wildyams

Well I had a long weekend going up to Monterey with my family to scatter my grandmother's ashes, and I've got a bunch I could probably write about, but I'm kinda tired right now so I'm just gonna put up today's quiz. Maybe I'll write more about this weekend later, but for now, here's the quiz:

clue #1

Update - Terrible weighed in with some terrible guesses, so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - John guessed it, so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #3, clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10, clue #11

Ok, since I was too tired to write about my weekend earlier, here's a brief synopsis of what all I've been up to since the middle of last week. On Wednesday after work I went with Van Lambro and the Burbanks to see Mexican wrestling at the Mayan theater. Yes, you read that right. It was an odd combination of bad WWE (I know, the "bad" in that sentence is redundant) with guys wearing masks, midgets, and pseudo-strippers. The highlight of the night was definitely these girls who did a combination gymnastics/striptease/blasphemy thing while dressed as catholic school girls to the song "Sister Christian". It was great kitsch, and it was impressive gymnastics.

The next day my Mom and sister, Johnetta, showed up and I spent the day with them, and we later had my other sister, Rebecca, join us as well. We called it an early evening then got up the next day and made the six hour drive to Monterey where we met my Dad and Janelle, my Aunt and Uncle, and my cousins and we all got caught up and went out to dinner. It was my Aunt Nancy's birthday on Friday, so we also had a little birthday celebration for her, then we called it a night. The next morning we got up and drove to the boat and motored out about a mile from the shore and had a little ceremony and scattered my grandmother's ashes. Afterwards we all went back to Monterey and checked out Point Lobos (?) and then the Monterey Bay Aquarium. That night we went to dinner again, and then afterwards my Aunt, Uncle and cousins had to leave. The next morning the rest of us left, with my Mom, my sisters and myself driving back down the 101 (we came up the 5) so we could stop in Santa Barbara for some lunch. Once we got back we went our separate ways for the evening and then got back together for lunch yesterday before Johnetta and my Mom had to fly home.

Afterwards I went and had my newest (and last, hopefully) iPod-related accessory installed in my car, so I now can use my car's head unit to control my iPod, as well as use the head unit to display the track name and all that, and it will simultaneously charge my iPod while it is plugged in. Also it will turn the iPod off when I turn my car off or disconnect my stereo face. It may seem silly, but it is definitely preferable to not have to grab the iPod while driving and use the scroll wheel to switch to a new song, when instead I can use my car remote which I am used to using without having to even look at, so it is much safer that way. Also I like not having to manually fish my iPod out and turn it off when I park the car. Ok, I'm a dork. Sue me :wink

I got some good news last night when I got home: a traffic ticket I had received back in I think early August has been reversed. I got pulled over for speeding (my first ticket in California since I was 18, and my first speeding ticket since I was about 21 or so). I said very little to the officer who pulled me over and he just wrote me up for speeding, but I followed some advice I found online and decided to fight it through the mail, which I didn't even know you could do. See, in California anyway, if you get a traffic ticket, rather than just pay the fine or go appear in court, you can write a letter saying you'd like to do a trial by mail. Then then respond saying that is ok, and they give you a form to fill out and write down what happened and you mail that in and wait to see what the judge's decision is. You have to pay the fine of the ticket up front, but if you lose that decision, you can still ask for an in-person trial and fight it again. If you lose any of this you don't really lose anything since you have to pay up front anyway, and since you can go to traffic school even if you lose; but the benefit of fighting through the mail is that supposedly the odds are about 30% that the officer won't even write an account of what happened, which means you'd automatically get off and they'd have to refund your money for the ticket (on the other hand, if you fight it in court, the officer gets overtime pay to appear, meaning it is much more likely your plea won't go unopposed). I don't know if the officer in my case didn't write in or what, but I had a letter waiting for me saying the judge had ruled in my favor and they'd be refunding my money to me. How sweet is that? :smile

Wow, what a super-long entry this is, huh?

I don't generally like to make predictions about how easy or hard any of these quizzes is, or about how hard I think they may be, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that today's quiz is most likely gonna be real tough. Now having said that, watch someone get it right off the bat with this first clue, thus exposing to me why I shouldn't try to predict which ones might be easy or hard :lol

clue #1

Update - Nobody's got it yet so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - It's still up for grabs so here's the next clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - It's still up for grabs so here's the next clip:

clue #4

Update #4 - There's been no new guesses since I chastised you guys. Are you pouting? :lol Here's another clip:

clue #5

Update #5 - Looks like I wasn't wrong to predict that this one would be tough after all. How bout another clip:

clue #6

Update #6 - No new guesses so here you go:

clue #7

Update #7 - Matt got it, so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

Just like last year the Lakers opened the new NBA season against the Denver Nuggets last night, and just like last year they beat them. Last year on the opening day of the NBA season was also the night of the presidential election. Hard to believe it's already been a year. Anyway, last night's Lakers-Nuggets game was pretty back-and-forth with neither team holding a big lead at any point. It was played in Denver, unlike last year's opener, and it went into OT where Kobe Bryant hit a shot with .6 seconds remaining to give the Lakers the win (click for video of the game-winner). Enough about the Lakers though, I'm sure I'll have lots of entries about them, here is today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - Hey look, another clue!

