Today, Yesterday, and a Few Days Ago
Wednesday, May 31
Hello everybody! It's sure been a busy last couple of days. Let's see what I can remember.
We'll start with Sunday.
Sunday my girlfriend and I meet up with a lot of my friends (a lot means quite a few) and their lady friends to grab a quick bite to eat and then see X-Men: The Last Stand. The group seemed to enjoy themselves pretty good and I had a grand ol' time. Oh yeah, the movie rocked too.
Afterwards about half the group disbanded and the rest of us got into mischief. Suffice to say the evening involved a mask, a grave yard, and ritual sacrifice... alright, minus the sacrifice part. But still it went on into the wee hours of the morning.
Monday, while most people were enjoying their time off from work, I was infact, working. But not at my second job. No, I was scheduled totally off from both jobs... only to work on my possible future home. I was also off Tuesday and Wednesday doing this as well. So my body is sore from manual labor. *ugh*
Tuesday went by kinda fast so lets jump to Wednesday. My birthday. Yes, I am now a quarter of a century old. Hurrah!
I had a good day. Spent time with my family, my girlfriend, and my friends. I got some interesting gifts and some spending money for my trip to San Diego.
I found out some unfortunate information concerning two of my friends. I feel for them.
Wrapping up Wednesday a friend, my girlfriend, and myself stayed from about 10:00 at night to around 1:00am fixing up the new location for my comic book store. Well, not my store, just the one I go to. Whatever. Oh. Didn't I mention it moved? Yeah. I guess I forgot. It's downtown now.
But that was fun, helping out a cause that I'm enthused about. With my friends no less.
We'll start with Sunday.
Sunday my girlfriend and I meet up with a lot of my friends (a lot means quite a few) and their lady friends to grab a quick bite to eat and then see X-Men: The Last Stand. The group seemed to enjoy themselves pretty good and I had a grand ol' time. Oh yeah, the movie rocked too.
Afterwards about half the group disbanded and the rest of us got into mischief. Suffice to say the evening involved a mask, a grave yard, and ritual sacrifice... alright, minus the sacrifice part. But still it went on into the wee hours of the morning.
Monday, while most people were enjoying their time off from work, I was infact, working. But not at my second job. No, I was scheduled totally off from both jobs... only to work on my possible future home. I was also off Tuesday and Wednesday doing this as well. So my body is sore from manual labor. *ugh*
Tuesday went by kinda fast so lets jump to Wednesday. My birthday. Yes, I am now a quarter of a century old. Hurrah!
I had a good day. Spent time with my family, my girlfriend, and my friends. I got some interesting gifts and some spending money for my trip to San Diego.
I found out some unfortunate information concerning two of my friends. I feel for them.
Wrapping up Wednesday a friend, my girlfriend, and myself stayed from about 10:00 at night to around 1:00am fixing up the new location for my comic book store. Well, not my store, just the one I go to. Whatever. Oh. Didn't I mention it moved? Yeah. I guess I forgot. It's downtown now.
But that was fun, helping out a cause that I'm enthused about. With my friends no less.
Comic Book Wednesday
Thursday, May 25
What a nice explosion of comic books. I like book heavy weeks like this one. And some very good reads here too.
Blue Beetle, I must say is getting good. Mostly when he's not doing superhero stuff, just around his family. I'm not disappointed so far for the change.
Catwoman is alright. So is 52 and Secret Six (a mini-series baised off of a mini-series Villians United).
Teen Titans was a boring issue cause I really don't give a damn about Beast Boy and the Doom Patrol whatsoever.
Squadron Supreme was good, wrapping up it's first arc. Both New Avengers and Green Lantern surpirsed me. Both have been lacking a little in the past. Avengers made me think about picking up a past Marvel event called House of M, and GL brought me back to the very days after I started to collect comics.
A good week for comic book reading.
The Day of Vinci Code
Wednesday, May 24
Well, Wednesday I finished reading the worldwide bestseller The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, then finished it up with the major motion picture of the same name. *Phew!*
I'll start with the book. Admitially, I don't read many novels. Most of my reading happens between the pages of a magazine or a comic book. Both have pretty pictures. However I got sucked into the hype. I was curious to what it was all about. The fuss that is. So I broke down and spent a whoopin' $5.99 minus a 10% discount and set out to read it. Two and a half weeks later (today) I finished it up. Yes, I said two weeks. I don't actually sit down and read, I did it mostly during breaks at work, both jobs.
