The Black Swan

The Greatest Blues Song Ever Written

2009-02-12T15:57:00.001-08:00

I think is definitely Lazy, by Deep Purple. You may think that's funny at first, the concept of Deep Purple writing the greatest blues song ever, but if you listen to it you'll see that everything they're doing in the song is standard blues. To me, I consider Lazy almost like an expanded interpretation of Steppin' Out, as done by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Lazy to me is almost like the son of Steppin' Out, they're undeniably linked together in my brain.

Not only are the riffs really similar, but Ian Gillian almost echoes John Mayall's voice on the track, it's absolutely unreal. The guitar is so bluesy and heavy in both songs, but Jon Lord's organ is so reminiscent of Booker T's. Definitely the greatest blues ever written.

Here's Steppin' Out:

SUCCESS!!!

2009-01-26T18:35:00.001-08:00

We have now moved into a new home and the internet was just activated today! I'm actually going to have time now to blog! I'm sitting here watching Kitchen Nightmares on On Demand. This is fantastic! I'm also on my new couch, which can't hurt...

Look forward to new posts!

...

2009-01-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

Silence.

Sometimes it's golden, but lately it's just been because of insane busyness. The busyness of the holidays coupled with the fact that we haven't had internet at our place for over 3 months now is definitely to blame. I've been wanting to blog about the MST3K I've been watching and all the great recipes/food we've been making but there has been no time.

Hopefully, some free time will free up along with an internet connection at our new place we're going to move into, whenever we get one. And then of course, there's the baby, which has taken up a huge chunk of my life (lovingly so, I might add). I've also really been wanting to blog about my nursery ideas for the baby, which we found out a couple weeks ago that it's a girl! Yay! So anyway, in the mean time, check out this recipe.

It's a Gordon Ramsay recipe I found on-line and I've been making it for the wife lately. WOO WOO!

Gordon Ramsay's Roasted Tomato Soup

4 tbsp olive oil
1kg plum tomatoes, halved
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 fat garlic cloves, halved
Small handful of thyme sprigs
1 tsp caster sugar
Small handful of basil sprigs
1l chicken stock or Vegetable Nage
3 smoked sun-dried cherry tomatoes in oil, drained (or 2 semi-soft sun-dried tomatoes and 1 tbsp barbecue sauce)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

2 tbsp olive oil
200-300g baby cherry tomatoes on the vine
Small basil leaves

1 Preheat the oven to 220C, Gas 7. Pour the olive oil into a roasting tin and heat in the oven until almost smoking. Carefully tip in the tomatoes, onion rings and garlic, then toss to coat in the oil. Scatter over the thyme sprigs, sprinkle with sugar and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until nicely caramelised, stirring once or twice and adding the basil towards the end of cooking.

2 Tip the roasted tomatoes and flavourings into a saucepan, discarding any woody thyme stalks. Bring the stock to the boil in another pan, then pour over the tomatoes. Bring
to the boil, add the smoked tomatoes (or semi-soft sun dried tomatoes plus barbecue sauce) and cook for 5 minutes.

3 Strain the stock, reserving the tomato mixture. Tip the tomatoes into a blender or food processor and whiz, gradually adding the stock back in until smooth and creamy. Pass the soup through a sieve into a clean pan or bowl, rubbing with the back of a ladle. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

4 For the garnish, heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Snip the vine tomatoes into four clusters and fry them on the vine for about a minute.

5 Reheat the soup if necessary, but it’s best served warm rather than piping hot. Pour into warmed bowls and top with the pan-roasted vine tomatoes. Drizzle the pan juices around the tomatoes and scatter with basil leaves.

Thanksgiving '08 and Beyond

2008-12-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

So I must say that Thanksgiving did go amazingly well. Even though it was a couple weeks ago, this is definitely going to be one of the Thanksgiving meals go down in history. I think that one of the biggest hits was the Salty Caramel Gelato. We used David Lebovitz's recipe, which I found on-line. David Lebovitz wrote a cookbook that I just absolutely have to buy now, The Perfect Scoop. I've read that there's actually a recipe in the book for Chevre Ice Cream, or Goat's Cheese Ice Cream, which I'm insanely over-joyed about, since my wife and I had Glace (French Ice Cream) Chevre in Paris, at Les Deux Magots.

So we got a round of rocchetta, an Italian semi-firm cheese and I'm going to make an ice cream from it. It's made of equal parts cow's milk, sheep's milk, and goat's milk, all three things that make my world go round. The rocchetta reminds my wife and I of a cheese we had together in Rouen, the capital of Northern Normandy, while we were on our honeymoon in France. We both forgot what the cheese was called, but I think it's selles-sur-cher, which I've read can be a hard/firm cheese or a soft cheese.

So I ate half of the rocchetta and I'm going to use the other half in a glace ice cream. I can't wait to try it. I've also seen an amazing looking cheese ice cream recipe in Gordon Ramsay's new cookbook, Three Star Chef. It's Gorgonzola Ice Cream, which I can't wait to pair with a Flourless Chocolate Torte! I'm actually not going to use Gorgonzola, but a Point Reyes Farmstead Blue Cheese. Maybe I'll even make some type of caramel/toffee syrup to go over the top of it, or add cacao nibs, which are like wonderful unsweetened little chocolate beans. This is all just making me hungry. I swear, I'm getting fatter just thinking about all this.

Anyway, Thanksgiving is what inspired me to start making more adventurous ice creams. The Sated Caramel Gelato was just go unbelievably good, it feels like there's an endless amount of possibilities. But sooner or later, I'll get around to posting the recipes of the favorite dishes we made for Thanksgiving, all were with spelt flour.

Anyway, bon appetit!

Lee Morgan - The Gigolo

2008-12-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I ordered some CDs off of amazon.com. Talk about a deal! They were all Blue Note records. I got this incredible album, The Gigolo, by Lee Morgan. Morgan definitely has a bluesy-soul type R&B vibe to his trumpet playing. It's almost like he understands the blues so well that he applies it to jazz without even trying. This is definitely a jazz classic.

Blue Note records were to jazz what Stax was to R&B, where every album was just an absolute classic without fail for just about ten years. Too bad times like this are over. People just don't go into the studio and record material this good this fast any more. And talk about production, there almost is none.

Anyway, if you can, get this record. It's amazing.

MST3K Episode #804 - The Deadly Mantis

2008-11-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

Talk about a drag. This movie is one of the slowest movies I've ever seen on MST3K. It drags on FOREVER. I wouldn't call this movie one of the worst films on MST3K ever (compared to Manos: Hands of Fate and The Beast of Yucca Flats) but it's definitely at the point of being unwatchable. There's quite a few times when you just want to stand up and leave the room.

Now, the MST3K comedy is great, but it's almost not enough to keep you seated. I actually had to turn this one on and off several times and pick it back up again it was so bad. In this film, NONE of the actors are even worth naming.

The story is so hard to follow also. Mostly because it's just that boring. So The Deadly Mantis is about just what the name implies, a giant prehistoric mantis. The opening credits are the mantis' body suspended in ice at the North Pole. Because of global warming (I guess, it's never directly mentioned) the polar ice caps are melting. As it melts, a giant prehistoric mantis (about 5 or 6 times bigger than a 747) wakes up out of the ice and starts eating people. It starts out at an airbase (in Alaska or Canada!? I don't think it's ever explained...) where it intercepts a plane carrying to American soldiers.

The base goes on alert and finds crashed ship, but no bodies. Inside the ship, they find a giant thorn-like claw. They take it back to the military base for study. They bring the claw to Colonel Parkman, who decides to have it investigated to see what it is. After bringing it before a military council of some sort and they decide to have it sent to a paleontologist, Dr. Ned Jackson.

This is where the movie really begins. So Ned Jackson starts studying the claw, along with his annoying sidekick, photographer Marge Blaine, who apparently is tired of hanging around Jackson because he doesn't ever have any good stories (a stale romance is implied but isn't really admitted). After some study, Jackson believes the claw to be from a pre-historic giant insect and Marge gets excited as she finally gets her story. The two race to the military base to meet up with Col. Parkman.

When they get there, who should attack? The Deadly Mantis, of course! So the mantis attacks and they manage to escape and leave to Washington D.C. where Colonel Parkman and Marge start up a romance that is anything less than completely overt (at one point they're in a car together, kissing when Marge says they should go home and Crow says, "But there's a mantis in my pantis", one of the best MST3K lines ever). Together, they figure out that the mantis is going to try to fly south to it's normal habitat (how it got to the North Pole is anyone's guess in the first place) in South America or Africa. The mantis is then intercepted in Washington and attacked. Fleeing away, it then flies to New York.

Marge, Parkman and Jackson all follow to New York, where someone (the police, the army, normal citizens? Who knows!) traps the mantis in a traffic tunnel. The three go in to try to kill it and somehow, Parkman gets a hold of some gas bombs that he just starts launching at the mantis. After a few well-placed bombs, the mantis dies. After it's dead, Marge starts to take pictures and the mantis' claw starts to move and almost kills Marge. Parkman dives in and saves his woman while Jackson just stands there laughing. When Parkman asks why he's laughing, Jackson says, "Oh, don't worry, he's dead. Insect's bodies tend to still move even after they die." And that's pretty much the end of the movie.

Wow, I can't believe I actually described what happened. I can't believe I actually remembered. I must say I had to read a little bit more to jog my memory about this film because I'm telling you, it was awful.

(from left to right, Ned Jackson, Marge Blaine, Colonel Parkman)

An MST3K Thanksgiving

2008-11-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

I just counted today how many Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes I've seen all the way through today and the lucky number is 46. These are just the episodes I REMEMBER watching from start to finish. I'm pretty sure I've watched three or four more that I don't recall actually finishing. Not to mention all the movies I've started but couldn't finish because I had to do something else.

Anyway, in the spirit of Thanksgiving and the realization that I've seen 46 MST3K episodes the whole way through, I've decided to put up some special MST3K "Turkey Day" clips for your viewing pleasure. I wish there was a channel that would play 30 hours of MST3K straight for Thanksgiving, my family could have it on while I'm cooking away. What a wonderful world it would be.