clue #2

Update #2 - There's some interesting news in the comments, but no correct guesses, so here's the next clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - More interesting news in the comments, but still no correct guesses, so here's what you get:

clue #4

Update #4 - Drew knows what it is, but he's not telling... yet. So in the meantime, here's a new clue for ya:

clue #5

Update #5 - Have you guys conceded it because Drew knew the answer? Somebody put the answer in the comments already! Here's another clip:

clue #6

Update #6 - Even though I just posted that last clip, Steve made an incorrect guess, so I figured I'd give you yet another clue:

clue #7

Update #7 - Cookie finally posted the answer in the comments, but here's the rest of the clips:

clue #8, clue #9, clue #10, clue #11

The Lakers lost their home opener last night against the Phoenix Suns, but I think the Lakers can take quite a few good things away from the game. First, Kobe looks great this year. That's not too terribly surprising, but if the Lakers have a halfway decent season, expect him to be in the running for the MVP award. Second, if Smush Parker can keep up what he's done in the first two games he's going to be the biggest steal the Lakers have had in years. He had a number of really incredible defensive plays on reigning MVP, Steve Nash, and he put up great numbers on offense as well. The Lakers as a team look like they've got a lot of defensive ability there, and if they learn to play more cohesively, then I think they'll be able to shut some teams down. Enough about that though, it's Friday, and that means it's the last quiz of the week. My prediction is that this one will be guessed quickly, but I've been wrong before. Here you go:

clue #1

Update - Sorry it's taken me so long to post the next clue. You know, work and all that. Anyway, here's the next one:

clue #2

Update #2 - Here's another clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - No one's got it yet so here's a new clip:

clue #4

Update #4 - Koga strayed off topic in the comments, and that's enough to warrant a new clip:

clue #5

Update #5 - Never fear, a new clip is here:

clue #6

Update #6 - Ok, I'm not gonna probably have many more clips tonight, but we've got the weekend to figure this out. Anyway, the clips are gonna start getting a lot easier soon. Here's the next one:

clue #7

Well, after a lot of speculation that the Lakers would follow up last season's awful performance with a slightly improved version that would still suck ass, the Lakers are actually looking pretty good. They've played Denver twice now, and the Nuggets were a team that many people predicted would be one of the better teams in the West. On opening night the Lakers pushed the game (in Denver) to overtime and won there on a last second shot; then last night when the Nuggets came to LA, the Lakers routed Denver, winning by 20. LA even looked decent against Phoenix, who should be one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the league this year. LA's still got a really long way to go, because they play very sloppy basketball, but they look like a team that could really do pretty well once they get a couple months under their belts playing together and under Phil Jackson's system (there's hardly any Lakers left from Phil's last stint just two years ago). Anyway, enough about that, here's today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - A couple comments, but no real guesses yet so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Check it out, another clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - No new guesses, but I'm taking pity on you guys and providing you with a new clip:

clue #4

Update #4 - Nobody's got it yet so here you go:

clue #5

Update #5 - Yet another clip:

clue #6

Update #6 - Stumped, eh? It's getting late in the day, so there may only be one more clip after this one today:

clue #7

Update #7 - Ok, this is gonna most likely be the last clip for today, otherwise we're going into extra innings tomorrow with this one:

clue #8

Update #8 - J-Krue came in and saved the day, so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #9, clue #10, clue #11

Lucky for you guys there's no Laker news today cause they didn't play yesterday. Oh wait, Kobe was named player of the week by the NBA. So there you go. Tonight I'm off to see Saw II with J. Krue, and we're both anticipating that it's gonna blow. We're only going cause we saw the first one last year, and since we hated that one too, we figured we should complete the quest and see the sequel. I know, it doesn't make any sense. Whatever, we went and saw The Cave and we knew that was gonna blow too, so don't expect it to make any sense. Rather than worry about that, here's today's quiz to think about:

clue #1

Update - For the second day in a row there's no A/C at work, but hopefully it will kick on shortly, like it did yesterday. Here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Nobody's got it yet, but John had a good reminder to everyone who plays to be sure to check the quotes out quietly for yourself before playing them loudly in a work environment just in case the quotes contain offensive content. With that in mind, here's the next clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - Here's another clip for ya:

clue #4

Update #4 - It's time for another clip, so that's what you get:

clue #5

Update #5 - A little more help for you:

clue #6

Update #6 - While everyone's getting on Milkshake in the comments, it appears that everyone's still stumped, so here's another clue:

clue #7

Update #7 - It's that time again:

clue #8

Update #8 - We're getting down to the wire here with this one. I think that I may have to call it a day at 10 clues, so after this one I'll give you guys one more and then this thing's going into OT:

clue #9

Update #9 - Ok, this is it, the last clue of the day. Will it be J.Krue to the rescue again? Will someone else get it? Or will we have to wait till tomorrow to find out what movie it is:

clue #10

Update #10 - Drew finally got it, so here's the remaining clips:

clue #11, clue #12

...and I'll say it again:

The quiz below is still going, FYI, but I felt that I should probably mention the election today since it was only the second time in my life I've ever voted. I love that my polling place is across the street from where I live. Now that I'm a registered voter, the voting couldn't be easier :smile

PS - There you go, Milkshake, a non quiz-related entry!! :biggrin

So J. Krue and I went to see Saw II last night, and I have to say it was better than the first one. Of course, I thought the first one blew, and the sequel wasn't much better; but J. Krue disagreed and thought the sequel was the worse of the two, although he pretty much hates them both as well. Odds are good we'll be there when Saw 3 comes out though :lol

Last night the Lakers beat the Hawks in Atlanta to take their record to 3-1 (2-0 on the road). Kobe had 37, which is almost incredibly his season average (a full five-and-a-half points ahead of the second best scorer). The Lakers look really good to start the year, in particular the Lakers backcourt. In addition to Kobe, the Lakers' other starting guard is a guy by the name of Smush Parker who's been a journeyman in the league (and overseas) so far, even though he's only 24 years old. He seems to really have found a home with the Lakers, however, leading the league in steals right now, while also averaging 18 points a game as the Lakers second leading scorer. He's a guy who's really come out of nowhere, only getting an invitation to the Lakers preseason camp after playing well in the summer pro league (trust me, it is extremely rare to see undrafted SPL players do much of anything in the pros). But four games into the year, Smush and Kobe are putting up over 54 points a game combined, and to put that in perspective, that's around what Shaq and Kobe used to average together. I dunno if they'll be able to keep it up or not (I seriously doubt it), but it's a good start nonetheless. It's early in the year though, but the Lakers look really good, especially considering how young they are and that most of them are learning Phil Jackson's famed triangle offense, which is known for being a complex, difficult system to learn. I'm excited and optimistic, but considering the regular season doesn't end until the end of April, I'm definitely very cautious about my optimism.

Tonight I'm off to see Jamiroquai play at the Wiltern, so I should have something on that for tomorrow. In the meantime, here's today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - Nobody's guessed it yet, but it's still early so here's a new clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Lambro nailed it today. I'm pretty impressed because even though it was a movie that I'm sure many have seen over and over, the quotes I gave weren't that recognizable. At least, I didn't think they were. Anyway, here's the rest of the clips:

clue #3, clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10, clue #11

The Lakers lost last night in Minnesota, but I missed the game because I forgot to record it and because I was at the Wiltern seeing Jamiroquai for the third time in my life. Most people have heard Jamiroquai, but seem to be unsure about who they are. They're most famous for the song "Virtual Insanity" (click here to see a screen grab from the multi-award winning video for that song), and also their song "Canned Heat" was the song that Napoleon Dynamite famously danced to at the end of that movie in support of Pedro's bid for class president. People who have some familiarity with the band seem to get confused thinking that the singer, Jay Kay, is named 'Jamiroquai', but he's not, that is just the name of the band.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson. I got home around 7:15 or so and took the subway to the Wiltern. I took my iPod even though I was worried if they used metal detectors they might not let me take it in, but it is small enough that I could actually slip it into my wallet, and I figured it would go unnoticed if they did use metal detectors. I had worried needlessly though, they just patted people down, so my iPod made it in no problem.

There was no opening act and the band went on at around 8:30 and played a real solid set for about 2 hours (maybe a little more). This is my preferred way to see any band, rather than have the band I'm there to see have to trim their set a bit to make way for some opening act that I don't care about anyway. The highlights of the show for me were when they played "You Give Me Something" and "Alright", which they closed with before they came back for their encore of "Deeper Underground" which was the actual last song of the evening.

