Terra Revealed in FF Dissidia

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

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

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!

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

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

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...

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

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)

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)

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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.