Year: 2005

With all other world matters finally taken care of, we can now focus our attention on the important issues. What, pray tell, could that be? Why, “Which beer would you most like to drink?” of course. Realbeer.com (which is based on the West Coast, lest anyone view this as regional bias) is holding its annual Battle of the Beer Championship, which finds two-time champion Dogfish Head out of Delaware fighting Cherry Hill’s own Flying Fish. Boy, the original Tri-State Area sure produces some great beer.

Make sure to fulfill your civic duty and vote. And remember, we need informed voters. If you don’t know the beers, go down to your loval pub and research.

Mark should get a big kick out of this:

My car failed inspection! w00t!

Normally people would be upset by this, however I see it as a true triumph. I took my car in for inspection on Friday (April Fool’s Day of course) because it expired in March. No big deal, you say. Last March. That’s right, I made it a full year with an expired inspection sticker on my car. And now, for some reason, I am driving more legally… or something like that. All thanks to a piece of paper that says it’s ok for my car to not work properly, because it will sometime soon.

What a wonderful system. For my next trick I’m going to see how long I can drive without a front right wheel before a cop notices.

I’m not sure if I can make the Great Chinned One‘s appearance tomorrow night, but if you’re interested, here’s the press release:

CAMDEN — Actor/author Bruce Campbell, the star of the cult favorite “Evil Dead” and “Army of Darkness” films, will present “An Evening with Bruce Campbell” at Rutgers University—Camden at 8 p.m. Sunday, April 3.

Noted for his role as the chainsaw-wielding “Ash” in the “Evil Dead” film series, Campbell is the author of the book “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor” (LA Weekly Books, 2002) and the forthcoming book “Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2005). He also co-authored an issue of the comic book series “The Hire,” published by Dark Horse Comics.

In the 2003 film “Bubba Ho-Tep,” Campbell played an aging Elvis Presley who emerges from seclusion to battle mummies. The film, which co-starred the late Ossie Davis, was selected for inclusion in international film festivals in Toronto and Hong Kong, and earned “Best Actor” and “Best Screenplay” honors at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival.

He starred in the 1993-94 television series “The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.” and has appeared in numerous films, including “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man 2.” He has produced or co-produced several movies, including the forthcoming “Man with the Screaming Brain” (in which he also stars), which is slated for release in 2005.

“An Evening with Bruce Campbell” will be held in the Campus Center, located on Third Street, between Cooper Street and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the Rutgers-Camden campus. General admission is $5.

For more information, call (856) 225-6161. Directions to Rutgers-Camden are available at www.camden.rutgers.edu.

If anyone is interested, let me know and I’ll try to work it into my schedule.

Finally caught Super Size Me last night, and the verdict is: meh. It was definitely interesting, and Morgan Spurlock was funny throughout, but I really don’t see the big deal. I got the feeling that this movie really opened eyes, but I just didn’t see anything new or shocking. I certainly enjoyed watching the movie, but as a documentary it was not the amazingly brilliant, earth-shattering message that it’s been made out to be.

When I worked at NetTech, it was only three or four guys originally working out of a basement in the ‘burbs. The nearest shopping center had a Wendy’s, a Burger King, a Chinese place, and a pizza place. We typically alternated amongst them when we weren’t out job sites. It was also common for us to hit a Mickey D’s or BK out on the road, but all the time. At the worst I’d say that I ate fast food anywhere from 2 to 4 lunches a week. Outside of that I’d hit one for dinner maybe once or twice a month. And guess what? It made me feel like crap. It wasn’t surprising in the least, but it’s what we did. And if we hadn’t all been in fairly good shape, it probably wouldn’t have gone on that long. But every so often we would make the effort and cut down, and guess what? We’d feel better.

Well, maybe not Doug. I think he actually needed Popeye’s at least once again for his metabolism.

These days I really cut down on the whole fast food experience, because I’ve known since I was a little boy that it was bad for me. Just go out to a nice place and get a real burger. You know, the ones that cost $5.99 instead of 89 cents. If you honestly think they were made in the same way, you’re nuts.

This is somewhat scattered, but I’m having trouble trying to organize all of my thoughts here. I didn’t dislike the movie, and I certainly don’t think Spurlock was trying to blame America’s obesity problems strictly on Mickey D’s, but I also don’t think he really made much of a point. Well, aside from the one that if you eat crap for 30 days straight, it will be bad for you. Thanks, I figured that one out about 20 years ago.

