Denim and A Movie

I totally meant to write this post like a month ago. Anyways... So we were at the mall (about a month ago) and we decided to buy a Auntie Anne's pretzel and we sat on a near by bench to decimate it. While enjoying my pretzel I turned to read a poster in the window of American Eagle which in huge sans serif font read, "DENIM AND A MOVIE." It took awhile for me to actually register what i read. So my first thought was oh that's cool, they are giving a way movie tickets if you buy a pair of jeans. However as I continued to sit and partake of my delectable pretzel my curiosity grew, not only because of the intriguing headline but also it seemed to be a decently designed poster, and I was enjoying the design aspect of the poster. So I read on, and the poster made the claim of giving away ONE FREE ticket for simply trying on a pair of their jeans. This heavenly claim seemed to good to be true. I then wanted to take in the entire copy of the poster. I wanted to figure out what the catch is. The mere cliche nature of American Eagle, and the "FAD"ness of it's atmosphere always gave me the vibe to stay away from a store like that. The last thing I need is a pair of strategically torn and faded jeans to make me look cool. However to be awarded a FREE movie ticket just to slide a pair on for a brief moment behind a dressing room door seemed too good to be true. Especially with movie like Pineapple Express showing on the big screen. So I told Heather I couldn't miss out on this offer. So I went into the store and sadly I struggled to find a pair of jeans to fit me. It's not like I'm fat, I was looking for a size 36? I finally found a pair and made my way to the dressing room, still expecting some sort of a catch. I tried the jeans on, I even ventured out the door and showed my strategically ripped and faded jeans to Heather, who was REALLY digging them. I took a look at the price tag which read $30.00. Sadly that is more money than I want to spend on a pair of jeans. So I gave them back to the guy and he handed me a crisp white FREE movie pass. The only catch being that I had to use it at an AMC movie theater. Which ended up being about 20-25 minutes away. So I called up Gabe, which was seriously about the only guy I know who I even thought would be interested in going to the movie with me. He took me up on the offer and we headed to see Pineapple Express that very night. The movie started at 10:30 and we didn't get back until almost 1:00 then had to drag ourselves out of bed early in the morning to make it to church.

Pineapple Express was hilarious! I didn't laugh as much as I did in Step Brothers, but it was still funny. Infact I think the best part about the movie was how well they mixed the action and fight sequences with the stupid humor. The movie went places I never expected it to go, but was very pleased when they did. Now of course the movie is rated R, so it is full of poor language, blood and a lot of weed smoking. So if you are able to get passed all of that the movie is well worth your time. I myself have always enjoyed the pot smoking comedies like Friday (I still can quote more scenes from Friday than any other movie) & Half Baked.

*Me wearing my brand spanking new American Eagle jeans!

The very next weekend the Cohen Brothers (My second favorite movie writer/director) latest movie hit theaters, and I had an overwhelming desire to see it. So I found myself once again at the mall headed to American Eagle. Only this time Heather had 30 bucks and really wanted to see my butt in those strategically faded and torn jeans for some reason. Only this time it took me about four pairs of jeans before I found the pair I tried on the previous week. All the others really seemed to fit awkward. The very first pair of jeans I tried on the guy who unlocked the door handed me a free ticket and I slid it in my pocket. The following three times I entered the dressing room he didn't give me anymore. However once I finally found a pair to buy I went to the register and after the purchase was completed and the debit card was swiped and approved she pulled out two more tickets and handed them to me with my new pair of jeans in a dark blue paper bag with a HUGE white silhouette of an eagle on the front. I walked the rest of the time through the mall feeling like a 16 year old ready to be adored by my other high school colleagues. I could sit in class and show off my strategically torn sections of my jeans. I imagined the different stories i could come up with as to how I might have ACTUALLY ripped them in those sections. Ok so maybe none of the daydreaming actually ever happened, in all reality all I was really excited about was the fact that I made it out of the store with not only two tickets for buying a pair of jeans (because the deal was if you try on a pair of jeans you get one FREE ticket, but if you buy a pair of jeans you get TWO FREE tickets). So now in a two week period I came away with FOUR FREE tickets, I was ecstatic, and got home rushed to the computer to see what the show times were for, "Burn After Reading". I realized it was another late movie, and called up Gabe to see if he was interested, and he wasn't quite as excited even when I told him I also had a free ticket for him as well. So then I invited a friend of ours who lives on the third floor. He however also turned me down (I'm not sure how people turn down a FREE movie but they do). So I decided to wait till the next weekend. The tickets were only good until September 21st (which also happened to be my brother Matt's birthday). So the following weekend would be the last opportunity to use the tickets. So that weekend came, and once again I called my friend Gabe up, who was actually on his way to Houston to help out the hurricane victims. So I once again asked my neighbor on the third floor who once again turned me down. So I called up two other people I know and they didn't answer their phones, and I didn't leave them a message and instead decided to fly solo. I really enjoy going to movies by myself anyways, it allows me to have a more unbiased opinion of the movie.

