wildyams

So after spending the last couple days at my Dad's place, I'm not back home again. My plans tonight are to watch the Lakers play the Warriors, and then to maybe watch a movie and go to bed. Tomorrow I've got work, then Jeff is coming back into town after spending the last week or so in Hawaii. I'm taking Tuesday and Wednesday off from work and will try to find some fun stuff for Jeff and I to do. Then on Wednesday night at 7 pm we're going to see "The Matrix Revolutions" at the Chinese. I had planned on seeing it on the IMAX up at ShittyWalk, but the word has it that the Warchowski Bros. for some reason wanted to use the entire IMAX screen for this one, and as a result they are pan and scanning the movie. That is garbage so I'm not gonna see it there. Not on opening night, anyway.

Since you guys are all concerned about how the Lakers are doing this year , I figured I'd give a quick update since the Lakers just won their third game of the year to run their record to 3-0 (they're one of only 3 undefeated teams in the NBA right now, which is odd considering I don't think any team has even played more than 4 games yet). There has been a lot of controversy with the Lakers already, with Kobe and Shaq sniping at each other and with Kobe's rape trial (his next court date is November 13th, by the way). The Lakers also have their injuries, what with Kobe missing the first game rehabbing from offseason surgery, Rick Fox is still rehabbing from an injury that knocked him out of last year's playoffs (he's due back in either December or January), with Slava Medvedenko trying to get healthy after a foot injury he suffered in preseason (he's probably a couple days to a couple weeks away), and with the Lakers #1 draft pick, Brian Cook, recovering from a broken finger (he's probably a month away).

Here's a couple random pics for you from last Wednesday when I was hanging out with Jeff and Steve-o down in Venice:

I came across this letter and wanted to share it. It is from a Laker hater who is all worried because the Lakers appear to be much better than he feared they would be. I think the shit is funny

I must be objective and acknowledge that there was something missing in all of those comments that I made in my previous postings about how Kobe had ended any chance the L.A. Lakers had at winning the NBA title this season. What was missing was that I had yet to see the Lakersí new roster play in their first game together, and as a team.

Now that I have seen the Lakers play in the seasonís opening week, I have to take some of my previous statements back and say, with much regret, that all of us Lakers haters are in deep, very deep trouble.

I saw "The Matrix Revolutions" tonight, and I have to say, I don't think I liked it very much. I don't really know though. To be honest, at the end of the movie I was more confused than anything, but I was definitely disappointed. I'm reluctant to say it was total shit just because I've been known to do that before and then later change my mind, so who knows. I get the feeling that even if I see it again and do eventually decide that I end up liking it, there will still be things that I am very disappointed by. I'm not gonna spoil it for those who haven't seen it by talking specifics, but I'll basically just say that with "Reloaded" I felt like it was a good set up, that introduced a lot of interesting ideas and characters and I was curious to see what they were all going to mean and where it was all going to go. Unfortunately, I felt that ultimately they generally meant nothing and it didn't go anywhere. Maybe it just didn't go where I wanted it to go, and I'm judging it based on that, but I really am disappointed that many of the things that were introduced and alluded to were never resolved. So there you go. For those who figured I'd like it no matter what (hell, I almost wondered if I would too), apparently that's not the case. Really I'm just mainly undecided and confused. I will see it again, although I'm not really in any rush to, but when I do hopefully I'll decide whether I do in fact hate it, or whether it was just that I missed the point this time.

As you can tell, this whole thing has been a big disappointment for me, as I have been talking about it with people and thinking a lot about it ever since I saw it last night. I just wanted to share two reviews of "Revolutions" that I have read so far that I think pretty well encapsulated how I feel about the movie and about the whole series so far (warning, if you read them there are spoilers within). This first one I saw on Rotten Tomatoes, and while it was given a 'fresh' label, and does give it three and a half stars (out of five, I presume), it pretty much gives it the business on story and characters:

As hard as it is for me to not do something Matrix-themed this week (cause that's pretty much been the terrible highlight of my week so far), I thought this one might be kinda fun, see what you think:

While reading Fark, I came across this review by Roger Ebert for the Gus Van Sant movie "Elephant" (which I haven't seen, but would like to). Anyway, what struck me about the review (which I didn't finish because I don't want to spoil the movie for myself), was this comment that Ebert had about an interview he gave after the Columbine massacre back in 1999. The reason it caught my eye, and the reason I'm posting it is because I thought it was the one real glaring omission from Michael Moore's movie "Bowling for Columbine" (a movie which I think raises very good questions, and even though it bends the truth quite a bit in many instances, makes a lot of very good points). I just think that somehow Michael Moore overlooked the possibility that many people here in America create the death and mayhem that they do simply because it will make them famous, or as Sirhan Sirhan said after shooting Robert F. Kennedy

"They can gas me, but I am famous. I have achieved in one day what it took Robert Kennedy all his life to do."

"...you're my only hope." I felt kinda like Princess Leia in regards to "The Matrix Revolutions", and that my last hope at understanding and appreciating the movie was with Corporate Mofo's in depth analysis of the movie following up the analysis they had for "Reloaded" which gave me so much insight into the movie (or so I thought at the time). So it was with great anxiety and trepidation that I read the long-awaited follow-up analysis when I saw it posted on Fark tonight. Unfortunately, while it did have some interesting things to say, and some rather hilarious photos (including Chewbaca and Niobe co-piloting a ship and Gene Kelly singin' in the rain during Neo's showdown with Agent Smith ), the bottom line was that it didn't really explain anything major that I didn't already understand. Unfortunately, I think that means that I did understand "Revolutions", I just thought it (or more appropriately, the ending in particular) was lame. I just think the whole "Neo is The One so he had to go out like Jesus" idea is just a little too obvious, and quite frankly I was hoping for something a little more meaningful than that.

God I can't wait for "Return of the King".

Ok, get this: some guy who is under investigation for two murders (and who has been known to pose as a mute female in efforts to avoid being arrested for those murders) was on trial recently for a third murder. For this third murder, he shot his neighbor, then after killing him, cut up the body, cleaned the crime scene and removed the victim's head so that the victim could not be identified. He dumped the victim's remains (except for the head, which he kept and which was never recovered), then reserved a flight to leave the area. When he heard that police had discovered the remains, he fled to New Orleans carrying five pounds of marijuana and $500,000 in cash. He then later was apprehended, and after posting bail, fled and was then later captured in Pennyslvania and brought to trial. These are all facts that were not disputed in court.

Why even bring this guy up? Two reasons: One, he is a millionaire real estate heir, and two because he was acquitted today, showing us yet again that if you are rich you really can get away with murder in this country. I found this quote from one of the jurors to be particularly telling:

"From the very beginning of this trial, the defense told us a story and they stuck to their guns all the way through. I did not believe everything they said, but every time they told us a story they were consistent in what was said."

I guess justice is blind after all.

Since I have little to nothing to blog about today, and because today was Matt's birthday (check out his birthday cake from last year if you've never seen it before ), I figured I'd go with a pair of humorous photos of celebrities and a funny soundclip or two.

We'll start with this shot of George Takei that I found online, inspired by Matt playing this rather hilarious interview that he has of him talking about Star Trek, and in particular the parts where he laughs like a giddy schoolboy; and also by Koga's Ali-like return to the ring (gotta give credit to Knish for that expression).

Work was usual, but afterwards Josh, Matt, Steven and myself all went over to the Ice House in Pasadena after work to see Carlos (from 3rd i) do some standup. See, he's making a movie where he plays a really shy guy who has been told by his shrink that performing stand-up comedy is a good way to get over his shyness. Anyway, he was doing standup under his character's name, and in character, so it was pretty interesting, but I'll get to that in a sec. Basically we all met up there (Josh got there a little after us, but in time for all the comedy), and got a seat way in the back corner, cause we figured if we were in front the hack comics would base their whole routine on asking us crap like "where are you from" blah blah blah. Oh, by the way, this was I guess like the amateur section, the Annex, part of the Ice House, so we got in for free, but we had to buy two drinks ($4.25 for one small coke ); so the people doing stand-up were assumed to generally be pretty new to it (it was Carlos' second time on stage, from what I understand). Naturally the whole event was hosted by some guy who apparently hosts a local cable channel comedy show ("Laughter Hours", I believe it was called), and lemme tell you, this guy was awful. But he was horribly unaware of how bad he was, so he kept going and going, predictably interacting with virtually everyone who was seated in the front row. For my money, the funniest part of his act was the disgusted look on this girl's face as the guy was trying to hit on her, but I dunno, maybe I don't know comedy. We sat through 4 comics, including Carlos.