I had last seen Jamiroquai apparently the last time they were here, about 6 or 7 years ago (Jay said it had been that long since they'd been in LA) up at the Greek theater; and before that I'd seen them in the winter of 1997 at the Universal Amplitheater when "Virtual Insanity" was still a huge hit. Jamiroquai has definitely changed their live act some, having done away with their horn section and their didgeridoo player (both of which I was sad were not there on this tour), and they performed with just a keyboardist, percussionist, drummer, guitar player, bass guitar player and three backing female vocalists. Jay was wearing one of his trademark big silly hats, and he danced around as he usually does, displaying his rather impressive dancing skills. The guy is absolutely miniscule, but he can moonwalk like Michael Jackson and he jumps around and dips and spins and you can tell he's a very gifted dancer. The lighting for the show wasn't anything special, but it was adequate, and I was about maybe 20 feet from the stage so I could see everything perfectly. I ended up having to break up two fights as they were about to get started, so that was rather odd (wouldn't have expected that from a crowd there to see Jamiroquai). Afterwards I rode the subway home and that was that.

I would definitely see Jamiroquai again, as I consider them to be really one of the only bands (outside of electronic music) to appear in the last dozen years or so that I have any interest in at all (and I do own all six of Jamiroquai's albums, and have now seen them 3 times live over the last 8 years, so I've definitely got more than just a passing interest in them). I often think of the sad state of the entire music industry when I listen to Jamiroquai because they're virtually one of the last bands that I'm familiar with to really have such a distinct sound. Almost everything else is either so similar to something else out there or is rapidly copied by dozens of other artists so that the soundscape just sounds like one big blob of homogenous music, and I find it increasingly difficult to differentiate one band from another. Have there been other bands since Jamiroquai began to have such a uniquely distinct sound? Probably. I've just never heard them.

Tonight I've got a "Happy Hour" get together with my co-workers, and if that happens to run really late then I may be too tired to do a quiz for Friday. With that in mind I'm hoping today's quiz maybe will be tough enough to stretch into tomorrow, but you people who participate are so damn good that I'm sure someone will get it today:

Clue #1

Update - I find your lack of guesses disturbing:

Clue #2

Update #2 - Look ma, another clip:

Clue #3

Update #3 - The clues have been slow in coming today, and for that I apologize, I've been pre-occupied with work and all. Anyway, here's the next clip:

Clue #4

Update #4 - Lookin' more and more like this one's gonna stretch till tomorrow, here's another clip:

Clue #5

Update #5 - The guesses are flowin' like mud around here. I'll probably only do one more hint after this one cause I'm gonna have to go to my work-sponsored happy hour and probably won't be home until close to midnight afterwards. Here's the new clip:

Clue #6

Update #6 - Well, nobody got it, although I'm sure that definitely has to do with the fact that I only put up 6 clips today. Sorry bout that, I really was kinda away from my computer at the wrong times. Anyway, this will continue into Friday, so here's the next clue:

Clue #7

Update #7 - Paola finally got it so here's the rest of the clips:

Clue #8, Clue #9, Clue #10, Clue #11

Last night after work, my whole department (division? platoon?) from work went over to Sardo's (Mr. Numspa, perhaps? :lol) for free food and drinks on the company, and a bunch of karaoke. We've had these happy hour shindigs before, but this one definitely stands out for a couple reasons, which I'll get to shortly. I gotta say, putting about 50 or so co-workers together in a bar and saying "drinks are on us" is definitely a good way to get everyone loosened up :lol People got absolutely trashed last night, and that's what I like to see. The karaoke was fantastic and/or fantastically awful (either one is great), and I would say people had a great time. The reason this one stood out more than the others is because of the karaoke, which combined with the booze really livened up the place more than just milling around in a bar has in the past. It also stood out because we got some rather surprisingly generous gifts. Anyway, that's about all I can say, because what happens at Sardo's stays at Sardo's :biggrin

Thanks to RebelScum and BoingBoing for this. Just what everyone needs this Xmas, a holdiay-themed Darth Vader in a red outfit complete with an Xmas wreath:

This is pretty great too:

It's Monday morning and I don't really feel up to writing a long entry or one that is interesting at all, so I'll just cut to the chase and present you with today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - Well the A/C at work doesn't work again, but we got a newer version (although still not the current) version of Lotus Notes (now with new ways to suck!). Anyway, there's no guesses so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Cookie got it pretty quick so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #3, clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