MST3K Episode #808 - The She-Creature

2008-11-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

Wow, talk about a re-hash of The Undead. This movie is basically based on the same premise. Someone can use psychosis to bring a hypnotized person back in time.

Hmm.... where to begin with this one. Well, The She-Creature doesn't really star anyone worth mentioning besides Elizabeth Taylor look-a-like, Marla English, who was actually in one of the greatest films ever made, Rear Window. All she had was a small role though, she walked into a room in one shot and that was pretty much it. The only other actors of note are Lance Fuller who played Brack in the MST3K movie, This Island Earth, and Tom Conway, who narrated Walt Disney's Peter Pan.

So this movie is slow. And I mean SLOW slow. Basically, a hypnotist named Carlo Lombardi has some type of psychic hold on Andrea Talbott, played by English. Meanwhile, Ted Erickson, played by Fuller, is dating a girl named Dorothy Chapell. Her father, Timothy Chapell, played by Conway, takes an interest in Dr. Carlo Lombardi because he figures he can make a lot of money off of his hypnosis and psychic powers.

So mysteriously, there have been a lot of murders just off the coast. Teenagers (who are often making out) are killed by some kind of monster. Erickson, along with his detective friend, start to investigate Lombardi because they believe he has something to do with the murders, as he has predicted each death. Erickson is a long-time critic of Lombardi, but witnesses him doing his hypnosis on Andrea Talbott, whom he instantly falls in love with (and out of love with Dorothy Chapell), and starts to believe Lombardi has some type of power. Lombardi reveals to him that through hypnosis, he can bring Andrea back to any one of her previous incarnations through an unconscious link in her psyche. He then tells Erickson that he can even bring her back to the dawn of creation (she's a reincarnated sea monster, ha!).

Together, Erickson and Talbott work together to find some sort of mental strength that can keep Andrea from being put under Lombardi's control. They fight back against Lombardi and he eventually dies, regretting his powers that he used for evil. Andrea is saved and Erickson and Andrea live peacefully ever after.

Or do they!? The movie ends with a giant question mark, which is just awesome. It was supposed to allude to alleged sequel, which I don't think ever happened. The jokes in this episode are top-notch, as Bill Corbett had just started his role as Crow T. Robot in this season (Season 8) and they were all trying to make the episodes as funny as they could to keep up with previous level of comedy when Trace Beaulieu was Crow. At one point, when the monster is walking around on the beach invisible and leaving it's tracks in the sand, Crow says "Donald Duck has the ring of power!" I laughed my ass off.

The comedy is good in this episode, although the movie is so bad you may not be able to handle it.

New Dissidia Scan...!

2008-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Finally, we get to see Cloud and Sephiroth's art for Final Fantasy Dissidia. No news though at all that I'm hip to. Also, there's a new video for the game, the five and a half minute video that Square Enix showed at the Tokyo Game Show. Enjoi!

The Critic

2008-11-14T15:23:00.001-08:00

What a great show this was. Probably one of the most under-rated animated shows that was ever on TV. It was so much better than the filth/garbage/trash we have today like Family Guy and American Dad. I wish they would come back and make a new season. I'm telling you, it was so fantastic because it has this melancholy random humor that's great. Jay is (was) the modern day Charlie Brown, always being picked on and such. Just hilarious.

And Jon Lovitz is just pure genius. This show was great. I wish they'd bring it back to TV at least so we could watch it again.

Here's some links to my favorite episodes on-line:

Eyes on the Prize (one of my favorites)
Marathon Mensch
L.A. Jay
Dr. Jay

MST3K Episode #807 - Terror From The Year 5000

2008-11-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

I actually liked this one! Besides the MST3K comedy, this wasn't that bad of a movie. Okay, okay, so really, it was. BUT... it's nowhere near as bad as SOME of the MST3K movies I've seen (Cosmic Princess, Hamlet, Outlaw, and Quest of the Delta Knights come to mind). This movie was more like This Island Earth, where the acting is bad, but it's mostly the fact that the concept was way beyond the capabilities of the time.

Having said that, Terror From The Year 5000 stars super-babe, Joyce Holden, as Claire Erling, the daughter of prominent time-travel professor, Howard Erling (played by Frederic Downs, who coincidentally, was also in The Hellcats, another MST3K head-hitter as well as Night Train To Mundo Fine [Red Zone Cuba]) and Ward Costello as archaeologist, Professor Robert Hedges.

So the movie starts out with a doldrums monologue about how man went to the moon in the 20th century. Then it goes into the movie, where it explains that Howard Erling and his pasty/oily assistant, Victor are trying to conduct science experiments about traveling into the future. Basically, they put something into a capsule, send it to the future, and as they do, the equivalent item from the year 5000 comes out. So they put a little statue into the machine and out pops a statue of a woman's body, a Venus De Milo type thing. So what does Erling do? He sends the statue to his friend, Robert Hedges, to carbon date the statue. After carbon dating the item, Robert realizes the item is from "THE YEAR 5000" (which is incredibly stupidly impossible). So then Robert gets an invitation to Erling's experimental island and decides to go. When he gets off the plane and into his car, he soon realizes he's being followed. What ensues is probably the most pathetic car chase ever. So when he stops the car, his chaser gets out of the car and who is it? Claire Erling, professor Erling's daughter! She explains that she was the one who invited Robert and then remarks about how cute he is. The two of them then go to the island.

When they get there, it's revealed that Victor is actually quite diabolical. He really wants to further the experiments with sending things into the future, while Professor Erling wants things to slow down a bit. Another hilarious character that's introduced is the old peeping tom, Angelo, who lives in a pin-up-plastered shack outside the mansion where he apparently just sits around looking at porn mags all day. So Victor and Claire have some sort of relationship, although it's never really developed as Claire practically jumps Robert as soon as he gets there. After a few nights at the mansion, Robert realizes that Victor has sent living creatures through the time-machine, as he finds a suitcase with some type of dead alien dog in it at the bottom of one of the swamps on the island.

After this, it's pretty much hazy. Victor and Howard get into some kind of fight... The movie basically drags on for the whole huge chunk of the middle. Howard spends most of his time trying to convince Erling that Victor is trying to send living creatures through the machine, which Erling doesn't believe. Victor finally sends a keyring that he has with some Greek translated on it to the future and what they get back is some sort of golden coin with the words "save us" on it, inscribed in Greek. So, sometime after this, Angelo is caught peeping on Claire, which is immediately forgiven, because the Terror shows up right after, which is just hilarious. One minute, dirty old Angelo is outside Claire's bedroom, spying on her changing, and then literally five minutes later in the film, they're like, "Angelo, go get help", like he's their saving angel.

So, Victor somehow brings a living being from the time-machine back to their time, who immediately attacks him. Did I mention the terror has giant rhinestone-type glittery circles all over it's black costume (ROFL!)? Anyway, it attacks him and burns him up with radiation poisoning when Professor Erling, Howard, and Claire are all in town watching a movie. When they get back, they see he's hurt and tell Angelo to go get help. So good 'ole Angelo runs out into the swamp and gets killed by the Terror. Then, they decide to call for a nurse, who ends up getting intercepted by the Terror. The Terror kills the nurse and then puts on her face and goes to the mansion where Erling, Howard, and Claire are. Once the Terror (disguised as the nurse) gets there, Howard and Erling decide to leave (to go and find Angelo, I believe!?) and Claire stays behind to take care of Victor. While Professor Erling and Howard are gone, Claire goes to her room while the nurse "takes care" of Victor. The Terror reveals that in the future, because of the people in the 20th and 21st centuries, 7 out of 8 (or some crap like that) babies are born with radiation poisioning and are born mutated "freaks". She needs to bring Victor back to the future with his pre-radiation genes to start populating the planet with new healthy babies. Just then, Claire comes in there's a weird conflict dialogue between Claire and the Terror. She then leaves and the Terror and Victor go into the room and fire up the time-machine. When Claire sees them doing this, she realizes that the nurse is from the future and they start fighting. In the cat-fight, the Terror's pretty nurse face gets torn off and reveals her true ugly face. The Terror then starts attacking everyone.

I think Victor dies, I don't really remember. Anyway, Professor Erling and Howard show up and save Claire. The Terror dies and then Howard warns that they need to go to the future to help out. Professor Erling then gives some BS speech about how they are the future and that they can change the world and prevent the radiation poisoning. And then that's it.

You have to wonder if they're kidding you at the end of this movie. Not the worst concept, but definitely a failure to execute.

LMN - Our Mother's Murder (Daughters)

2008-11-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

This is probably one of the best (coincidentally, meaning one of the worst) Lifetime movies. This one is a pure classic. I've probably seen this movie maybe two or three times, off and on, since about 1997. As it's known on Lifetime, the movie is called Our Mother's Murder. I believe the original title is "Daughters". The movie is supposedly fact-based, or based on a true story.

So anyway, the movie's biggest star is pubescent boy fan-fav, Holly Marie Combs, who's biggest role was a character called Piper Halliwell from the uber-crap-fest WB network superstar show, Charmed. So Combs plays Alex Morrell, daughter of Anne Scripps Douglas, a famous heiress to the Scripps Howard newspaper chain. While the real-life story is pretty tragic, the movie, taken as a movie, is pretty bad.

So Alex Morrell narrates the entire movie. In the first two minutes of the film, you already hit your own head at the blatant campiness of the line, "When mom got married, she was practically almost a virgin". YIKES. So she goes on to say how her mom grew up with all this money and was really nice and protected. Then her mom married her dad and had two girls, Alex, and her sister, Annie, who's played by Sarah Chalke, who's biggest things she ever did were two "Wow, who gives an F" shows, Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother. So after Alex's mom and dad had the two of them, they then divorced.

So it starts with Annie and Alex both coming home from being away at some type of boarding school or something. They come home and find their mom racing out for a date with a "much younger man". So things escalate and eventually the mom marries the guy, who's name is Scott Douglas, played by James Wilder, a Lifetime movie regular. Turns out he's a carpenter with a bad drinking habit. Annie and Alex both suspect of him trying to move in our their mother because she's innocent, naive, and vulnerable, not to mention one of the wealthiest single women in the US.