Are you ready for some terrible? I'm not gonna give too much explanation for this week's, since it should be pretty obvious to everyone what all this week's entails, so without further ado here you go:

So just a quick recap of my weekend here, then I may be off to bed. Yesterday my step-sister, Kathleen, got married over in Pasadena, so naturally I attended. I got up at around 2 in the afternoon, got dressed in my suit and went and picked up my sister Rebecca and we headed over to Annandale where the wedding and reception were held. Kathleen had asked if I would videotape people and ask them if they had anything to say to the bride and groom so that they could review the tape later, and I had said yes. I realized when I got there that I was not really going to want to do this, as I am definitely not the social butterfly kind of person to go around and talk to a whole bunch of people I don't know, let alone interview them. Also, I wasn't really sure when I was supposed to do this, but I figured that dinner would probably be the best time. The only problem is that during dinner, naturally I just wanted to sit there and eat and talk with my sister and my Dad, and not go from table to table with a videocamera. However, in the end, I realized that would be the quickest and easiset way for me to get around to everyone just by going from table to table and making a general announcement that I was recording for the bride and groom if anyone wanted to say anything. Luckily this didn't last that long, maybe 30 minutes, as most people didn't seem too overly anxious to say a whole lot (few people relish being videotaped like that, I suppose).

Last night I went to bed feeling pretty crappy and today I woke up feeling crappier, so I called in sick today. Well, actually I emailed in sick, cause I didn't have my boss' number at work (oops ). So it was an exciting day for me, needless to say . A lot of sleeping, sitting in bed, then sitting around all bundled up while on Advil and NyQuil. So anyway after losing last night to the Pistons, I watched the Lakers win against the hapless Knicks tonight, and that was the highlight of my day. Well, I'm starting to feel some NyQuil I took a while ago take hold, so I'm gonna head to bed.

So I took some NyQuil before bed last night, and that made last night restless as hell for me. Whoever said it's the "so you can sleep" medicine is full of shit. It makes you drowsy as hell, that's for damn sure, but as for getting a good night's sleep, forget it. Even though it was probably pretty cold last night, I was sweating a ton, which probably means I had a fever, and probably still have it. Anyway, when I got up today I did feel a little bit better, so I went to work (plus, I'm out of sick days ). When I was on my way to work and when I was first getting in there and getting settled, I didn't feel that great and was really wishing I'd had more sick days. However, as the day went on I felt better about being there, even if I didn't necessarily feel much better in general. It was kind of nice to just get back to my projects, which were all coming due soon (until I found out today they'd all been given extensions, which is nice), and it was just good to be around everyone in the office today. After work we watched "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" and that was pretty good. Then after that I picked up the Extended Version of "The Two Towers" (which I plan to watch this weekend). So that was my day, and now I'm off to bed.

This week we're gonna go with two of my least favorite actresses and see who is more terrible. I'm gonna let you know up front that this is gonna be hard for me, because I think both of them are so awful. In fact, if I had to decide between the two actresses who was more terrible, I don't know if I could. They're both so terrible that it might be a tie. Because of that, I've decided to pit their bodies of work against one another. So here you go:

First off, I'm still sick, and it sucks. Being out late last night no doubt didn't help, but what the hell: it was the second week of Matt's Birthday, and since everyone else was still celebrating it, why shouldn't I? Actually, the night started off with another birthday party for another one of my co-workers, Dani. We met up there at Hollywood Billiards to shoot some pool and hang out and wish Dani a Happy Birthday. After being there for a couple hours, I was suddenly surprised by Dave, Jason, Brian, Wendy and Bob (in other words, the people I'm gonna be going to that Lord of the Rings marathon with). It so happens that they were all there on their own, and I just happened to be there at the same time, so that was pretty weird (cause in a town like LA, you don't usually run into people you know). After seeing them and hanging out for a bit, I left with Mario and we went to Matt's birthday (held over for it's second week) at The Brass Monkey, a karaoke bar. By the time we got there, everyone else (namely Matt and Kelly) were three sheets to the wind, and that led to some pretty hilarious renditions of a few songs. The crowd there was pretty great: they went absolutely wild when two guys performed a duet version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (which was quite hilarious, if I do say so myself). Anyway, after much singing and merry-making I went home and went to bed, and woke up today feeling like hammered shit. So I lounged in bed all day, watched some TV and am now heading back to bed. Ta-ta.