The Lakers got absolutely demolished last night, even though they only ended up losing by 12 (they started the 4th quarter down by 26, so they came "roaring" back to get beat by double digits). After the good 3-1 start the Lakers have dropped three straight and are now limping home. The good news, I suppose, is that this is more what I expected before the season began. Now I'm sure the Lakers will look much better later on in the year, but I figured it was gonna take them a couple months to get used to each other and to get used to Phil's triangle offense. The good first couple games was just a tease I'm sure, and now the reality that the Lakers have a long, long road ahead of them has set in. They're back for some home games again though, so that's good news. Also good news is that Chris Mihm actually looked pretty good away from Staples Center, which is totally out of character for the guy. He's had a couple bad games, but he's having a pretty good season overall. Kobe and Smush have cooled off considerably (I knew that wouldn't last), but I think the Lakers still have the makings of some solid players to build around down the road. To quote Dan Hill, "it's a long road, and it's hard as hell". Speaking of "hard as hell", here's today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - No guesses yet so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Still no guesses. What are you guys, chicken?! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Here's another clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - Still no guesses. What are you guys, chicken?! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Here's another clip:

clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

Tonight I'm going to see The World's Fastest Indian, which I know makes everyone jealous cause you've all been dying to see it. I mean, let's face it, this is the movie that's been on the mouths of people everywhere for literally years. Decades even. It's the movie that you all were waiting to see, but too bad suckers, cause I'm going to see it. Ha ha! Here's today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - Ok, admittedly that last one was pretty vague, but the rest should be easier if you're familiar with this movie:

clue #2

Update #2 - You guys are all wimps and don't want to guess so I suppose I'll have to give you another clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - I think this is gonna turn out to be a tough one. Here's the next clip:

clue #4

Update #4 - No new guesses so here's another clip:

clue #5

Update #5 - It's gettin' late in the day. Somebody better guess it quick or we're headed to extra innings with this one:

clue #6

Update #6 - Well nobody got it yesterday so the quiz continues today, here's the next clip:

clue #7

Update #7 - You guys appear to still be stumped so here's the next clip:

clue #8

Update #8 - Still stumped, eh? Ok, here's another clip:

clue #9

Update #9 - Matt finally got it so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #10, clue #11, clue #12, clue #13

Last night after work I went to the Arclight to see The World's Fastest Indian, after which Anthony Hopkins, Roger Donaldson and Christopher Lawford spoke and did Q & A for the crowd. Now I must admit, I would not have gone to see this movie if not for the fact that Anthony Hopkins was going to be there afterwards, since I'd never heard of the movie and didn't know what it was about, but I am really happy I went because it was probably the best movie I've seen this year.

The title is pretty ambiguous, so I'll explain it and tell you what it's about. It is the true story of Burt Munro, who was a man who lived his whole life in the southern part of New Zealand, and spent his whole life working on his antique motorcycle, an Indian Scout motorcycle built sometime around 1920, and who's life-long dream was to someday save enough money to take his motorcycle to the US and take it to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah where they do all the test runs to establish land speed records. The movie takes place in the late 60's, 1967 I think, and is about the journey Munro finally took at age 72 to get his bike to Utah to be able to see how fast it could really go after he'd tinkered on it and fine-tuned it in the garage he slept in for the better part of three decades.

If you are at all interested in movies about underdogs, then this is definitely the movie for you. The movie was very funny at times, and it was also very heartfelt and moving at times. It was just a very pleasant movie about a man who always had such a positive outlook about life that he never strayed from trying to fulfill his dream, and never let anything get him down. My description of it doesn't do it justice, I'm sorry, and I know I probably make it sound like a bunch of other movies that are out there, and I'm sorry for that too, because I think it definitely stands out from all those other types of underdog films. If you liked movies like Rudy or Miracle or The Natural or Hoosiers, or even if you thought those movies were maybe too emotionally manipulative and were turned off by that, I would reccomend The World's Fastest Indian, because it is very similar in spirt, but very different as well. You don't see a bunch of training montages or huge amounts of time passing as Burt is gearing up for his big day or anything like that. The story begins with him right as he's about to set off on this long journey (he comes to America by boat from New Zealand) to Bonneville, and most of the movie is about this journey he takes.

Anyway, the crowd loved the movie, and gave it loud applause at the end, and then gave Anthony Hopkins a standing ovation when he was introduced. Hopkins was actually quite funny, and almost silly, during the Q & A afterwards, even though he did talk a bit about method acting and Lee Strasberg and all that stuff I know nothing about. It was a good time and I'm glad I went. They said that the movie will be released for a week in a few select theaters (probably only 2-4 I would guess) on December 9th, and then it won't be released in full release until February, so you're gonna have to wait to see it, but I think it's worth the wait, and I will go see it again when it comes out in theaters. Apparently it's been out for a while in New Zealand and it has been the #1 movie down there for all six weeks it's been out, and they said it looks like it will probably break the box office record for any movie ever in New Zealand, even beating the Lord of the Rings films. The movie is definitely an indie film, and with such an odd and ambiguous title I wonder how it will do here, but I have a feeling that even if it goes unnoticed at the box office that eventually it will find an audience on DVD. Underdog movie usually seem to pick up an audience and this is one of the best I've ever seen.