So after a while, Anne (the mother) and Scott get pregnant and have a daughter, Victoria, often called "Tory" (what a terrible name). This is where things escalate. During a Christmas party, Anne has invited some relatives of her ex-husband, Annie and Alex's father. Scott flips out (it's suggested throughout the movie that he has some sort of inferiority complex with Anne's ex-husband) and takes Tory away from the party. Afterward, he hits Anne for inviting her ex-husband's family. After a while, things settle down. A couple years later, Anne throws another party for her daughters' friends and Scott comes home to find Anne smoking around Tory. Again, he flips out and beats attempts to beat her up, but one of Anne's friends comes in to find him and he pushes her down the stairs. The police arrive and Scott claims it's an accident. This is when Alex flips out and gets Scott to try to attack her.

The drinking/anger/beating happens again until Scott and Anne go out for a night of dinner and dancing with Anne's friends. Scott obviously doesn't fit in with the high and mighty wealthy people as he keeps trying to get them to hire him to be a builder/contractor for them. They laugh him off as they never talk business at social gatherings. Scott gives one of Anne's friends a business card which he laughingly throws in the ashtray when Scott walks away. When Scott comes back and sees it, he flies into a rage and gets in the car with Anne. Here, he tries to push her out of the car while it's going over 90 mph. He roughs her up so badly that he almost kills her and Anne runs away to hide with Alex.

This is where the second half of the movie begins. The rest is all about Anne trying to get separated from Scott and take Tory with her, which Scott finds out about and starts tormenting Anne, even threatening her when she sleeps. Eventually, Scott murders Anne and this is where the movie ends.

Pretty brutal and it's crazy that it's a true story. The movie teaches a valuable lesson to women about abusive relationships, but again, taken as a movie, it's just not that good. The best acting job is done by Wilder, who plays the part of a psycho pretty well (as he is type-cast to play these types of roles in a lot of other Lifetime movies). Holly Marie Combs more or less narrates the entire movie and just tries to look pretty most of the time. Anyone who's ever seen Charmed knows she's not the greatest actress.

The Dunwich Horror

2008-11-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

Uh oh. This is a bad one. So this came on late on TCM around Halloween and I thought I'd sit down to watch it. Boy, was I in for a ride on the stupidity train. This movie was like The Langoliers combined with Touch of Satan, trying to be Arabesque. Wow. The only thing missing from this film was Tim Matheson.

So the movie is supposed to be based after an H.P. Lovecraft story, but I've read it's very loosely based (Most of the characters in the movie aren't even in the story, let alone entire plot elements!). But that's a good thing because you don't want to be connected to this movie in any way, shape or form. TRUST ME. So, first of all, the movie "stars" Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee. I haven't seen any other Dean Stockwell movie except for The Langoliers, a film adaption of a Stephen King (who sucks in my opinion) story, which could quite possibly be the worst movie of all time. Sandra Dee is best known for her roll as Gidget in the 1959 classic, Gidget. What she was thinking when she decided to make this heap of crap movie, I doubt anyone will understand.

So the plot of the movie is pretty strained. There's this girl, Nancy, who's played by Dee. She and her friend work at a library with a copy of the Necronomicon. Right off the bat, it's like WTF!? Okay, so bare with me here. There's an old professor, Dr. Armitage who comes in and examines the book every now and again. One day, Wilbur, played by Stockwell, comes in, looking evil, or maybe just slightly gay. He tries to get the Necronomicon but Dr. Armitage doesn't want to let him get it. But since it's a public library, Nancy gives it to him. She also decides to go over to his house, because she's slightly intrigued by his mysterious darkness (or gayness).

So Wilbur drugs Nancy and starts using her in these bizarre rituals. Did I mention that meanwhile throughout this movie, there's random, half-second shots of naked people in finger paint running around? Some shots are violent I think, some are bizarre orgy-type stuff. All absolutely pointless. So he puts her on this stone table and impregnates her while she's passed out while all these evil spirits fly around. Apparently, he has to impregnate her and do these rituals on her to open a portal so that the beings (which are his ancestors) who lived on Earth before humans can come back.

Are you kidding me? Isn't that the stupidest thing you've ever heard? So Nancy's friend, who's name isn't even worth mentioning, comes by Wilbur's house looking for Nancy. Wilbur's weird, frightened little kitten of a father tries to make her leave, but she goes upstairs to the top floor where she's apparently eaten by some type of beast made out of hands, eyes and teeth. So the monster gets out (apparently it was somehow locked in the top room of Wilbur's home) and starts going on a rampage. Oh, and Wilbur's mom is in a mental institution, too. Did I get to that? The relevance of that is never exactly explained other than Wilbur had some type of evil birth. Anyway, is it wrong to say I don't even remember the end of this film?

Oh, and did I mention that Roger Corman was the producer of this movie? Yeah...

Mr. T Facts

2008-11-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

I got these from here. They're at the bottom of the page.

23; That's the number of people Mr. T has pitied in the time it has taken you to read this sentence.

Mr. T's edition of the VH1 show 'Where Are They Now' was the shortest in the show's history. It was 10 seconds long, and consisted of a black screen with the words "Right Behind You" written on it.

Mr. T is allergic to doorknobs. That's why he can only kick through doors.

The last time Mr. T went to McDonald's, Ronald McDonald greeted him. What occurred next proved to be the most violent beating of a clown ever recorded in human history.

Despite popular belief, if there is a fool in the woods, and nobody is around to hear his jibba jabba, Mr. T is still able to pity him.

Originally the A-Team was named T-Team and consisted of Mr. T and six of his genetically engineered clones driving around in a van made of pure gold. Producers changed the format after every criminal known to man was killed in the pilot episode.

Mr. T's hair style is actually a complex array of antennas that can triangulate the exact location of any fool in the universe. His gold chains can then transmit pity to those coordinates.

When Dr. Bruce Banner gets angry, he turns into the Hulk. When the Hulk gets angry, he turns into Mr. T.

Mr. T made his van go twice the speed of light because he wanted to prove that quantum physics was a bunch of jibba jabba.

If you were ever foolish enough to get into a fight with Mr. T, there would only be two hits: Mr. T hitting you, and you hitting the surface of the Sun.

Mr. T's incredible greatness has been attributed to the fact that his genetic code doesn't have any A, G, or C. His genetic code is in fact, nothing but T's.

During one of his frequent time-traveling adventures, Mr. T was accosted by a horde of frenzied Olde Englishmen who believed he was "Mr. Tea" and that he was going to supply them with all the tea and crumpets they could possibly desire. With a single blow, Mr. T knocked the entire mob unconscious. To this day, English people still have gnarly-nasty teeth.

The vegetarian group PETA one time tried to establish the catchphrase "We PETA the fool who eats animals." Upon learning of this blatant theft of his catch phrase, Mr. T founded McDonalds.

Mr. T's GMC van does not travel on solid surfaces, but instead mathematical planes. In other words, it can go wherever Mr. T wants.

Small animals find Mr. T irresistible and can be found playing in his mohawk. Mr. T tolerates them because "they don't give me no lip."

Mr. T invented Asian people, because he thinks they're cute and don't take up much room.

When Mr. T has nightmares, people around him start dying for no reason.

Mr. T was once clocked at 100 fps. That's 100 fools pitied a second.

Mr. T once got into a fight with a ninja. He killed the ninja, but only after the ninja had cut off two of his fingers. Those fingers grew up to be Gary Coleman and Webster.

Mr. T defines love as the reluctance to murder. If you're still alive, it's because Mr. T loves you.

Mr. T can count past infinity

Remember, only you can prevent forest fires. But also remember that you can't do nothinÕ, because Mr. T is the one who starts them, and no one can stop that crazy fool.

Mr. T was fired from the Psychic Friends Network for always predicting pain.

When Mr. T puts on his dancing shoes, you better start running.

World champion eater Takeru Kobayashi once ate 53.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Allotted the same time, Mr. T ate Kobayashi.

Mr. T was the first man on the moon, and claimed it by carving a gigantic "T" stretching from horizon to horizon. In his wisdom, he carved it on the dark side, as a warning to any aliens who might even think of attacking.

ANIMALS RULE! TIMOTHY CONQUERED!

2008-11-10T14:28:00.000-08:00

Grizzly Man may be the greatest documentary film of all time. Not particularly just because Timothy Treadwell was crazy, but because it's a great portrait of a man. Timothy Treadwell was not just some nut-job, but a guy who had real problems that real everyday people have. He got into alcohol, then drugs for a bit and then reverted back to a child-like state mentally to kick his drug/alcohol abuse habit. When he was a child, his big thing was animals. So when his life totally went on the fritz, he just kind of resorted back to it like a mental auto-pilot.

But the part I love about Timmy Treadwell is that he actually tried to be an island. He left the confinements of human civilization to try to live with bear civilization. He thought that since he was rejected by humankind that he was just forsake it and live without people. In his mind, he developed this incredible mental fantasy that somehow bear social hierarchy was superior to human social hierarchy and that he was needed and loved by these bears and that he was their companion.

He also became their hero in his own mystical world. In real life, Timmy was nobody's hero. But out in the woods, he could be a hero to animals because they couldn't think or talk back to him, so he could just imagine their responses to his nonsense. They were just kind of puppets that acted in his psychological make-believe fantasy world. Puppets to make him believe that he was the hero, the alpha male, the samurai, the "kind warrior".

The Most Incredible Halloween Cake Ever

2008-11-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

I made this cake for Halloween. Now I am certainly not a huge fan of the Barefoot Contessa (who, disgustingly enough, named her show after the film about the fictional Spanish sex symbol, Maria Vargas, who coincidentally enough, was based after Rita Hayworth, an absolute BOMBSHELL, the exact opposite of Ina Garten), but I must say that this was probably the best cake I've ever had IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. It was absolutely amazing. The frosting too is incredibly decadent, I had to use only half of it on the cake, but it was still unbelievable. Absolutely delicious. Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups good cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
3 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 recipe Orange Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on high speed until light, approximately 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Combine the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternately in thirds, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix the batter only until blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan, smooth the top with a spatula, and bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature before frosting.