I loved it. And with the fact the movie was coming out so soon, I had plugged Tom Hanks and Ian McKellen into their roles while reading it. So it seemed that much more cinematic. My only fear is that the movie won't live up to the book. And as history has proven, movies never live up to the book.
So Wednesday night I set out to watch it. It played pretty true to the book I must say. They just took out a lot of little things that I felt would have made the movie better, but also longer. So I understand why they were left out. Perhaps they'll be deleted scenes on the DVD. Parts were edited to make things run quicker, faster between transitions, which to me seemed VERY forced.
Also, if I hadn't read the book before hand, I'm not too sure if I would have enjoyed the movie as much as I did. I felt that odd to me.
The book kicked ass. And the movie could have been worse. That's that.
Rapid Reviews
Sunday, May 21
The Frightners * * * (of 5)
I'm just glad this Peter Jackson film wasn't three hours long. A nice take on ghosts that's more campy than scary. Entertaining.
Capote * * * *
Continuing my quest to see Oscar winning films, enter Capote, winner of Best Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. I really liked this movie.
The Ice Harvest 1/2
This movie sucked. I can't believe I finished it. However the ending was the best part, so I'm glad I did that at least.
Dirty Love * * *
I didn't want to watch this. But this was a funny movie. Funniest moment: When a topless Jenny McCarthy grabs her funbags, wildly moving them about shouting, "They're just useless bags of fat!".
When A Stranger Calls * 1/2
It wasn't horrible and kept me entertained for about an hour and a half. Eh. Stupid PG-13 rating.
The Ringer *
I was disappointed when I watched this. Not really funny.
Grandma's Boy * * * 1/2
Now this one had some stupid stuff in it, but this was pretty funny though, so it made up for it. It had just enough to spark the inner geek in me. It does deal with video games. It's a rental at most.
I'm just glad this Peter Jackson film wasn't three hours long. A nice take on ghosts that's more campy than scary. Entertaining.
Capote * * * *
Continuing my quest to see Oscar winning films, enter Capote, winner of Best Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. I really liked this movie.
The Ice Harvest 1/2
This movie sucked. I can't believe I finished it. However the ending was the best part, so I'm glad I did that at least.
Dirty Love * * *
I didn't want to watch this. But this was a funny movie. Funniest moment: When a topless Jenny McCarthy grabs her funbags, wildly moving them about shouting, "They're just useless bags of fat!".
When A Stranger Calls * 1/2
It wasn't horrible and kept me entertained for about an hour and a half. Eh. Stupid PG-13 rating.
The Ringer *
I was disappointed when I watched this. Not really funny.
Grandma's Boy * * * 1/2
Now this one had some stupid stuff in it, but this was pretty funny though, so it made up for it. It had just enough to spark the inner geek in me. It does deal with video games. It's a rental at most.
10 Things I hate About Commandments
What happens when the new kid at school finds out that hanging out with the cool crowd isnt so easy? A comedy three thousand years in the making.
Dead in the Water
Friday, May 19
If you didn't know, the Aquaman TV show Mercy Reef wasn't picked up by the new soon to be network the CW (WB and UPN). However they did make a great trailer for it, which I'm surpirsed it wasn't picked up by how great this thing turned out. It even had some star power in it, including Ving Rhames and who appears to be Lou Diamond Phillips... but I'm not sure.
Check it out.
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Check it out.
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Comic Book Wednesday
Thursday, May 18
An all DC week. It's been a while.
The second installment of 52 gets the ball rolling on a few characters. I love this idea of a weekly series from DC.
Superman/Batman #24 finishes up a long drawn out storyline. It's over, thank goodness.
Green Arrow was kickass. Totally kickass. The first two issues of the one year later arc were so/so, but this made up for it. Apparently GA learned a few new tricks during the past year. Imagine this... after some arrow play Ollie pulls a sword all goes all Highlander and shit. Sweet.
Robin answered the question of the missing Batgirl, which I didn't care for. If this title doesn't pick up soon I'm going to drop it, for like the third time now.
New Media Tuesday - Like, The Best New Media Tuesday Ever!