You guys will probably think I'm nuts for this, but that's ok because I probably am. Tomorrow I am driving up to Oakland with Dave to see Nine Inch Nails play the Oakland Coliseum. Back when they last came around and I saw them (in September), two shows prior to the Hollywood show the drummer, Jerome, had a heart problem onstage while they were in San Diego. Because of this they had to call off the rest of that show and they cancelled their next show up in Oakland. They've since replaced drummers and rescheduled both the San Diego and Oakland shows. When I saw they'd done that, I checked Ticketmaster's website to see if there were tickets available for the San Diego show, especially when I saw that the entire floor was General Admission (my main complaint about seeing them at the Hollywood Bowl was that you had to remain in your seat). There were some tickets available for that show, but they were only the worst seats in the nosebleeds, so I figured "oh well." But then I decided to check Oakland, expecting the same thing, but to my surprise they still had floor tickets available. So I quickly called Dave (since he missed them the last time they were in town) and checked to see if he'd want to go, and he said sure. So tomorrow we're driving up, gonna see the show, and then we're driving back. 10 or so hours of driving all for about 2 hours or so of Nine Inch Nails, but it should be pretty impressive to see them General Admission in such a large venue as the Oakland Coliseum. This will be my third time seeing them this year, and in my third major city. I'm slowly making my way up California, having seen them in the spring in San Diego, and in Hollywood in the fall, and now up to Oakland. Anyway, I'll have a writeup on that when I get back, but in the meantime, here's the last quiz for the week:

clue #1

Update - No guesses yet, just some people making fun of me in the comments :lol So here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Because it's Friday, you guys get another clip. You've earned it:

clue #3

Update #3 - Matt got it so he'll be reigning champ all weekend, complete with bragging rights. Here's the rest of the clips:

clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

Man, what a weekend. Friday night after work I went out to dinner with Dave and Jen and Jon and his new girlfriend Amanda and we ate at the Black Cow in Montrose, near Dave and Jen's new house. We made it an early evening because Jen had to get up at 4 am to go to Colorado and Dave and I had to get up and drive to Oakland to see Nine Inch Nails. I had intentionally stayed up really late on Thursday night so I'd be tired Friday night, and it worked. I got a good night's sleep Friday and woke up ready to go on Saturday. I got an oil change and picked Dave up at around noon and we drove on up, stopping once for lunch. We got up there at about 5:45 and went to will-call to pick up our tickets, then we headed to the line of people waiting to get in (they hadn't opened the doors yet). We had floor seats, although there weren't actually seats, it was just the entire floor of the Oakland Arena was one big dancefloor basically, with the soundboard in the middle of it. This is the main reason I wanted to go see Nine Inch Nails for the third time this year, because seeing them at the Hollywood Bowl was not nearly as much fun as seeing them at Soma in San Diego had been, just because in Soma it was general admission, while in Hollywood we had to sit in our seats. I knew that up in Oakland the whole floor was general admission, and to be able to see my favorite band in such a large general admission venue was too good to pass up.

Before Nine Inch Nails took the stage, however, there were two opening bands: Autolux and Queens of the Stone Age. When Dave and I entered the arena, there were a bunch of people sitting on the floor up near the barricade in front of the stage, so that's where we went and sat down for a while. But after maybe a half hour of that, we decided to hell with that and went to the back by where people were coming in and just decided to hang out and people watch. We ended up staying back there all through Autolux and then through almost all of Queens of the Stone Age, but we knew that as soon as Queens was done, a bunch of people would bolt for the bathroom and/or concession stands, so we positioned ourselves to make a push towards the stage when that happened. Sure enough, once the lights came on after Queens finished their set, about half the audience went to take a break, so we went right back to being near the front center of the stage again (maybe 20 or so feet from it). We hung out there for the half hour or so before NIN came onstage, but when the lights went out, people all surged forward to get closer. During the first song, "Love Is Not Enough", people mainly stood there and sang along, but when they went into "You Know What You Are?" a pit finally broke out, and that was where Dave and I stayed for the rest of the show. NIN played a longer show this time than they did in Hollywood, and they played a better setlist, adding songs like "Deep", "Dead Souls", and "Something I Can Never Have" to the setlist. They also added two songs off the new album, "With Teeth" and "The Hand That Feeds" that they did not play in Hollywood, with "Sin" being the only song from the Hollywood show that they didn't play this time. I was surprised by how good "With Teeth" sounded live, since that's one of my least favorite songs from the new album, and I was especially happy to hear "Deep", which is one of my favorite songs that I'd never heard live before get played. The pit was one of the craziest that I've ever been in, and being a guy who was a big metalhead in high school, trust me, I've been in quite a few. The crowd there was a rather young crowd, which was very different from the Hollywood show, which was a very mixed, all-ages type crowd; and maybe the youth of the crowd had something to do with how crazy they went. Even though the people in the pit were really going nuts, they were all very cool, and if someone fell down, there was always someone there to pick them right back up. At one point a girl even gave me a cup with ice and water in it, which was a real blessing with how hot and sweaty everyone gets in there. I took a drink and passed it on to someone else.