Orange Buttercream:

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

6 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/4 pounds (5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons Triple Sec or other orange liqueur

1 tablespoon orange food coloring

Combine the sugar with 2/3 cup water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and, without stirring, bring to a boil. Cover the saucepan and allow the mixture to boil until the sugar dissolves. Uncover and continue boiling until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Pour the syrup into a heat-proof measuring cup.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs form stiff peaks. With the mixer on high speed, slowly pour the syrup into the egg whites. Continue beating on high speed until the mixture is absolutely at room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, and then add the vanilla and liqueur. (If the mixture becomes runny, the meringue was too warm and the butter melted. Chill slightly and beat again.) Add the food coloring and combine.

Terra & Kefka in Final Fantasy Dissidia

2008-11-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

They released some new scans this week of Final Fantasy Dissidia. The biggest revelation here is the shots of both Terra's and Kefka's EX Forms, which are absolutely unbelievable. There's also a new video showing and explaining the EX Forms of Squall and Zidane. Interesting stuff!

MST3K Episode #519 - Outlaw

2008-11-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

What can I say about this movie? Well, let's first start with the movie's preconception. The movie's title is actually "Outlaw of Gor" and takes place in a fictional Counter-Earth called Gor. The Chronicles of Gor series is a series of science fiction/fantasy novels/philosophy books written by John Norman, a philosophy professor. The series is known for two things. The first is the Chronicle's science fiction stories interlaced with philosophical ideology and bondage-based erotica. The second is it's subculture that actually tries to live out these philosophical ideologies and bondage erotica rituals. In the series, the philosophies and the pornographic behavior are integrated into each other to form the lifestyle of the Goreans, the people who populate the planet of Gor. The internet based on-line subculture that follows the "Gorean" lifestyle listed in the books also call themselves Goreans.

The series is almost like 90210, The Republic, Marquis de Sade (not going to be linked, too pornographic), and Star Wars combined. Try to imagine the plotline of Star Wars as stories about Luke Skywalker, giving dialogues about slavery, freedom, the universe, Darwinian evolution, and communism all while having various perverted sexual relationships with free women and his sex slaves. Wow, doesn't that sound like pure garbage?

You can tell John Norman thinks he's a really clever guy, mixing romance novel/pornographic fantasy situations with big philosophical concepts and Conan the Barbarian-esque action. Really, all he's doing is appealing to the perverseness of geeks/nerds everywhere who read sword and sorcery science-fiction or fantasy.

I mean, one thing that's absolutely never even remotely spoken about is the fact that works like this really appeal to science fiction audiences because of how socially awkard they can be. Go to any Blizzcon, Comic-Con, or any other science fiction based gathering and you'll realize that some of these people are freaks! Couple their absolute lostness in their fantasy mental realm with any type of normal desires any human would have, twisted by social inability and absolute frailty, and what do you have? The perfect candidate for this type of crap.

Think about this in relation to the "Goreans". You're 30 years old. You're a couple hundred pounds overweight. Your mom and dad split up when you were six. You live alone and have been made fun of (often so cruelly, it's been absolutely unbearable) since you were about eight years old. You've been pretending you're Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, Xena, or some other barbaric science-fiction weirdo since you were twelve and you've never quite come out of it. You have a job, which pays for you to live somewhere and your (usually fast) food, along with your toy collection (which you started at 8 years old), your comic book and science fiction movie collection, and your monthly subscription to EverQuest and WoW. When you see a book that provides you with the fantasy role you insert yourself in also with the sexual situations you wish you were in, you're going to be incredibly attracted to it. It's going to live out another part of your fantasy beside the running around, being handsome, manly, strong and important.

The funny part is that this has NOTHING to do with Joseph Campbell's pyschological undertones of the Hero With A Thousand Faces. These people are not relating to heroes by being psychologically connected with the symbolic representations of the emotions/experiences that all humankind relate to on a subconscious level. The people who engage in these Gorean subcultures are so far removed from reality that they try to make their fantasies manifest in reality by believing that they're something they're not. In a sense, these Gorean subcultures are filled with people who are completely in denial.

Having set this foundation, let's look at the actual movie, "Outlaw of Gor".

THIS MOVIE SUCKS. The main character's name is mentioned 55 times in the opening ten minutes. When I watched it, I was like, "Are you kidding me?" Considering all the MST3K movies tend to be really bad, it comes as no real surprise that this movie is awful. This movie is also a disgusting man-flesh feast. At the end of the movie, MST3K plays back all the male crotch shots of the entire movie all in a row. I'm telling you, absolute hilarity.

The movie is actually a sequel to the B movie super-flop, "Gor". It's main star, Jack Palance, isn't even in one of the lead roles, he plays a bad wizard, who's banished near the end of the movie anyway. So everything starts with probably one of the most annoying movie characters ever, college professor Watney Smith, played by legendary actor, Russel Savadier, who coincidentally was also in another big-time winner, Alien From LA. So Watney is seen in the beginning of the movie, chasing down girls in a pathetic 80s bar. The main character, Tarl Cabot, whose name says everything, is a lonely professor who's in the bar with some sort of big, ugly, magic 25 cent machine plastic ring. So Watney, being the pathetic, ugly guy he is, can't get a girl, so he sees his fellow professor, Tarl Cabot (what kind of stupid name is Tarl anyway? It's almost like John Norman took the name Carl Tabot and just switched the first letters and thought, "Wow, this is kind of Science Fition-ish.") also sitting in the bar alone.

After a bit of banter, they decide to go to some other awful 80s bar when they're mysteriously warped by Tarl's ring to the land of Gor. The funniest part is you never actually see anything at all, they're just sitting in the car with lights flashing outside the car and then it cuts to them being in the middle of the desert. Pathetic.

So here they are in Gor, and Cabot is extremely excited that he's back, as I guess he was there in the previous movie and apparently had to leave. This is where the movie gets stupid (boy, you thought it sounded stupid before!). They go into the city, where Cabot is known as a hero and they're welcomed into the castle. Apparently, the king, who loves Cabot, wants Cabot to rule as king after he dies and marry his daughter, who Cabot is in love with. But the king has an evil new wife who ends up sleeping with Watney (disgusting) and poisoning the king, then stabbing him to death, because apparently she wants to rule the kingdom? I don't know, her motives are never really explained. Anyway, Watney helps her frame Cabot and Cabot then escapes the city with a blonde midget (who they show more crotch shots of than anyone else in the entire movie).

This is where everything gets hazy. They free some slave girl and she ends up trying to be Cabot's love slave. Then they get captured by bounty hunters and are brought back to the castle. They end up fighting in some type of wanna-be colliseum-esque thing and Watney comes out and says that the queen killed the king, not Cabot. Some slave throws a spear in the queen and boom, done.

I mean, it's sad that you can pretty much summarize the entire movie in just four or five sentences, but that's it. But at least now you know there's another stupid internet community based on these terrible books (and even worse movies).

Hilarious random fact: "Gor art" is a top search on google image. ROFL.

Terra Revealed in FF Dissidia

2008-10-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

Check this out, folks. I've updated my previous post on Final Fantasy Dissidia to include this picture of Terra's Esper form. Anyway, this shows fuller art of both Terra and Kefka, along with the first shot of Terra's EX Form. Too bad we can't see Kefka's EX Form, though I think it might be too amazing to see. No new information from that scan yet though, we'll see if there's any new info if it ever gets translated.

2nd Draft Thanksgiving Menu

2008-10-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

French Onion Soup with Cheese (We'll probably use Gruyere rather than Swiss)
Caesar Salad (Fresh Green Salad)
Turkey Giblet Stock (For use in the French Onion Soup along with Beef Stock)
Buttermilk and Apple Cider Brined Turkey with Truffled Herb Butter
Pan Dripping Turkey Gravy
Cranberry Sauce (Probably use orange rather than tangerine)
Buttermilk Spelt Biscuits
Green Beans with Bacon and Mushroom
Grandma Audra's Stuffing (Sacred old family recipe)
Mashed Cauliflower (Will probably be more of a variation of the bottom recipe)
Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese (Will use sour cream rather than heavy whipping cream)
Spiced Vanilla Gelato (Autumnal vanilla gelato)
Bittersweet Caramel Gelato (May include pecans with this)
Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Traditional Pumpkin Pie with Butterscotch Cream

LMN - Nightmare At The End Of The Hall

2008-10-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

So I was lucky because this movie was on right after "You Belong To Me". This is probably one of the best LMN movies I've ever seen. But that's not really saying too much, since most of what LMN plays is just absolute garbage.

So the ultimate spectacular star of this wonderful horror/thriller jaunt is Sara Rue, whose only role I can vaguely remember is the slightly overweight girl in the failed teen drama series, Popular. So the movie is told in a rather confusing sort of way with series of flashbacks happening as the plot moves forward, letting the viewer know more about the past as the story progresses. It makes it hard to ultimately re-tell the story without completely giving it away right from the beginning.

But alas, I am indeed charged with this burdensome task, so I will do my best. Okay, so Sara's character, Courtney, is a some-what famous novelist. She wrote a book based off her experiences in college. In college, she had two friends, who were boyfriend and girlfriend, Jane (played by Jacqueline Wood) and Brett (played by Kavan Smith). The film is largely based around the fact that Jane mysteriously committed suicide (I think there's suicide in every Lifetime Movie somewhere in the film...) without leaving any type of suicide note or reason why she did.

So Sara, twenty years later, decides to go back to the college to finally face her demons and become fine with her friend's death. She gets a job at the school, teaching a writing class, but when she finds out where she's going to live, it's in her old dorm room from her college days. Now she's the Resident Adviser in the very dorm where her friend committed suicide, just down the hall (WHERE THE NIGHTMARE HAPPENED... *scary laugh echoes through your mind*). So she's getting all the rooms prepped for when the students arrive when she walks down to the room where Jane committed suicide (which was a storage closet when Jane died, but now has been renovated into a dorm room) and a girl opens the door who looks exactly like Jane. Freaked out, she learns the girl's name is Laurel (also played by Jacqueline McInnes Wood) and that Laurel has a lot of problems.