Tuesday, May 16
First we have a remake of When A Stranger Calls. I haven't seen the original but this remake wasn't too bad. I have this bad habit of watching "thriller" pics and trying to predict "what's making that noise in the other room" type scenes. Cause it's always the damned cat or your dead best friend or something.
The Ringer starring Johnny Knoxvillie came out. I watched this with much anticipation only to pretty much bore myself to death. A lot of hype followed by a lot of let down. What a trip.
The Producers, movie remake number two this week. Although officially I guess you could say this one is based on the broadway play based on the movie. Details. I didn't think the original was that funny (it IS supposed to be a comedy afterall), but I look forward to seeing this "remake".
Ugh. If you liked the movie you probably bought it. And if you do own it, like myself, I don't really see anybody double dipping with this rehashed "special edition of Napoleon Dynamite dubbed Like, the Best Special Edition Ever.
I'm curious about Winter Passing, an offbeat dramatic comedy staring Zooey Deschanel (that chick from Elf), Elf co-star Will Ferrell, and Ed Harris. It looks alright.
Also today are rehashed extended editions of Crimson Tide, Con Air, and Enemy of the State. Enjoy!
Playstation 2: Resurrection!
Monday, May 15
Over the weekend my roommate went to Texas for a wedding. In Texas is friend of his girlfriends, to my understanding, who has been known to fix broken Playstation 2's. What does that mean for me? Opportunity.
My roommate offers to take my broken PS2 with him on his trip to see if it can be repaired. Come Sunday night when he returns and hands me back the familiar rectangle box of joy. For absolutely no charge, their friend had replaced a few parts and even cleaned the casing.
It's Alive! It's ALIVE!!
Super Montage
Sunday, May 14
Found this at the begining of a recent Warner Bros. DVD. So I had to look it up on youtube.com to show ya'll. Enjoy.
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Viewaskew News Break
Saturday, May 13
Just a few notes from the world of everything Kevin Smith. First off Clerks 2 has been moved up to this summer. It will now be released theatrically on July 21, almost a full month earlier. This is mostly due to it's getting into Canies.
Next up is the release date and artwork of An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder. I loved the shit out of the first one. Oh yeah, loving it strong! *Ahem* The 2-disc set will street on August 15th.
Comic Book Wednesday
Friday, May 12
This is the beginning of 52, a weekly comic event from DC Comics. As much of a DC fan that I am, this sort of comic is really cool. I've followed the lives of various characters from the DCU since 1993. A weekly comic spotlighting all sorts of characters who don't get the spotlight treatment in a monthly kicks ass in my book. The closest we ever came was in a series called Showcase which was a monthly comic. Now for a whole year we have a week by week "real time" event of the DC Universe.
Although 52 #1 wasn't a slam bam in your face issue, it set up many characters that I love (Steel, I'm looking at you) and stories for what looks to be a good year.
Uncanny X-men was confusing. I don't understand what's going on, nor do I really care. It's almost making me think about dropping the title. There was one thing that was cleared up with this issue though, just how all the X-titles relate to each other. From Astonishing, New X-Men, Uncanny and X-Men, each team different and with different members, but all seem to exist within each other. I didn't realize that. The stories in each book differ but the teams all live at the institute. Anyway, New X-Men was better. I really dig the younger characters trying to live up to being an X-man.
More YouTube Goodness
I've got two things for ya. First, a seven minute preview of clips from X-Men 3. Good stuff, lots of action and character stuff.
Second is a 35 second TV spot of Superman Returns that was on last nights Smallville season finale. I know everyone watched it right? It's not as good as the current trailer for the film, but it shows a few little flashes of new stuff.
Enjoy!
Second is a 35 second TV spot of Superman Returns that was on last nights Smallville season finale. I know everyone watched it right? It's not as good as the current trailer for the film, but it shows a few little flashes of new stuff.
Enjoy!
More Than Meets The Eye
Thursday, May 11
Yikes. This gives me great hope for a Transformers movie. I just pray to the Hollywood gods that the script is decient. This clip isn't officially from the 2007 movie, however, it's nicely done. Just give it a watch.
Found it at JoBlo.com BTW.
Found it at JoBlo.com BTW.
Oops... I Did It Again!
Wednesday, May 10
I got my name mentioned at viewaskew.com again. That's my second time now.
Yippie!
That's Cold
Here's a funny frame I found at the Aquaman Website. Yes... he has one.