Burn After Reading was brilliant. The best part about it was all of the unexpected things that happened to each and every character. Right from the opening scene where you are in a CIA office and where three people are demoting a CIA employee and he isn't too happy to hear the news. He begins to blow up, and even his reaction in the office seemed to be unexpected, to me atleast, and humorous. After asking why this was happening the guy sitting beside him quietly said, "You have a drinking problem." To which he replied, "You're a MORMON, next to you EVERYONE has a drinking problem." I don't care who you are THAT'S funny! What proceeded was a well acted movie with a brilliant script that perfectly told the story of several different strangers that in the end all linked together to form key rolls in the clumsy story. I don't really want to ruin any of the movie, it's better when you are just apart of what is going on as it is all happening. The shock value is one of the best parts of the movie. Once again this movie is rated R so it has it's fair share of "F" bombs and other colorful language. It is mildly violent but mostly humorous and brilliant. This movie also has THE PERFECT ending to the story, which made the entire movie THAT much better.

If you followed the story, which as I scroll up has become quite lengthy, so I'm not exactly sure how many of my readers I have kept entertained, anyways if you have kept up you are probably wondering what about the last two tickets? Well I'm glad you were so observant, I came up with a brilliant plan to offer the tickets to my brother Matt who was turning 30 on the 21st. So I called him up and told him, and he didn't find my plan to be as brilliant as I did, rather he accused me of being cheap and trying to sneak my way out of actually buying him a gift (the nerve of some people heh?). Anyways Heather and I had already made plans to meet my Mom and brother Ethan in San Marcos at the outlet malls to hang out. So I told Matt I'd be giving the tickets to them, and for him to stop by my moms house later to pick them up. I called him on his birthday to find out if the tickets were used, and sadly the tickets never made it to him, he said he went to my Mom's house and no one gave them to him. Its sad that such a beautiful thing went to waste...

Save Benjis

I don't own an iphone, and I probably NEVER will. That doesn't mean I don't get excited about the product and what it is doing as far as the advancements it's making in both mobil devices and how we interact in general. So if you haven't already heard all the buzz with the release of the iphone 3G and the opening of the App Store. There have been quite a few websites already giving their top 20 or top 50 apps that they've found thus far.

I met up with some friends on Friday night for a "Guys Night Out" type thing at Rudy's Bar-B-Que. A couple of the guys who had an iphone had them out showing off their recently downloaded apps, and one of my friends in particular sparked up some discussions about the iphone apps since he himself made a pretty darn good one that isn't being talked about enough. So after taking his app for a test drive after dinner I was able to see the potential this app could have in changing the way a person or family would shop. His app is called Save Benjis It's a cleverly simple application (You can watch a demo video on his website and get more info their as well on how it works and all the benefits it delivers), but basically, "Save Benjis, is a free application for the iPhone™ (and iPod Touch™), that provides you with the best internet prices while you shop in the real world. Compare prices and read reviews on your iPhone for over 15 million different products from over one thousand stores. When you find a better price using Save Benjis you can purchase the item using your iPhone with as little as one touch." So to put it in even simpler terms this application will 1.) Save you money and 2.) Find the best deal either online or at another store nearby.