Later, she runs into Jane's old boyfriend, Brett, at the store, who immediately dispenses with the pleasantries and starts hitting on Sara right away. For some weird reason (which is explained later...), Sara ends up running away.

Anyway, the next hour of the movie kind of just drones on. Throughout the semester, weird things keep happening with Laurel. She apparently sleepwalks, often coming into Sara's room, quoting Jane. Sara sees visions of Jane at school parties and keeps having more and more problems with Laurel, often times relating to Jane. At one point, Laurel, who's actually in one of Sara's classes, turns in a paper that Jane wrote when Sara and Jane were in school together. Sara begins to suspect that Laurel has done this and all the other things just to be cruel to her throughout the semester, trying to undermine Sara and make her look crazy.

As all of this is happening, romance is also blossoming, very strangely, I might add, between Sara and Brett. As revealed in the flashbacks, we find out that not everything was so peachy-keen between Brett and Jane back in college. We find out that Brett was actually cheating on Jane with Sara, who Brett was actually terribly in love with. So this is where the love triangle is introduced and it's explained why the romance between Sara and Brett has been so hard all this time.

So Brett is the star of the entire college. He gets good grades, plays every sport, his dad is a a teacher at the school and he's also Jane's counselor. We find out Brett's dad has a lot to do with Brett's activities, as he is constantly pushing Brett to be the perfect son and be the best. Jane is widely regarded as being the prettiest girl in school, also with the best grades. So the dating romance started between Brett and Jane seemed like the "perfect match". Later on, however, we find out that Brett falls deeply in love with Jane's best friend, Sara. He doesn't want to be with Jane at all, but feels pressured by his dad to be with her, as they make the "perfect couple".

So, when she was in college, during the time she's cheating with Brett, Sara fills out an application to go to Oxford so she can further her writing. Later, Jane tells her that she has also applied for Oxford (alluding to the apparent struggle between the two for Brett). Sara is surprised by this and then even more surprised to find out that Jane has apparently got in and that Sara hasn't. This is even furthered by the fact that Brett's dad, Jane's counselor, lets Sara know that Jane has indeed been accepted to Oxford.

So back in the present, while Sara and Brett's romance is being furthered along, they make a pact never to mention Jane again, as it is too disturbing to their present romantic involvement (which is really just a continuation of their relationship that they had in college). But Sara has already contacted Oxford to find out if Jane really did attend Oxford. Later, Oxford contacts her back and lets her know that Jane never really attended Oxford, she never even applied.

This is where the movie has it's biggest twists, which really aren't that big. Sara starts to question Brett about him having contact with Jane while she was at Oxford and realizes that Brett never once contacted Jane, Jane only contacted him. All this was happening while Sara and Brett had their most amorous romance, because of the absence of Jane. Sara then begins to realize that something must have happened to Jane for her to fake going to Oxford. She then remembers that when Jane was supposedly back from Oxford, she was going to tell Sara some big news, right before they graduated. But three days before graduation is when Jane committed suicide and she never got to tell Sara the big news. Sara asks Brett if he ever found out, but he tells her he was unable to because the day Jane was going to tell him, he was in the locker room fooling around with Sara (yikes!).

So this is all realized as the stupidest/most unrealistic part of the movie happens. In a possessed-by-Jane sleepwalking stupor, Laurel sleepwalks into Brett's dad's house in the middle of the night (where Brett's dad was is never explained) and finds Jane's old journal. She then comes out of her trance and reads that (gasp!) JANE WAS PREGNANT! The reason she faked going to Oxford is because she was pregnant with Brett's daughter! Just as she reads this, Brett's dad comes in, explaining (DUN DUN DUH!!!) that he killed Jane! He killed her because she was pregnant with his granddaughter and he couldn't allow Brett to father this child because it would have messed up his plans for his son's life (remember how Brett's dad is possessive over him, wanting him to be perfect?). So while Sara and Brett had their last night of romance in the locker room, Brett's dad was killing Jane, staging it as a suicide. He then took his granddaughter and put her up for adoption.

As Laurel is hearing all this, Brett's dad goes into a psychotic trance, believing Laurel to be Jane, and starts to say "I'm going to kill you again, Jane!" Now here's another ridiculous part of the movie, Laurel escapes and runs back to the college, somehow. She runs to her room, where Sara has just figured out the mystery and checks a phone message she got from Laurel which says, "Jane was pregnant and Brett's dad killed her! I know the truth and now Brett's dad is after me!" Sara freaks out and runs to Laurel's room (where Jane supposedly hung herself) and finds that Brett's dad is now hanging Laurel. She gets him off of her, but Laurel passes out. Then Brett's dad starts to hang Sara, when Laurel is possessed again (for the 50th time in one movie) by Jane and gets Brett's dad off Sara. He then takes her down and luckily Brett comes running in, saving Laurel and Sara from his dad.

The movie ends with Brett's dad being taken away in a cop car and Sara explaining to Brett that Laurel is indeed his daughter, the daughter of him and Jane, which explains why she looks exactly like Jane. The movie ends with an embrace of Sara, Laurel, and Brett.

Awww..... the perfect family.

Kitchen Nightmares Tonight!

2008-10-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Finally! After a five week hiatus, Kitchen Nightmares is finally back on TV tonight! Tonight's episode is "J Willy's". As you may know, Kitchen Nightmares is an American adaption of the British show, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. RKN is one of my favorite shows, EVER. Last year, I downloaded the British shows the day after they aired in the UK. That's how obsessed I am with the show.

Gordon Ramsay is just awesome. Last week, I made his Butternut Squash Soup recipe, which I also adapted into a Pumpkin Soup recipe. It's become a yearly tradition to make the soup, it's absolutely delicious! Gordon Ramsay knows so much about food, it's absolutely ridiculous. I love his sense of what he calls "Modern Rustic Dishes". Anyway, I can't wait to watch tonight!

Here are some of my favorite clips of Ramsay:

LMN - You Belong To Me

2008-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

I couldn't really fall asleep a couple nights ago so I decided to turn on my favorite channel, LMN (Lifetime Movie Network). This little gem was on.

Let me tell you, this movie is BAD. Shannon Elizabeth, best known for her awful nudie roles, plays a single mother of a young child. Her husband, whose name was something outrageous like Fabian or Lucius or something, apparently was extremely violent, which is hilarious, because it has nothing to do with the story whatsoever. So Shannon is being stalked by someone, who she believes must be her ex-husband.

Random things start happening, her poetry book is often left on the floor, open to pages with threatening love poems, she's being left flowers constantly at her office, her boyfriend is attacked and almost killed while he's working underneath his car and things from around her house start to go missing. Meanwhile, at work, a friend of hers, Chris, who's played by Christian Campbell, husband of ultra Canadian craptastic actress, Neve Campbell, starts to appear to be taking a romantic interest in her. However, this is no big surprise though as she flirts RELENTLESSLY with him, letting him take her out to dinner and lunch and also taking him to dinner and lunch, even though she has a boyfriend (the guy who got stuck under the car). He tries to give her a sacred Irish necklace, which belonged to his mother, but she refuses.

Shannon finally starts to put it together that Chris could be the stalker, as he's often quoted the poetry that he leaves in her room at night to scare her when they're out at dinner, but stupidly accepts a ride from him to "go get some coffee" on a rainy night. He drives her out to a cliff (where his mother supposedly committed suicide) and tries to push her off out of his love for her, again quoting poetry lines like "I'll love you even after death." But in a strange twist of fate, Shannon manages to push him off the cliff, leaving his sacred Irish necklace on the edge of the cliff.

Okay, so far, this is all acceptably believable. Having said that, this movie probably should have ended here. But no, here's where the movie turns insanely stupid. So she goes back to her house with her son and some other girl (Her sister maybe..? I don't know if it's ever explained.) and tries to fall asleep that night. She can't though, as a vase on her desk flies out of nowhere at her. She also finds the same poetry book on the floor, with the page turned to the "I'll love you even after death" poem, with a picture of her and Chris.

Yep, you guessed it. Chris is now haunting/stalking her from beyond the grave. She meets with a psychic who believes she was surrounded by dark energy in the beginning of the movie, who tells Shannon that she needs to get a picture of Chris, some kind of personal object of his, then roll it up in some copy of an ancient scroll and burn it when Chris appears to her out on the cliff, where his power is "the most strong".

I mean, are you kidding me? This was just such an incredibly stupid idea! I couldn't believe it when she had to roll up what looks like an old newspaper but is supposed to be some kind of magic scroll and burn it. It's also revealed that Shannon looks exactly like Chris' divorced mother did who committed suicide, alluding to some type of time warp cycle where Shannon is Chris' divorced mother, as Shannon has also has a son who looks like Chris. But this is never actually developed or explained, just left completely open. What a terrible movie. And it seems Shannon can't manage to do any type of role without taking her clothes off, as she sleeps with her boyfriend who just got out of the hospital, almost being killed by the car falling on him, while his arm is in a sling and he has however many broken ribs! SHEER STUPIDITY!

MST3K Episode #203 - Jungle Goddess

2008-10-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

George Reeves, TV's Superman, stars in this absolute winner. So George is an airplane pilot along with his partner, Bob. They're hanging out in some bar somewhere when they find out about a prize for bringing back a girl from the (Amazon?) jungle, dead or alive. George and Bob argue for a bit, George doesn't want to go. They finally decide to go and they somehow land their plane in the middle of the jungle!?