Diet - Week 19
Tuesday, May 9
I think my last weigh in was a mistake, however within the last two weeks I think I did infact lose that weight... minus a pound. That now puts me at 220lbs.
With only three more weeks before my original planned diet was to end, that puts me under half my original goal of losing 30lbs. I wasn't too sure how realistic it was to actually think I'd hit that goal, and I suppose 13lbs in four months isn't too bad. I think I'll continue with my diet past my original date. I'm thinking the whole year now.
I've allowed myself to drink soda now, however I still don't really drink it. Maybe one ocasion during the course of a week, if that. I've also this week started drinking Slim Fast for when I'm at K-mart for a meal or sometimes during the week for lunch when I know I'll be having a decient supper.
With only three more weeks before my original planned diet was to end, that puts me under half my original goal of losing 30lbs. I wasn't too sure how realistic it was to actually think I'd hit that goal, and I suppose 13lbs in four months isn't too bad. I think I'll continue with my diet past my original date. I'm thinking the whole year now.
I've allowed myself to drink soda now, however I still don't really drink it. Maybe one ocasion during the course of a week, if that. I've also this week started drinking Slim Fast for when I'm at K-mart for a meal or sometimes during the week for lunch when I know I'll be having a decient supper.
Super Weird Dream
Before I forget it, let me tell you about a strange dream I had Monday morning.
I was in what appeared to be my old high school's library, but I didn't think I was in my old high school, it appeared to be a TV show set. There was an audience like what you'd see in a studio on one side. I was actually off to the right side of them playing Kingdom Hearts II.
Actors started coming onto the set and I recognized two of them; Dean Cain and Brandon Routh. Both of which whom have played the part of Superman. They were not in costume, just street clothes. Although at this time the ending to the game I was playing was showing but I didn't care, my attention wavered towards what was happening on the stage. They were about to do a bit of a sketch, like for Saturday Night Live or something.
The two Supermen talked back and forth, like one had a problem with the other. Dean Cain kept smiling and mildly laughing because he couldn't keep his cool. Kind of like Jimmy Fallon did when he was a cast member on SNL. However they then ended up pushing and shoving each other, breaking things in their path. Like tables, aisles of books, and walls. That's where I guess the sketch was supposed to be funny. Two Supermen in street clothes destroying stuff.
Afterwards, when the bit was finished, I happened to have my digital camera on me and went over to get pictures of everyone. I got a picture with Dean Cain. No problem. But then when I went to get a picture of Brandon Routh, he had been replaced with Orlando Bloom. Nobody had a problem with it in the dream, including me. It was like the change hadn't taken place. But I remembered it in the dream.
That's were it ended. I remembered all of that crap up above. Strange huh? I don't even want to know what it means.
Comic Book Wednesday
Wednesday, May 3
Insert something cleaver here about beginnings and endings.
DC's Infinite Crisis is over. A sad moment really because I've enjoyed most of this ride. Something that I hope carries over into 52 which starts NEXT WEEK for every week for a year. Heh. I'm loving it.
Supergirl finally jumped to a One Year Later storyline and I couldn't be happier. This book has been plagued by shipping delays galore. I like the series new artist Ed Benes too.
Teen Titans and Outsiders were good. I mean they weren't bad. Both letting on simple clues or nods to the missing year, 52 should be a good read.
Marvel's Civil War started this week as well. There was nothing in this issue that gave me a moment of pause of enjoyment or disbelief. I have no doubt the rest of this mini will get better with more "moments", but this first issue was kind of weak. Unless you really were a New Warriors fan, then your jaw was on the ground and you're pretty much screwed.
Movie Trailer Goodness
Late last night I wandered over to JoBlo to get my latest movie fix when to my surprise I see links to not only a new Pirates of the Caribbean trailer but also a new Superman Returns one too. I didn't think I'd see that one until MI:3 came out (cause it's supposed to be show before it).
Check out the trailers. I loved every second.
Superman Returns CLICK HERE
Pirates of the Caribbean HERE
For the Curious...
Tuesday, May 2
I've been asked by a few people now, so I'll just put it out there... yes I'll be hosting a Halloween party this year... is that what? Three now? Four? I think it's four.
Sweet.
Anyway, as for the when and where's is still to be determined. Now that you're aware, better get crackin' on them costumes.