So if you have an iPhone or even an iPod Touch click your way over to the Save Benjis website or just search for it in the iPhone applications in the iTunes store and download it. The BEST part about this iPhone app, is it's FREE! Let's also not forget that it will help you Save Benjis!



Read other reviews on the Save Benjis Application
Life Hacker
iPhoneApplicationList.com
Crunch Base
AppSafari.com
Super Fish
Technorati

P.S: The food at Rudy's was GREAT as well.

I Wish

"The flower said
I wish i was a tree
The tree said
I wish i could be
A different kind of tree
The cat wished that it was a bee
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky
Over rooftops and then dive
Deep into the sea"

"And in the sea there is a fish
A fish that has a secret wish
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it
And in the sea there is a fish
A fish that has a secret wish
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it"

"And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert
And the desert
So dry and lonely
That the creatures all
Appreciate the effort"

"And the rattlesnake said
I wish i had hands so
I could hug you like a man
And then the cactus said
Don't you understand
My skin is covered
With sharp spikes
That'll stab you
Like a thousand knives
A hug would be nice
But hug my flower
With your eyes" (--Antsy Pants, Tree Hugger)

I think this song is great, because I think everyone can relate to it. I'm sure that everyone at one time or another, maybe even still today has wished they had someone else's life. Like this song shows it's really just one endless cycle where ironically even the persons life that you view as "the perfect life" also wishes he had someone else's life. It's sad that so many of us waste so much time in our lives wishing for something different then what we are already blessed with. When really we should all just be grateful for the life we are currently blessed with.

So anyways, I watched Juno this past weekend and LOVED it, the script was unique and honest in my opinion. What made the movie even better was how perfect the soundtrack fit each and every scene helping tell the story. I enjoyed it so much that I have been listening to the soundtrack both in my car and at work every day this week.

I've heard a few people say the movie was a bit crude, and I've heard others tell me flaws in the messages it is seeming to spread concerning teenage pregnacy, I don't really agree with either critique, to me the characters where honest and believable rolls. The character of Michael Cera especially was one that I, as a shy awkward person can relate to. The movie evenly distrubtes doses of drama sprinkled with humor. It truly shows how to turn lemons into lemonade!

Yellow

I finally got The Darjeeling Limited, the latest installment of Wes Anderson. One of the main reasons I love Wes Anderson's movies is because he puts painstaking detail into each and every scene. Everything going on from the position of the actor, objects in the background, colors, lighting, music, every aspect is done with real thought, and is on purpose. With this movie, I noticed a whole new aspect to this detail oriented writer/director. The entire movie consisted of a relatively small color scheme. The entire movie was primarily yellow overall, with compliments of blue, black, white, and grays, then with touches of red. This is Wes Anderson's fifth movie, and it seems that he has chosen yellow to brand himself, as well as one particular font, Futura Bold. In Life Aquatic all the credits and text were set in yellow, and again this movie did the same thing. Only this movie went even further than only the credits, and text, but even the actors themselves seemed to take on a bit more of a yellow tone to their skin, and the background as well, and almost everywhere you see yellow. In the middle of the movie it tends to become more blue, and the end of the movie is dominated by red, but the yellow never leaves. It was beautiful.

I also thought Wes Anderson has always chosen the perfect moments to use slow motion, and once again in this movie he chose the perfect moments to put the movie in slow motion, not only that, but the music throughout the movie perfectly fits the scene. The music in general really sets a tone, and also helps tell the story.