I don't know if it was necessarily the best show I've ever been to (I think I would still put Primus and Helmet on New Year's Eve, up in San Francisco, ironically, back in 1994 as the best show I've ever seen); but it was definitely the best Nine Inch Nails show I'd ever been to. One guy who is has been a major regular on the NIN message board I go to, said of the 18 times he'd seen NIN it was "by far the best" show he'd seen. The only thing that took away from it was the fact that I had no interest at all in either of the opening bands, but NIN gave everything they could and it was a really fantastic two hours.

After the show, at around midnight, Dave and I jumped back in the car and drove home, stopping at a Denny's about 50 miles from the grapevine for dinner at about 4 am. I got Dave back to his place around 6:15 or so, and I got home at about 6:30; at which point I showered and went right to bed, completely exhausted. It was a long, long 20 hours or so, but it was most definitely worth it, and I would do it again, given the chance.

This week there will only be quizzes through Wednesday, since Thursday is Thanksgiving, and that day and Friday I (and many people) are off work. Today's quiz starts with another one of those non-dialogue noises that I've done a few other times. Good luck:

clue #1

Update - Dave got it just from that, so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #2, clue #3, clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

I know after yesterday's entry, you guys were probably hoping for an entry that's even longer, but too bad, cause today I'm into the whole brevity thing. Here's your damn quiz:

clue #1

Update - No guesses yet so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Dave nailed it again so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #3, clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

I was talking with J.Krue earlier and the subject of Snakes on a Plane came up (mainly because I brought it up, I suppose). If you haven't heard of this movie yet (how can you not have heard of Snakes on a Plane?!), here is the synopsis:

An assassin releases a crate of lethal snakes mid-flight on 'Pacific Air 121' in order to assassinate a passenger that is currently in protective custody. In order to survive the flight of 'Pacific Air 121', the passengers and crew must band together to outsmart the snakes or remove them entirely.

If that plot and the title, Snakes on a Plane, doesn't get you excited, then maybe this will: it stars The Long Kiss Goodnight's Samuel L. Jackson! Ok, but that's not really what this entry is about. This entry is about the fact that the phrase "snakes on a plane" is now in the Urban Dictionary:

A sort of philosophy. Somnewhere in between "Cest la vie", "Whattya gonna do?" and "Shit happens":
WIFE: "Honey you stepped in dog poop again. "
ME: "Snakes on a Plane..."
DOCTOR: "Your cholesterol is 290. Perhaps you want to mix in a walk once in a while."
ME: "Snakes on a Plane..."
WIFE: "Honey while you were on your cholesterol walk you stepped in dog poop again."
ME: "Snakes on a Plane..."

An idiom which states an increasing amount of danger or tension, similar to "the shit's hitting the fan" only much more terrible and apocalyptic:
"How bad was the motorway pile-up?" "Let me tell you, it was like snakes on a plane down there."

Update - If they were to make a sequel to Snakes on a Plane, would they be more likely to go with the snakes element, or the plane element? Like, for instance, would it be more likely to be Snakes on a Bus or Spiders on a Plane? Which is the more crucial element for all ensuing sequels? Something to ponder.

First off, there's no quiz today. We were informed yesterday or the day before that today is a half-day at work, and since I'll only be here for a few hours and don't want to spend the rest of the day at home checking the status of the quiz, I decided to forgo it today. However, I've got shit to blog about, which is oh so fucking rare.

Yesterday was quite a day. Some of the guys who were building the micro-plant on the first floor were using large quantities of epoxy and forgot to close the vents to the rest of the building while using said epoxy, so as a result they had to clear the building because of the risk of the toxic fumes. That was fine because we all got to go home early.