Michael Jackson's hot sauce. You know I couldn't make something like this up

I got rid of my spam filter for ye olde blog here, because, quite frankly, it was more work with the filter than without it. So even though I do get spammed here, I'm just gonna manually remove them as they come in, because while that may be a pain in the ass, at least I'll still be able to rebuild my blog, which I had become unable to do with the spam filter on it. Also, the spam filter unfortunately filtered out a few legit comments, and about that I'm sorry. So without further ado, commence spamming

It's the day before Thanksgiving, which is probably one of the busiest days of the year for shopping or travelling or both, but since I'm doing neither, who cares? My pre-Thanksgiving day consisted of working a half day, coming home, eating some crap from Wendys and watching some TV. Soon I'll be watching the Laker game, and that will pretty much be it. It could be worse though: I could still be at work like Cookie probably is

Because I have nothing good to blog about, I'm gonna provide you with three links (courtesy of Fark) about people trying way too hard to play the race card for no reason at all (example 1, example 2, example 3), and a link to a rather humorous display of needlepoint gone bad:

Subversivecrosstitch.com

Happy post-Thanksgiving everyone. Since nobody has work today, I'm sure nobody will read this or participate, so I'm gonna go with a pretty random combination here. I figure in keeping with the Thanksgiving turkey thing, I would offer up two delicious turkeys of the film variety and let you all choose, so here you go::

I have to say, I started off today not feeling that great (I didn't get out of bed till about 4 in the afternoon), but watching the Lakers kick the everliving crap out of the Spurs sure made me feel a hell of a lot better. LA had the lead for all but the very first few moments of the game, and had pushed the lead to 30 by the 3rd quarter, meaning it was garbage time for the last 15-20 minutes or so. Shaq came back after sitting out the last two games with a sprained calf muscle, and he only had 7 points but it didn't matter. Karl Malone had his 4th career triple-double and badly outplayed his counterpart, the league's 2-time reigning MVP Tim Duncan. The Lakers made the Spurs look like absolute shit and I loved every minute of it. My favorite moment (shown below) was Karl Malone baiting Tim Duncan into fouling him by pump faking a shot to force Duncan to charge at Malone, and when Malone did go up for the shot Duncan threw his face right into Malone's elbow and not only picked up the foul, but probably picked up a shiner as well

I had a nice kind-of pre-birthday weekend this weekend. Last night I went out to dinner with my friend Jen and a couple of her friends at Maggiano's, which has really fantastic Italian food (Paola might disagree, but she's Italian and I'm not, so I'm allowed to not know what I'm talking about ). Afterwards we all hung out for a while, then went to the movies. Unfortunately "Gothika" was the only thing playing at 12:30 when we got to the movies, so that was what we saw, and boy was it bad (not that I was expecting anything else). Today I slept in then went to my Dad's place and we went to go see "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World". I had seen it in the screening room at work about two weeks ago, and it made me really want to see it in a theater with 5.1 sound, and I'm really glad I saw it again, because I liked it a lot more the second time. I liked it a lot the first time, but I really really enjoyed it the second time. Anyway, after the movie we picked up Rebecca and went to dinner at Houston's, which is one of my favorite restaurants. I got my "usual" there, the Knife and Fork Ribs, and it was delicious as always. Finally, after dinner I got a great pre-birthday present when the Lakers spanked the shit out of the Indiana Pacers, who came into Staples Center today with an 8-game winning streak, and undefeated on the road, as well as having the league's best record. All of that mattered not tonight though, cause they ran into the Lakers who are playing some of the best basketball I've seen them play in a long time. LA blew the Pacers out for their 4th consecutive rout, winning by 22 with almost the whole 4th quarter being garbage time. So all in all, it was a great weekend