The story itself is wonderfully written, by the end of the movie you are really able to relate to the characters, and truly understand all of their quirks. The splashes of subtle humor are peppered throughout the movie making it what I like to call a smart humor. Most comedies seem to consist of stupid humor.

For an example, one of the characters introduces a book he wrote to his two brothers, and asks them to read it. So one of the brothers begins reading it, and upon conclusion he says, "I thought it was really good, but I don't appreciate how the part where I yelled at the mechanic, that never happened."

Then the brother who wrote it looks up at him and says, "The characters are all fictional."

The Coward Bobby Ford

I finally was able to rent The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and since the moment the film ended it has stayed on my mind. I really loved this movie, and how much historical details they included in the film. It is very well narrated, the cinemotagraphy was outstanding, and the landscapes and scenery in the film were beautiful.

I heard a lot of critics talk about how long and slow the movie was, but it didn't ever seem neither when i was watching it. I thought the movie and the story really flowed. Not too mention both Brad Pitt and Casey Afflek (who is 100 times the actor his LAME brother ever was and ever will be) gave stellar performances, and very very believable. The film did a great job of developing the characters and giving you a real inside look at how everything developed and how and why everything happened the way it did. I don't recall the language being very bad, nor was it very violent. This is not to say that it is neccessarily a "family" film, but it is definetly worth anyones time watching it.

The other aspect of the film that I felt really made it an enjoyable experience was the music in the movie, it really helped set the tone throughout the entire film, also the landscapes and scenery in general really helped with the tone of the movie.

It even provoked quite a bit of a discussion between Heather and I about the movie afterwards over why Bobby Ford was called a coward, she felt that he did the right thing, me on the other hand, I believe he was definitely a coward. Anyone who has also seen the movie, feel free to share your feelings in the comments or email me and we can talk about it.

I can't wait to watch the movie for a second and maybe a third time, the only problem is I am way behind on my list of must sees to be able to do that at this time, especially since March madness and the play-offs are quickly approaching.

Fitting In

Friday night I got home from work and Heather left to go hang out with Angie and Tara for a girls night. So it was me and Hannah hanging out together at home. So we left and bought a pizza at Little Ceasars and then came home ate, then I gave her a bath, then we just hung out. Around 9:00 pm Hannah came out of my room carrying one of my shoes, she set it down and said, "I gotta put on the shoe."

So she put it on, stood up and said, "I need the other one."

Then she looked over and saw a pair of Heather's shoes and said, "Oh theres the other one."

She stumbled slowly over to where the shoe was all the while still wearing my shoe. So I ran and grabbed the camera and was able to capture a few photos in the moment. She walked around in them for awhile.

After a few little tantrums (which I can't even remember what they were over.) She finally started falling asleep on the couch, so I asked her if she was ready to go to bed, and I picked her up and laid her down around 10:00 pm.

Then I started working some more on redesigning my website until Heather came home around 11:00 pm.

Saturday afternoon we decided to go rent a movie. Heather was feeling a little depressed, and wanted something to lift her spirits up. So we decided on a perfect movie called The Martian Child.

John cusack plays the lead roll of a widowed author who just finished publishing a popular Sci-Fi novel which is in the process of being turned into a movie, at the same time he is supposed to be in the process of writing the sequel to that book. He get's a call from a foster home to come and look into adopting a child. I believe that he and his wife had started the process before she had passed away, and he just never terminated the process. When he receives the call, he is a little apprehensive about continuing on with adopting a child, now that his wife died.

He finally decides to go visit the child who, when he arrives, is walking around in a cardboard box with one small slit cut in the top allowing him to see. John Cusack's character finds out that the boy believes he is a Martian, and the reason he wont come out of the box is because he believes he is allergic to the sun. John Cusack being a "different kid" when he was this kids age begins to relate, and after three or four other visits, decides to adopt the kid. What takes place next is a very moving and entertaining story and film. It is a great feel good family movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone reading this.