So when they land, a group of "African natives" arrive and try to capture them. George's brilliant partner, Bob, has a gun and shoots one of them, killing him. They're then dragged back to the village where they meet a... (gasp!) WHITE WOMAN! Low and behold, it's the woman they're looking for! She is the leader of the village and decides that Bob should be killed in a few days as a sacrifice. They put him in a prison hut, which looks more like giant straw hat. Over the next few days, the woman reveals that she is the "Jungle Goddess" because before World War 2, she was in a plane that crash landed in Africa and was found by the natives who immediately thought she was a god. Together, George and the Jungle Goddess plot a way for all three of them to escape the village to go back to Colorado. Bob develops "jungle fever" from being in the jungle too long and goes crazy. He tries to escape by himself using his gun but ends up creating more trouble for them. George and the Jungle Goddess rush into the jungle to get to the plane before Bob, and they end up fighting each other along the way.

This is the most hackneyed storyline I've ever heard. The acting is so bad too that it's just forgettable. Although the MST3K crew did a good job making this episode funny. It's definitely worth watching, although definitely drags through some parts, even with the MST3K humor.

Losing Weight...

2008-10-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the Biggest Loser for the past couple years. What a great show. My wife and I are now going to the gym every weekday. I'm going to update the blog every Tuesday and put up my weight. Yesterday, my weight was:

200 Lbs.

Yikes! In college, I was down to 168 lbs, I think. But I don't think I have seriously 30 lbs of fat. I have been working out on and off though for the past 2 years but I'm hopefully going to start losing bigger numbers in these next few weeks.

I'll keep you posted!

MST3K Episode #K10 - Cosmic Princess

2008-10-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Wow. Where to start with this one. Hmmm...

Well, Martin Landau, best known for his role as Rollin Hand in the original Mission Impossible series, stars as the captain of a space ship. Him and his crew are out searching for minerals on different planets and stumble across a planet they believe to be uninhabited. They take a space shuttle down to the planet to collect minerals and land in a space ship grave yard. When they go inside, they meet a bizarro fat-Elvis period Orson Welles wanna-be king named Mentor and his daughter. His daughter is the Cosmic Princess in the title, I believe. Anyway, he wants to somehow turn Martin and his crew into shapeless blob slaves by stealing their liquid brain matter and putting it into glass Otter Pop tubes. This is supposed to save his world from being destroyed by volcanoes and make the world reborn into a new world.

Somehow, Martin and his crew see a group of slaves working away under the surface of the planet. Martin then realizes the king is bad and tricks him by telling his crew that they should self-destruct the ship rather than land on the planet, making the king furious. He throws them in jail, but Martin then exposes Mentor's daughter to the cruel slavery which she didn't know existed while she's down in the prison, trying to negotiate with Martin. She then helps them to escape their prison and Martin goes on a rampage, smashing up the Otter Pop room, somehow blowing up the planet? Anyway, they grab the princess and race off the planet. This is where the movie SHOULD have ended.

But no, it continues onward. So they are exploring the universe when they find an abandoned space ship. Martin and a few of his crew shuttle off again and go inside (didn't they just learn their lesson from the first part of the movie?). While they're gone, Mentor's daughter gets sick and starts shape-shifting and going on rampages, killing people and destroying their ship. First, she turns into a combination of Chewbacca, the Cowardly Lion and Shelob. When they finally get her to calm down, she then turns into her dad, Mentor (wth?). Then she turns into a dark, 1950s horror movie version of the love-child of Sigmund from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Swamp Thing. This is where the movie gets stupidly ridiculous. The people in the space ship (or station!?) follow her outside as she's jumping all over the surface of the moon? They end up LITERALLY running around in circles for aobut 15 minutes.

There wasn't too many jokes in this episode, although for more than the first half, they were all pretty funny and were centered around Dairy Queen. It was interesting to see MST3K so early along, it definitely changed so much through the years. I think it definitely got funnier as time went on. Definitely worth watching though, pretty good episode for such a mind-blowing horrible film.

Final Fantasy Dissidia (Updated 11.01.08)

2008-10-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

This game seems absolutely amazing. I can't wait for it. For those of you who don't know, Final Fantasy Dissidia is a fighting game based off the first 10 games in the Final Fantasy series.

So here's the breakdown, Chaos (the main antagonist from Final Fantasy I, who is later expanded in Dawn of Souls to be the soul from which other Final Fantasy enemies were created like Cerberus from FF3, Scarmiglione from FF4, Gilgamesh from FF5 and Ultros from FF6, among many others), assembles a group of the greatest villains together for an ultimate showdown against his rival, Cosmos. In retaliation, Cosmos brings together the greatest heroes together to defend her and fight against Cosmos. That's all we really know right now. But who needs to know more?

The character roster for this game reads like the MVP of the greatest RPGS of the past twenty years. For each Final Fantasy, there is a protagonist and an antagonist. Each character has their own individual EX Form or Mode, where they can gain increased stats along with changes in form. Here is each of the characters by Final Fantasy title:

Cosmos (Pic) - Leader of the Heroes.
Chaos (Pic) - Leader of the Villains. Alluded to being the spawn of great evils in Dawn of Souls.

Final Fantasy I:
Hero - Warrior of Light (Pic) (Full) (Knight Form) Knows more about the crystals than the other heroes. Has a special antagonistic relationship with Squall. Is an all-around fighter who uses both magic and weapons.
Villain - Garland (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Weapon can change shapes, split into two swords. Has four magic attacks, based on Lich, Kary, Kraken and Tiamat. Armor turns white, is covered with runes and sword splits into four swords in EX Mode.

Final Fantasy II:
Hero - Firion (Pic) (Full) Uses seven different weapons, each being one used original by other characters in Final Fantasy 2.
Villain - The Emperor Mateus (Pic) (Full) Heavy magic user. EX Form based off of his demon form.

Final Fantasy III:
Hero - Onion Knight (Pic) (Full) (Sage Form) (Ninja Form) Can turn into both Ninja and Sage EX forms to increase speed/damage or magic.
Villain - Cloud of Darkness (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Uses tentacles to attack.

Final Fantasy IV:
Hero - Cecil (Pic) (Full Paladin Form) (Dark Knight Form) (EX Mode) Can switch forms at will from Paladin, which uses magic and aerial attacks, to Dark Knight, which has brute strength and uses ground attacks.
Villain - Golbez (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Summons Shadow Dragon in EX Form, powerful from long ranges.

Final Fantasy V:
Hero - Bartz (Pic) (Full) Can use any hero's weapons or spells, similar to the Mime job class.
Villain - Exdeath (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Can use the powers of the Void, becomes his Tree form in EX Form.

Final Fantasy VI:
Hero - Terra (Pic) Edit: (EX Mode) (Old info: Can become her Esper Form (Art) (2) in EX Mode.)
Villain - Kefka (Pic)

Final Fantasy VII:
Hero - Cloud (Pic) Uses his Buster Sword.
Villain - Sephiroth (Pic) May have special motives against the Warrior of Light and Squall.

Final Fantasy VIII:
Hero - Squall (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) His EX Mode transforms his sword into the Lionheart.
Villain - Ultimecia (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) (2) Is a "magic-shooter" character. Her EX Mode is a combination with Griever.

Final Fantasy IX:
Hero - Zidane (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Uses Mage Mashers. EX Mode is his Trance Form, Dyne (Pic).
Villain - Kuja (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) EX Mode is his Trance Form, Trance Kuja (Pic).

Final Fantasy X:
Hero - Tidus (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Uses his Brotherhood sword and a Blitzball to attack. His Brotherhood sword turns into the Ultima Weapon in EX Mode.
Villain - Jecht (Pic) (Full) (EX Mode) Based off his Braska Final Aeon Form (Pic).

Man, I can't wait to see some of these characters EX Forms in action. A few I can't wait for are Terra's Esper EX Form and Kefka's Fallen Angel form (Pic), along with Sephiroth's Fallen Angel form (Art), also! Hopefully, we'll see some other Final Fantasy characters sneak up in the game as secret characters. I'd love to see Astos from Final Fantasy I, Kain Highwind and Edge from Final Fantasy IV, Faris and Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V, Locke, Shadow and/or Setzer from Final Fantasy VI, Vincent from Final Fantasy VII, and Auron from Final Fantasy X. It'd also be amazing to Chrono or Magus from Chrono Trigger and either Sora, Riku, or Roxas from Kingdom Hearts. This is all just dreams/speculation of course, but I imagine there will be some fun surprises in store for Dissidia.

I mean, could you imagine Edge and Shadow fighting each other? Or Kuja fighting Magus? Chrono and Cloud or Riku and Cecil? The possibilities would be endless if they were to expand the horizons. Supposedly, there are definitely going to be characters that are not on the sides of Cosmos or Chaos. So we'll have to wait and see...

Anyway, here are some of the subtitled trailers for Dissidia.

And the official site is here.

LMN - Personal Indiscretions (Primal Doubt)

2008-10-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yikes. This movie is certainly MST3K-worthy. Can I first say I love watching absolutely awful, cheesy Lifetime movies?

First of all, I have to say that this is one of the better ones. Top 5% and it was still terrible! Okay, so Janine Turner plays a stay-at-home wife romance novelist who is really bored with her marriage because her husband's a big time jerk (wow, something new for Lifetime!). So she decides to go on a dating website and have a look around. She ends up having what the police call a "cyber-affair" as they keep e-mailing back and forth, eventually leading to a face to face meeting for lunch. After the face to face lunch, they decide to meet again, where Janine sits in her car, arguing with herself in the rear-view mirror about how they're "just going to talk". She knocks on the door and no one comes to the door. So she decides to have a look around inside the house (trespassing) and ends up finding her cyber-lover-chat-guy dead in his home with his throat slit.

This is where the movie descends into everyone being killed, thus being labeled as a "thriller". It becomes a guessing game of who's killing everyone, whether it be the best friend, the therapist, the daughter, the husband, the maid, the movie even alludes to the girlfriend of the cyber-lover who committed suicide.

Anyway, this one wasn't actually the worst Lifetime movie I've ever seen. It was a lot better than most, although the acting was absolutely terrible. Janine's best friend, Holly, was especially annoying, her banter with Janine's husband was laughable at best. Janine also had her moments where she just looked absolutely dumb-founded, staring blankly at the screen like she couldn't even say her own name. It was actually pretty funny.