I’m not trying to excuse some of the crappy standards that fast food companies operate under, but then again it’s called FAST food for a reason – the health and quality of it sure ain’t the major selling point. But come on folks, it’s not that hard to NOT supersize a meal. I’m glad that people are trying to be healthier, but it’s funny when people act like this kind of crap is just plain evil. Sure it is, just like bread.

Somedays I feel like I’m the only person who’s ever heard of a little thing called “moderation.”

I’d have to say this makes sense:

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

(thanks to Donncha)

It’s that time of the week again. Avert ye eyes if ye hate this stuff. This week I’m… DVR-Blogging it so that the post won’t take me three hours to write. Here we go:

Continue reading “American Idol – Top Ten”

Apparently Apropos Comics aren’t the only ones to portray Superman as a jerk. From the bowels of some bizarre message board comes Superdickery.com. Possibly more ridiculous than Jess’s captions, these ones are actually real (well, they’re comics so they’re not really real, but you get my point). Nothing can truly prepare you for the insanity and surrealism that is to follow.

(thanks to AoS)

Until today, my Netflix account boldly proclaimed that I have no friends. This made me sad. Such an overwhelming melancholy sank in that I felt the need to rent even more movies. Movies to watch by myself in my sad friendless world. But that’s all changed today. Now my Netflix account boldly proclaims that Bhavna is my friend. Even better, it asks, “Want another Friend?” which suggests that they can help my social life more than any video store should be able to!

For the better part of the last few years, Netflix has simply worked for me. I barely pay any attention to the account itself. They send me movies, I send them back. They send me movies, and I send them back. And this continues somewhat bizarrely until I remember that’s what I pay them for.

Anywho, in the past few months Netflix has re-vamped their site with a cleaner interface, better navigation, and more options. Suddenly I’m taking notice, and occasionally even watching some of the movies they keep sending me. Today I added my first friend (ok, she’s not my first friend, but the first one I’ve added) onto the corresponding page that allows us to share recommendations, queues, etc. Seems interesting, although I haven’t been able to play around as Bhavna just signed up and hasn’t rated any movies yet. So if anyone out there is also a Netflix junkie, feel free to send me an invite or ask me to send you one.

I don’t want to get all serious on you, and I certainly am not up for any serious debate, but it’s difficult to escape the Shiavo fiasco. Especially having been down in Florida last week where it appears to be the only story these days. Ignoring the blatant hypocrisy of the Republican efforts and the general controversy surrounding such life and death topics, I still have two major questions:

• Where is the husband in this story? – I know where he is literally – right by the side of his dying wife. But you wouldn’t know that from most of the papers. Scroll through the headlines and you’ll notice 3 main entities that are consistenly mentioned: Terri’s life, her parents, and the Bushes. I have yet to see a single headline, let it be from the Left, Right, or Center, mention that Michael Schiavo grieves as his wife’s pain is finally coming to an end. That really bothers me. Am I the only person who feels that he should be a bigger part of this discussion?
• Who would you want deciding your fate? – Not to get overly morbid, but I really wonder how many people feel that their parents would know them better than their spouse. I love my parents dearly, and trust them above anyone else, but in matters such as these I can’t help but feel that Lisa would know my wishes better (especially since we’ve discussed them, albeit briefly). Are there people out there who truly believe their parents could look at them as anything but their child and make an informed life or death decision? Do you honestly think that decision would be more aligned to your own thinking than your spouse’s? And if so, why did you marry that person?

I have no interest to dive into this topic, but those thoughts have been rattling around in my head. And they are certainly less political than my total lack of comprehension as to why people feel the government should be allowed to make life and death decisions for us. I can only hope that Terri’s deteriorating condition leads to a swift end of her suffering and the country escapes without our personal freedoms further trampled on.

I have so many things I feel like writing. And not just about AI. There’s other TV shows I’m watching. There’s new CDs I’ve purchased. There’s my Netflix queue. Heck, I even went to the gym today for the first time in years. And I still haven’t talked about my trip (for real). But right now Arnold Schwarzenegger is fighting some weird ass metal creature in the water on Red Sonja – in HI-DEF! How am I supposed to concentrate on anything else?

Lisa and I are heading into Hoboken for a nice dinner tonight, so I really should be getting ready. But Brigitte and and Arnold are flirting with swords… how am I supposed to turn away?!?!