Random

Sorry for the lack of posts. Occasionally my life begins to feel rather repetitious and it seems as though there is nothing to really talk about or to blog about. I suppose I will give a little up date as to what I've been up to. Last weekend we took a trip to Dallas to visit my brother and to play in the Doug Johnson hoop Night Memorial game. We ended up staying in a Motel 6 which was Hannah's first time to stay in a hotel, and she was really excited about it. This is one of the first years that I have actually played decent. The first game I ended up hitting four threes in a row and I also hit a lay-up and a short jump shot. The second game I hit one three and a lay-up. Then the third game I knocked down two threes and another lay-up. Then my last game I only scored two points and missed four threes and we lost.

We left Dallas Sunday afternoon and got home in time to catch the Super bowl and heat up some buffalo wings. The Super Bowl was insane, I didn't really care who won, because I had been going for The Colts and The Cowboys, so since both of those teams were not playing, i didn't really care. The Super Bowl was pretty slow and boring until the craziness started happening in the fourth quarter. The commercials were rather disappointing this year. I suppose my favorite commercial was the one with the screaming stain on the guys shirt.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Basketball:
In a BONEHEAD move Steve Kerr decided that for some reason Phoenix needed an old tired injured Shaq-Fu. Not sure what special kind of stupid Steve Kerr is for making that decision...

Also the BIG trade was Pau Gasol (who I HATE) went to the Lakers. For some reason this received a lot of hype and praise from everyone thinking that this will make the Lakers a championship team. To me this trade made no sense at all. Let me explain. The Lakers have a big 7 footer who is 19 years old named Andrew Bynum, the entire season he has averaged a double double double in points and rebounds. Infact all I I have heard is how great he has been playing and this is his breakout season. So then we look at Pau Gasol, who is averaging just under a double double in points and rebounds, and is a much softer version of a center. Where as Andrew Bynum is more of a physical player. So IF Andrew Bynum is SOOOO good, then why do they need a guy who is going to play the same position as him, averaging roughly the same numbers but some how he is "the answer"

I'M NOT BUYING IT!

In other annoyances going on in the NBA, they released the 2008 ALL*STAR team, where for some strange odd annoying reason a guy who has won 2 MVP's in a row, and is no doubt the BEST point guard in the NBA did NOT appear on the starting five. Yes I am talking about Steve Nash! Moving forward with that last years MVP Dirk Nowitzki also some how did not make the starting five. This has me scratching my head in shock and amazement. If you look back, Steve Nash has not been on the starting 5 of an ALL*STAR team.

Movies:
We've watched a few movies, I can't remember all of them but i will list the ones I can remember.

1.) 3:10 To Yuma: I bought this movie without even watching it. I had already heard a lot of positive things about the movie, plus westerns remind me of my dad, so why not. So we watched it and I don't regret buying it one bit. It was a great movie with a surprise ending. I've never seen the original so I'm not sure how alike they are. I want to check out the original one now though.

2.) The Game Plan: I didn't even finish this one, we really rented it for Hannah, cause she fell in love with the cover and HAD to have it. When we put it on she wasn't very interested and neither was I.

3.) Sydney White: This movie was decent for what it was. I think Amanda Bynes over plays her parts. It's ok for these teeney bopper movies, but if she ever wants a solid acting career she really needs to learn how to act.

4.) Mr. Woodcock: Not nearly as funny as I was expecting in fact if you saw the previews that is the most laughing you will get out of the movie. It wasn't very good in my opinion.

5.) Good Luck Chuck: It was decent but again not as funny as I was expecting it to be. It was better than Mr Woodcock though.

6.) The Heart Break Kid: This is definetly an AUDULT comedy, with that in mind it made me laugh but got kinda annoying and some of the jokes got old for me. It was "eeehhh" movie for me.