It's too bad that it was getting to late because I wanted to watch the next movie, "To Have and To Hold", which was EXCEPTIONALLY bad and cheesy!

The Shipwrecked Men - Cabeza De Vaca

2008-10-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

This is the book I've started reading lately. It's in the "Great Journeys" series by Penguin Books Ltd. What drew me to the book was the beautiful cover by David Pearson and Victoria Sawdon. The book is pretty interesting, very short, and so far, pretty vague. It's about 147 pages and is De Vaca's letters describing what happened to him and the men he was traveling with from Spain to the new world.

As I said, it's a pretty interesting book, I'll let you know more when I'm finished.

MST3K Episode #516 - Alien From L.A.

2008-10-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

My, my, my. Kathy Ireland (the queen of Sports Illustrated) stars in this incredibly stupid movie. So Kathy Ireland is a geeky nerd (what the hell!?) with the most annoying voice in the world. Her mom is dead, her dad is an explorer and hasn't seen her in 10 years and her boyfriend just broke up with her. Could things get much worse?

Then she finds out her dad has died also while on an archaeological dig in Africa...? I don't think it's ever explained where he disappeared/died. So off Kathy goes to find her missing/deceased father. When she gets to Africa, she goes into the tomb site where her dad supposedly died and ends up falling into a portal that takes her where...?

THE LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS!!! Doesn't that sound marvelous? Too bad "Atlantis" is a bunch of sewer-type subway post-apocalyptic warehouses connected by stone caverns with mist flying everywhere (so cliche, isn't it?). So she's running around, trying to find to find her dad, while being hunted down as an "alien from the surface" or "big bone girl".

I mean, this movie is just stupid. The premise is stupid and the whole delivery is just plain annoying. It's so 80s too that it almost makes you sick. Whoever got the great idea to have Kathy Ireland (remember, this is KATHY IRELAND we're talking about here) be a nerd with an incredibly high voice who goes on a journey to Atlantis to find a father she doesn't even know was an absolute moron. I mean, any fool could come up with this.

Here, how about this. Tom Hanks is a mute paraplegic who's wife divorces him. His daughter, played by none other than Uwe Boll favorite, Tara Reid, is kidnapped by the Yakuza in a drug cartel (Reid is a heroine addict in the film who's missing her left arm) accident gone horribly wrong. So Hanks gets together with some old buddy from Vietnam, Sylvester Stallone, to take on the whole nation of Japan. But when he gets there, he falls through a time portal and has to save his daughter from a tyrant samurai ninja warlord.

What do you think?

Rosdower

2008-10-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

ROWSDOWER! This is such a great video, I've watched it quite a few times. This movie has so many lines. "My Rowsdower's come for me!" "The lone Rowsdower!" "Do you have any idea how fast you were going, Rowsdower?" I mean come on, Zap Rowsdower? Who the hell has the name "Zap"!? That is just so stupid.

Also, check this out.

MST3K Episode #604 - Zombie Nightmare

2008-10-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

Oh my. This movie is pretty dang bad. The hilarious part is that it has ADAM WEST. I mean, are you kidding me? ADAM FRIGGIN' WEST! It's great because Adam West doesn't even come into the movie until over half an hour in! Tia Carrere is also in the movie.

So in the '50s, a black girl is walking home when she's assaulted by these two greaser guys. A fat guy and his pregnant wife are walking home when they see what's going on. The fat guy (whom I don't believe his name is ever even mentioned in the film) defends the young black girl but gets stabbed to death in the process while the two greasers run off.

Fast forward 20 years and now the fat guy and his wife's son is all grown up. He's at the grocery store when it's robbed and he chases off the two robbers (I guess like his dad...?). When he walks outside the grocer, he's hit by a group of teenagers who are drunk. The kids drive away and act like nothing happened. The fat guy's son (come to think of it, I don't think his name is ever mentioned either!) dies and his mother takes him to a voodoo queen's house. She performs voodoo on him and he's raised from the dead as a zombie to kill all the people for revenge.

Adam West doesn't even appear until after all this happens! Anyway, this movie was pretty funny. I think the best part is when Tom Servo starts singing Joe Cocker when one of the zombies is wondering back to it's grave. That part was hilarious. But overall, this episode was pretty good.

Chrono Trigger DS

2008-10-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Behold the greatest (debated) video game ever created, Chrono Trigger. Finally, it's being expanded with new content. Hopefully, this game will someday see a 3D remake. I think if we keep purchasing copies of the game, Square will finally get the picture and make a proper 3D remake like they did with Final Fantasy IV.

I can't wait for this new version to come to the Nintendo DS. I swear, the only video games I ever buy these days are on the Nintendo DS. Probably because I'm somewhat of a retro gamer, I love Nintendo and Super Nintendo games the best, espeically RPGS.

Our biggest dream come true would be to have the Chrono cast make an appearance in either Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep or Kingdom Hearts 3. Impossible, you say? I remember campaigning to have Setzer from Final Fantasy VI appear in Kingdom Hearts 2 for months and then it actually happened! Tetsuya Nomura also stated he wouldn't mind including characters from Square/Enix's flagship series in the Kingdom Hearts games to bring in some new blood. Let's hope he takes a look at Chrono Trigger or maybe even Chrono Cross.

You can see a high-res version of the Chrono Trigger DS trailer at the official website, "here".

Recent Music Purchases

2008-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

I ordered some music these past few days. I actually did pre-order "Cardinology" on vinyl finally, albeit without all the special limited time bonus package extras. But I think I'm going to enjoy the music at least.

The other few albums I've bought are just CDs. Although at a garage sale this last weekend, I did manage to score four or five records, Mary Poppins being one and the rest being Dean Martin (absolutely my favorite pop singer) albums. The CDs I ordered though are all Vince Guaraldi material; "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits", "Oh, Good Grief!" and "The Charlie Brown Suite & Other Favorites". I bought them all to listen to around the holidays, I already have "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on CD and two copies on vinyl (one all original and the other a reissue). Anyway, I think they'll be great to listen to during Thanksgiving dinner and even before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, it's all Christmas music.

Anyway, I'm excited for Thanksgiving. It's going to be the best Thanksgiving ever.

MST3K Episode #805 - The Thing That Couldn't Die

2008-10-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Wow! This episode was actually extremely funny. I loved the parts with Aunt Flavia. At one point, Tom Servo says "Aunt Flava Flav?" It's also hilarious when she's in bed and she keeps muttering actors names like bisexual Will Geer (wiki).

It's almost unbelievable when they should the plastic head they're carrying around so much. So I guess the storyline is that Sir Francis Drake was actually evil and got his head chopped off for being a witch but was somehow immortal. Anyway, they bury the head and a few hundred years later it's found on a farm by a girl who has special powers (can find water with a stick) and make trees fall on people when she thinks they're "EVIL"! So they dig up the head, it starts possessing people, a guy is peeping on a chaste girl with the powers who's sleeping in a bed with the posessed girl, then she (chaste powerful girl) gets possesed and starts wearing a black dress, they ressurrect the head, kill it with an amulet they found SOMEHOW and then they show the chaste girl's breasts, after she turns back to good of course.

This episode was hilarious.

Elton John - Sixty Years On

2008-10-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Simply breathtaking. Just listen to the harp in the beginning of this video. This is a side of Elton that you'll virtually never see again. I've never seen Elton apart from his piano, just singing like this. But since it was so early in his career, he had the freedom to do what he wanted, even put harp in the songs and make them sound more classical oriented. This is just absolutely beautiful.

A Rough Thanksgiving Menu

2008-10-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a rough estimate of what we're going to be making for Thanksgiving this year...

Buttermilk Brined Turkey (that I'm going to change the recipe to make it an Apple Cider Buttermilk Brined Turkey) with a Truffled Herb Butter
Turkey Gravy
Buttermilk Spelt Biscuits
Green Beans with Bacon and Mushrooms (combination of these two recipes probably)
Stuffing (no idea what kind yet)
Mashed Cauliflower (I'm allergic to potatoes...)
Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese (for everyone else)
Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pumpkin Pie with Butterscotch Cream

With the Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, Mashed Caulifower and Mashed Potatoes, we're going to use Martha Stewart recipes that are in the magazine, but not on-line yet so I'll post those up when they're on-line.

Pottery Barn

2008-10-17T10:03:00.001-07:00

Damn you, Pottery Barn.

Damn you for being so expensive and yet so... UNBELIEVEABLY PERFECT!

I don't understand just how they can come up with such amazing designs. Especially when it comes to children's nurseries. Although, I will say that I think they have a better grasp on little girls' nurseries rather than boys'. I think that it must be because Pottery Barn is run by mostly women, at least the room/product design is. But if you look at these rooms, they're like a little girl's dream come true. I mean look at all the little details, the shapes, colors, the perfect amount of distress. The wainscoting, the wooden floors, etc. An antique American organic feel.

I really think that Pottery Barn has their finger on the pulse of what Americans want, the so-called "American Dream" of home design. It's really a mix of old world Americana and European stylings (which definitely formed "old world Americana" in the first place). Pottery Barn definitely knows what Americans want their lives to look like.

And the best example of it are these nurseries. I mean just look at how perfect and amazing they are. Just a dream come true.

The Brothers Johnson - Stomp

2008-10-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

I personally think this may be the greatest funk song ever. I may not be the #1 expert on funk music, but this is certainly my favorite funk song. This and "Get The Funk Out Ma Face", besides everything Sly Stone ever did with Larry Graham. But the bass in "Stomp" is just incredible. Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson is just so incredible. I cannot figure out who's better, Larry Graham or Louis Johnson. Both are equally incredible slab bass players while still being incredibly melodic.

I mean, on one hand, Larry Graham invented modern "slap bass", or as he puts it, "thumpin' and pluckin". But then you have Louis Johnson, who may (or may not) have taken that style into new areas. I mean, Louis Johnson played bass on "Thriller". That's just an immeasurable feat, right there. But then, Larry Graham played with Sly and virutally invented the funk music genre.

