alike Meter

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Spider-Man and Obama

Lame.

Thundercats, HO!!!

Once again I have Netflix to thank for another blog entry. I decided to get one of my favorite shows from my childhood and show Jesse to see what he thought. He was a little confused because he thought they were at first people that dressed like cats, then they were cats that looked like people, and finally people that were part cat but mostly people. For me it was fun to see the cartoon, but soon I realized that as a kid I had absolutely no sense of script or plot. I was really bummed that the dialog was so bad! I still think the animation holds up very well, the music is fun and the characters, with the exception of Snarf, are well made. I think my biggest realization from watching this was that it was a lot better when I was a kid, and maybe I should have left it in my past. Lesson learned, and my Netflix queue has been updated with the removal of other "cartoon classics" that I'll just save as a fun memory.

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams

Yesterday I had the opportunity to experience caviar for the first time ever. I've always wanted to try it since it's always made to seem so fancy and tasty. I scooped some on a cracker and thus began my journey into caviar inferno. Honestly, to me the taste wasn't so bad. It was kind of salty and bland. Then the aftertaste kicked in and it was awful! I've never had champagne, but I'm guessing it has the ability to cleanse your palate of the fish egg flavor. Robin Leach had it all wrong. I'd settle for a nice cheese ball and some Ritz with a frosty root beer to wash it down any day. Fish eggs, pffffft!

First Blog of the Year, let's talk tech

This past Christmas the fat man delivered a Blu-Ray player to our house. Since then we've expanded our library to 3 movies, including Night at the Museum, Kung Fu Panda and Casino Royale. My thoughts on it: Blu-Ray is Freakin' AWESOME!!!! Everything is better in high definition! Previews? Better. Menus? Better. Movies? If a movie sucked before, now it only kinda sucks! If it was epically awesome it now makes you go nearly blind from its level of bodacity! Am I overreacting just a bit? No. My only complaint is my BR player is so slow it's nearly painful. Seriously, it takes like 2 minutes for it to power up and start playing a movie. Past that, my only other complaint is that I don't have more time to lay in my bed and watch more HD goodness.