7.) Hairspray: Wasn't as bad as I expected, whenever movies like that get a lot of hype I have learned to seriously doubt them. That is why it took us so long to actually break down and rent it. Heather REALLY liked it, and it was worth watching in my opinion, not something I would be anxious to watch a second time though.

8.) Balls of Fury: This movie was funny, my brother Matt LOVED the movie and so I rented it awhile back and watched it. The only thing bad I can really say about the movie is it seemed like they really wanted Jack Black to have the leading roll in it, but for some reason they couldn't get him so they got a guy and told him to act like Jack Black. So it was still funny, but through out the entire movie I kept thinking, "why is this dude trying to be Jack Black?" It's worth watching, and it will make you laugh a lot, and Christopher Walken is hilarious in it.

Hannah:
We've been wanting to get Hannah enrolled in a soccer league but had our doubts on weather or not she would really like it. So Heather recently found a soccer class, and today was Hannah's first day and she LOVED it. So hopefully in the next year we can get Hannah onto a team.

Movies Over Christmas

I was able to watch a few movies while on my Christmas vacation.

Bourne Ultimatum: I really enjoyed this installment of the trilogy. I've enjoyed all of the Bourne movies, and this one was exactly what I was expecting and more.

The Simpsons: It was pretty much a longer episode, and since I love the normal episodes I loved the movie. (good thing we bought it.)

Harry Potter: And the Order of the Phoenix: I hated teh first Harry Potter, I've tried watching it three times and have never been able to make it all the way through. I've NEVER read any of the books, mainly because I'm not a big reader, for some reason, probably because of all the hype surrounding both the books and the movie every time one is newly released I always have an interest in watching the movies. Each and every movie becomes better and better to me. So I've been waiting to se this one, and I really enjoyed it. The actors are all developing, and improving, and so are the directors. also the graphics seem to keep getting better and better.

Helvetica: This was a documentary about Helvetica, which is a font. The interesting thing about Helvetica is that it is heavily used all over the world since it was designed in the 1950's by a Swiss type designer. The documentary was well filmed, and edited. They interviewed some GREAT designers, and type designers. It is also accompanied by some really great modern music. I am a weird guy, I get excited over fonts, I collect them, I'm able to name them as I see them on bill boards, commercials, and signs, and in movies. What I'm really trying to say is that I LOVED this film. I have been following this film ever since they first announced they were making it. So I have been VERY anxious for it to be released on DVD. Blockbuster online wasn't carrying it, but Netflix was, so I joined Netflix JUST so I could rent this movie.

Bratz: Terrible, terrible, terrible. This movie shouldn't even of been in theaters. It should of been a made for the Disney Chanel movie. It's about as good as Cheeta Girls. I didn't even finish watching it. I'm sure most of you reading are probably thinking, "What did you expect?" Well I didn't expect much, however I have always been a fan for cheesy highschool movies. some of my favorites are, 10 Things I Hate About You, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Jawbreaker, Mean Girls, Highschool Musical, A Cinderella Story, What A Girl Wants, She's The Man, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (that is good enough.) Anyways BRATZ was TERRIBLE!

Hot Rod: Yes, I watched it again. It was just as funny!

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

Merry Christmas, to all you Christmas celebrating people out there. We are making preparations for Santa to come into town in the wee hours of the night tonight. Hannah is getting excited. We are leaving tomorrow to head out to the outer limits of Texas to the land far far away they call Buna.

We've watched a few movies the last little while that are worth recommending:

The Waitress: This movie is great for moms, and any parents. It was a very clever movie with a great feel good story.

Well now I can't remember all of the other movies I was going to talk about. The only other movies I can remember, I have either already told you about or they weren't any good, for instance:

Bratz: Could of been a made for TV movie, on the Disney Channel or something.

Hot Rod: A great movie that I already recommended to everyone. Heather hadn't seen it so we rented it.