As you can see, I haven't made up my mind as to who's better and I may never. Both are equally amazing and inspirational. For someone who's played guitar for about 8 years now, I'm playing bass way more now and don't even consider myself a guitar player anymore, in some respects. But I think there is something absolutely electric about the bass playing in this song, "Stomp". Just listen to the last 20-30 seconds and see if you can't shake your hips a little.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days Special Trailer

2008-10-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the new fan-friendly trailer that Square released for all of us people who weren't privileged enough to go to the super CLOSED MEGA THEATER (horns sounding) at Tokyo Game Show 2008. It's really too bad because this shows us some new stuff, but nothing really exciting like Xion's face. Anyway, you can find the high quality version here, "Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days Official Site". Also, here's a copy of the translation:

KINGDOM HEARTS: 358/2 DAYS TRAILER TRANSCRIPT
Axel and Roxas on top of the Clocktower in Twilight Town
Axel: Do you know why evening lights are red?
Axel: Light is made up of several different colors, and of those, red reaches the farthest.
Roxas: What are you, an expert?

Naminé and DiZ by Sora's sleeping pod
Naminé: No matter how many fragments of memory we tie together, if memories slip outside, not all the memories will return.
Naminé: If, as they slip away, they become tied to another memory, they won't be able to come back.

The Organisation "Pillar" room
Xemnas: We are receiving into our fold, a new member.
Xemnas: Number XIV

Continuation of Naminé and DiZ's conversation by Sora's pod
DiZ: I don't see a problem with a few memories going missing.
Naminé: But what if it happens to be a vital key to his reawakening?
DiZ: Do you see something in this Naminé?
Naminé: If the memory ties itself to another, she might not be able to tolerate it...
DiZ: "She"?

Riku and Xion outside what appears to be Beast's Castle
Riku: Who are you? How can you use the Keyblade?
Xion: What about you? Why do dress like the Organization?
Riku: To keep my best friend's sleep from being disturbed.
Riku: I may not know who you are, but, regardless, this Keyblade is no doubt also a lie.
Xion: What gives you the right to say that?
Xion: Aren't you a fake yourself?
Riku: You might be right. I might be the one who doesn't exist.

Axel and Xion (hard to see) outside the Twilight Town Mansion
Axel: STOP FOOLING AROUND!! What do you take me for? I've decided. No matter how often you guys run away, I'll bring you back every time!

Naminé and Xion in the White Room
Naminé: I've wanted to meet you...Xion.

I think that the Namine and DiZ parts are interesting, especially coupled with the Riku and Xion parts. It almost seems like Sora's memories are escaping and creating nobodies that take on a life of their own, but once they realize what they are, something bad happens. Maybe that bad something is Sora can't recover his memories and wake up. And to think, all of this because of Chain of Memories and Castle Oblivion. Ah well.

Tokyo Game Show 2008

2008-10-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! Tokyo Game Show 2008 finally came and passed. There's a lot of great news about Kingdom Hearts this year! Here are some scans (new and old) of the new character for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, Xion. Somehow, we know she's linked to Kairi, she looks exactly like her! We also know that so is Namine. And Aqua, from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is also somehow connected to Xion. The plot thickens...

I can remember being this excited about Kingdom Hearts 2 and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories! I don't know which one I'm more excited about, 358/2 Days or Birthy By Sleep! Also, here are the trailers for the two games, Birth By Sleep and 358/2 Days with English subtitles. More on this later...

Thanksgiving

2008-10-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of them all. It's certainly my favorite time of the year. Something about the month of November that just makes you feel...

Content...? I don't know, that seems right. I think it's a feeling close to childhood... Nostalgia, contentedness, warm, hopeful. I don't know if I have a word for the exact feeling. I think that Thanksgiving is also a lot of fun because of food. I know I love reading the October issue of Martha Stewart Living, that's ALWAYS fun. I think it always has the best recipes in it. This issue has a Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie and a Butterscotch Pecan Cake. I'm sorry, but the Pecan Cake makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

Cardinology...

2008-10-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

So I missed my chance. I'm pretty unhappy about it. And guess what? I just found out that there was a limited edition run of signed copies of Ryan Adams' book, "Infinity Blues". Missed out on that one, too. Damn it!

The Black Swan

2008-10-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

What is a black swan? Yes, I am vaguely familiar with Black Swan Theory. I think that what the Black Swan means to me is being something that people think is impossible. It's something or someone that breaks stereotypes. I think Black Swans are important. They make sense. They're the .001% chance that keeps our universe from being absolute. And I think that's beautiful. It's also a lot of fun. It's fun to be yourself.

Ryan Adams - Cardinology

2008-10-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

Yay! Ryan Adams' new ablum, Cardinology, is FINALLY coming out! They're pre-releasing it on vinyl in a special package, where you get the album on translucent red vinyl, you get a lyrics comic, a t-shirt, an extra 7" record and a free digital download. I've already heard the song, "Fix It" on the Ryan Adams site. This is really exciting, I can't wait for the album!

The Death of a Super Hero

2008-10-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe this. In a story arc entitled "One More Day", Spider-Man, one of the greatest heroes of all time, decides to make a deal with the devil in order to turn back time. What does he have to give up? His marriage (that we've been reading about/following since the 1980s!) to Mary Jane Watson Parker. What does he gain...?

HIS AUNT MAY. I mean are you kidding me? This just goes to show why Marvel has so many problems with selling comic books (none whatsoever with selling movie tickets). They're always stuck in the past! Anytime they've screwed up and pissed all their fans off has been when they've messed with the past of comic. Hell, why didn't Peter make the deal with the devil to get Uncle Ben back too? This makes absolutely no sense.

First of all, the death of Uncle Ben was a major part of the entire story. Peter had to learn to deal with what happened and he grew as a character because of it. We all grew along with him. The bitter truth is that everyone close to us is going to pass away sooner or later, it's how we deal with it that makes us heroes or not. Peter took his uncle's death and turned it into a new, beautiful story. I think the death of Aunt May should have mirrored this, as a way of bringing back Peter Parker to his roots, back to the reason why he dedicated himself to being Spider-Man in the first place.

Instead, we get probably the most cowardly decision made by possibly the greatest hero of all time. He destroys the absolute love of his life, his marriage to his wife, in order to resurrect his aunt. I must say that I think this is the most preposterous thing Peter Parker could have ever done. The original (pre-clone saga) Spider-Man would have never done this.

You're reading it here, folks. You can now see corporate greed at it's worst. You have now seen corporate bigwigs choking artists/storytellers to death in order to make a quick buck. Under the pressure to sell more and more comics, Marvel has consistently destroyed everything great they've ever done by constantly tearing it all back down in the past 10-15 years. The Clone Saga was the beginning of the end. You can now see how one bad/venomous idea grew and grew and grew until it eventually swallowed up the entire story.

The thing that Marvel doesn't realize is that Mary Jane Watson defines Peter Parker. She defines who he is as a character and as a person. Without her, Peter Parker is just some guy that can climb walls. The last time I checked, Spider-Man was the type of character who looked toward the future and did the right thing. Without Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker isn't the man he is. If you take that away, you take away so much of what builds the story. Peter Parker is his reactions to Mary Jane Watson and what she does. He is that geeky boy who gets the perfect woman.

Most of what we want to read about is Peter's reactions to real life situations, like his wife being so concerned for his life that she wants him to give up being Spider-Man. This could happen in real life, and does happen all the time to soldiers who put their lives in harm's way for others. There's a certain amount of fear that goes along with the responsibility of marriage, also. Fear because you cannot afford to be reckless like you once were, when you were single, because now you have a second (and maybe third/fourth/etc. if there are kids involved) life to care about and take care of. These are basic simple lessons we all learn about living on this planet.

The idea that Spider-Man would destroy his marriage to turn back time and get Aunt May back is ridiculous, ESPECIALLY since she's just going to die again! Maybe if Peter and Mary Jane hadn't married, Aunt May would have died a lot sooner! Then what? I mean, on every level, this story doesn't make any sense, it was just a ploy to shock the fans so badly that they'd be forced into buying the comics.

Marketing like this is not going to work in the long run. Maybe in the short run, you can bank in on the death of a hero, but in the long run, you're just screwing yourself over. People don't want to read about Peter Parker 20 years ago if he hadn't married Mary Jane. They want to read about the Peter Parker they've been reading about for the past 20 years who DID marry Mary Jane. It's just sad that everything beautiful has to slowly choked to death in order to scrape out a few extra pennies from the pockets of the lifeless.

Yes sir, let it be known that greed is the ultimate evil that eventually killed Spider-Man.

Being Successful

2008-10-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

I think being successful is really hard. You really have to motivate yourself to work extremely hard and get out of your comfort zone on a day to day basis. As a young man who's going to be a father, I must admit I'm really scared of getting out there and getting my hands dirty.

I own my own business and I must say, if you're going to make it work, you really have to be persistent. It's sad that I've lacked the strength to really get in there and bust my ass for almost two years now. Sure, I've had my days where I've worked hard, but it's all been under the cover of a dark storm cloud about really getting out there and being successful.

In college, everyone almost prides themselves on "just getting by". It's somewhat of an infectious disease, along with laziness and embitterment. It's tough to shake it off and grow up. I've had to grow up a lot in the past few months. Getting married and having a baby will do that to you, I guess.

In school, you're so self-absorbed; absorbed in your own daily drama, absorbed in the lives of your friends and their personal drama, absorbed in your own thoughts about faith, politics, fashion, religion, independence... the list goes on and on! But when you take on raising another life in the responsibility of marriage, things become much harder and much heavier. But I have to get out there and become successful for myself, my wife, and my child. That's the thing, pushing yourself out into the open and becoming vulnerable. That's a hard challenge to face and a hard hill to climb, but some one has to do it!

Ryan Adams - Amy

2008-10-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a beautiful song. I've been a Ryan Adams fan for about five years now and this was one of my favorite songs of his since I first became a fan. I have to say that it's still absolutely hauntingly beautiful. I think it's fit to have this be my first post, as the video's in black and white, and so is the blog. Anyway, great song.