This proved to be good for a reason other than just being paid to go home early (like I am today), and that is because it allowed me to be able to get to the screening of Narnia that I attended last night at a relatively early time. The screening was totally sold out (or RSVP'd out, as it were), so people who showed up late didn't get in. Luckily that wasn't me. Dave and Jen showed up along with A-Lo and Mr. Burbank, Pao-Pao and J-Krue. The movie was pretty good, but was lacking a little something. I dunno, it didn't have the emotional impact it seemed like it could have. I guess that's what happens when you use totally inexperienced actors and a director who's never done a live-action movie before, but I digress. If I was a kid and I saw this movie, it would probably be my favorite movie. But being a bit more grown up (just a bit, mind you), there were definitely a few key moments which rang more hollow than they should have. Overall it's pretty good though, and it's a huge-budget kid's movie, so it'll probably provide the desired distraction for many weary parents soon.

Ok, since there's no quiz, and since 2005 is coming to a close soon, I thought maybe I'd throw this out and see if anyone had anything to offer up. I've been trying to think of a good list of something like the 10 best films from the last 10 years, and I'd really like to hear what people would put on that list (even if it's not fully 10 movies, or even if it's more than 10). I'd be curious to know what movies in the last decade I haven't seen that I really should see, and think maybe a good list like that could have that same effect for other people. The last 10 years would be any movie made in 1996 or since, and so here's a couple movies off the top of my head that I would probably put in there (in no particular order):

- Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
- The Insider
- Unbreakable
- Fight Club
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- LA Confidential
- Lord of the Rings
- Zero Effect
- Out of Sight
- Rushmore

Keep in mind, this is by no means my final list (that's the whole point of this entry, I'm sure I've missed some great ones, and hopefully someone out there will remind me of them), and I may change my mind and add or drop ones. I'm really curious to hear what other people might list. At the very least this might be a good entry to leave up during Thanksgiving :smile

What a dull entry title that was. I had a nice Thanksgiving with my family, those that could make it, and got out to see a couple movies this weekend (namely the new Harry Potter flick and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). What all did everyone else see? All in all, I wish I had more time off, but then again I'm taking this coming Friday off as a sort of present to myself, and then I've got a bunch of days off at the end of December, so working for a bit shouldn't be so bad. Anyway, hope you guys had a good weekend, but here's the first quiz of the week for you:

clue #1

Update - No one's guessed yet so here's a new clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Still no guesses so here's the next clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - Nobody's got it yet, so here's the next clip:

clue #4

Update #4 - No new guesses so here you go:

clue #5

Update #5 - Lambro got it, so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

After work last night I went and saw Syriana over at the Arclight with Matt and we met Jen and her friend Andrea there. It was packed and Matt and I had to get in on standby, but we did get in, and I think we both liked the movie. The movie was very interesting, but it was also very densely packed with everything: characters, plots, subplots, subtext, etc... It was written and directed by Stephen Gagan, who also wrote Traffic, and the movie was very reminiscent of that: taking place in different countries, with a large cast of characters to keep straight. I don't think it's the kind of movie that will probably have widespread commercial appeal because it is so dense, but I think they've done a great job marketing it, so there may be a pretty good turnout once it opens wide.

Anyway, I thought about using the Harrison Ford line from Empire Strikes Back for today's quiz: "I feel awful." I am sick. Yee-haw :roll Maybe I shoulda taken a sick day, but I'm taking Friday off already, and I just took last Friday off, so what the hell. I'm not so sick I can't function. I need to get more sleep though, that's for sure. I was up late doing this damn quiz, so I hope you enjoy it:

clue #1

Update - I had a feeling this would happen, but Cookie nailed it already so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #2, clue #3, clue #4, clue #5, clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10

Yes, in case you haven't heard, they are apparently going ahead with Rambo IV. But this entry isn't just about the shocking revelation that they're making this movie. Oh no. This entry is about what is listed on the IMDB page for Rambo IV. If you haven't looked yet, you may want to. Here's what they have for the synopsis:

Vietnam vet John Rambo is forced to emerge from his reclusive lifestyle and take justice into his own hands after a girl goes missing

Ok, that's actually worse than I figured it would be, but that's not the real weird part. No, the real weird part is when you get down to the cast:

Sylvester Stallone .... John J. Rambo
Milo Ventimiglia .... Rocky Balboa Jr.

What?! What the hell is "Rocky Balboa Jr." doing in a Rambo movie? This is sounding dangerously like the Rocky DVD feature in which Sly Stallone interviews Rocky Balboa. Anyway, here's today's quiz:

clue #1

Update - A little Rocky talk but no guesses yet so here's the next clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - No guesses yet so here's another clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - No one's made a guess yet. What are you guys, chicken? Here's another clip for you, if you're brave enough to listen:

clue #4

Update #4 - Still nothing? You guys stumped or what? Here's another clip:

clue #5

Update #5 - Well either Cookie or Matt (or both) got today's flick, so here's the rest of the clips:

clue #6, clue #7, clue #8, clue #9, clue #10, clue #11, clue #12