The movie I rented and can't wait to watch is Helvetica, only Heather isn't so excited about watching it, but I plan on watching it tonight for sure. I also am planning on watching Bourne Ultimatum, and Harry Potter at some point during the week.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.

The Weekend

I know it's the middle of the week and all, but I actually wrote this Sunday night. So get over it...

So this weekend we decided to watch some movies. It all started off on Friday when we went and rented Super Bad. I was cracking up throughout the whole movie. I suppose it was a little too much for Heather, and she didn't really enjoy it. I'm already ready to watch the movie for a second time. Several things about the movie reminded me of when I was in high school, maybe it's because I was a dork as well, and was scared to talk to girls, I don't know. There's a lot of cussing in the movie, and a bit of crude humor, but all in all it made for some good laughs.

Saturday we decided to travel down to San Antonio, to visit my family. My sister Kelly was in town with her two kids, Trevor & Lauren (we forgot our camera, like always.) So we decided to make the trip so Hannah could play with her cousins. I'm trying my hardest to offer Hannah the life I wished I would of had. A life where you actually know your extended family. Where you actually know your aunts and uncles, and your cousins and stuff. It gets tough when everyone lives in different cities, and some in different states, even different countries. But I am trying...

So anyways while we were there, me and my two brothers, Matt & Ethan decided to watch, Hot Rod, they had both already scene it, but for me it was my first time. I think Hot Rod might of been funnier than Super Bad. I was laughing so much my stomach started to hurt, and I got a small head ache. Also it was PG-13, which made it all the laughs without the naughty language.

We got home around 8:30 Saturday night and Hannah was exhausted, so we put her to bed and me and Heather cuddled up in bed and started to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, At Worlds End. We bought the movie on the motive that we already owned the other two. So we were hoping that the writers and directors made the smart choice and just let the movie end on a good note, and give us our moneys worth. Not to mention the ending to this third installment was really the ending of the second one. I was already disappointed that they decided to all of a sudden do a "to be continued" crap in the second one, when the first one was a complete movie. I thought that was already a creative flaw from the get go. Anyways I stayed patient and kept my hopes alive that they would in the end deliver the ending I had hoped for. Instead I was GREATLY disappointed, and left wanting my 4 hours of life back. Sure it had moments where I was entertained, but the ending SUCKED!

Actually to be honest with everyone reading, and by everyone I mean both of you, if the ending to the third would of been the ending to the second, I wouldn't of been half as disappointed. Since it wasn't I have to say that both the second and third one both suck. So now I own three movies, when really I only like the first. In fact I think I need to watch the first one again tonight, so that I can feel better about wasting my life watching the other two.

Movie Update

Well I've been watching quite a few movies, and haven't been updating. So now my memory is failing me a bit, so for some of these you won't get more than a sentence out of me. Anyways here we go...

Next: I enjoyed this movie, it was pretty good. Not the greatest movie ever, but I didn't feel like it was a total waste of time.

Surf's Up: This movie isn't really for little kids, but it was pretty good. I'm not a surfer by any means, but I've always enjoyed surfing movies.

I Think I Love My Wife: Not as funny as I was expecting, but it also wasn't a terrible movie. I don't think I would ever watch it again though.

Kickin It Old School: This is one of those movies that is funny for like the first 30 minutes, but then it's pretty much all the same type of jokes, and so it get's old really fast, and you already know how it's going to end, so yeah, that about sums up this movie for me...

Spider Man 3: I was NOT too impressed. I will repeat the same things alot of others have said. It had very poor character developement. They should of stuck with one, maybe two villans, and not THREE. Then when Spider Man is being taken over by the venomouse black substance, it get's EXTREMELY cheesy, and doesn't seem to fit in well with the over all tone of the movie. It just seems out of place, and unbelievable. Sure their are some cool aspects of the movie, and overall I am not regreting watching the movie, at the same time I won't be purchasing the movie, and I doubt I will ever have the desire to watch it again.

Oceans 13: This movie was GREAT, however I have enjoyed all of the Ocean's movies, including the originals. I do want to purchase this movie, and I would love to watch this movie multiple times. It was a very enjoyable movie. It's clever, funny, witty, and the cinemotagraphy was well done, and the acting was superb, I also enjoyed the plot and the story.

The Invisible

I watched this movie this past weekend and enjoyed it. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting from the previews, but the soundtrack alone won me over. Just check the listing of artists:

"Music for a Nurse" by Oceansize
"Fashionably Uninvited" by Mellowdrone
"Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio
"Under Pressure" by Kill Hannah
"Bliss" by Syntax
"Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol
"Body Urge" by The Great Fiction
"Taking Back Control" by Sparta
"02-20 Boy" by Suicide Sports Club
"Stars & Sons" by Broken Social Scene
"Weak and Powerless" by A Perfect Circle
"Caterwaul" by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
"I Will Follow You into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie
"Perfect Memory" by Remy Zero
"You're All I Have" by Snow Patrol

They open the movie up with a dream sequence that plays out as though it were reallity, which was kind of reminicient of Garden State. The acting is not great but good. I thought the two main characters (I didn't recognize any of the actors.) did a good job, some of the others weren't so great. The story itself is good enough to keep your attention. I felt it was a good enough movie to grab some snacks and stretch out on the couch when none of your favorite shows are on, and, "make it a Blockbuster night."

Getting Older

"I check my face, I look a little bit older..."

So I turned 27 Sunday, and so whenever your birthday lands on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday that means the entire weekend becomes your birthday (atleast in my mind.) So Saturday my mom was supposed to make a trip with my brother Ethan to visit me and take us all out to dinner. I received a call around 8:30 as I was following Hannah through an empty yet brand spanking new Super Target, on the phone was a familiar but raspy voice informing me of the bad news. It was my mom informing me that she has been and still is sick, and wasn't going to be able to make the trip. It was sad indeed, but I decided to make the best of it and still enjoy the weekend. Hannah decided she wanted to look for bugs in target and was growing annoyed of me being on the phone instead of helping her, so we said our good byes, and I slid my cell phone back into my pocket and went on the hunt with Hannah.

Saturday was a pretty chill and laid back day, we walked around the mall a bit, hit up Baskin Robins for a two scoop Sunday, where Hannah decided my ice cream was her, lucky for me she shared. then to end the night I hit up the movie theater, sadly the last time I was at a movie theater was on my birthday last year. Anyone that knows me know that I am into about 3 things, Basketball, Movies, and music. If you ask me what I want to do I'm always going to chose going to the movies. It's hard for me to explain but there is just something about the experience of watching a movie in the theater. It may be due to the fact that I have a lot of memories of going to the movies with my father growing up. Then also that is something we also did as an entire family, and me and my brothers share the same passion for making a trip to the theater. It's been difficult to go recently one with Hannah, and two with how much the cost of admission these days. However there is a $1.50 theater not too far away, and I would love to make that something to do once a month or even once every two months.

Anyways so I was able to see a movie Saturday night and I had a lot of trouble making a decision on what to watch. My choices were:

The Kingdom
Michael Clayton
We Own The Night
3:10 To Yuma
The Darjeeling Limited

The only two of those movies showing in the theater closest to me was The Kingdom & Michael Clayton. So I decided I didn't want to travel to far, so I limited my decision between those two movies. I read a couple reviews and finally decided on what was reviewed as being more action packed.

The Kingdom:
This was a GREAT movie, it far exceeded my expectations of the movie. Right from the opening credits and the graphics that were used to display a timeline of events to give a history of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia in regards to oil. It was beautifully done, and pulled me in right from the get go. The movie itself only got better as it went on uncovering more and more secrets, and ending with a lot of big explosions, and shootouts. The movie was also very cleverly filmed where there were many parts where it appeared as though someone was just walking around following these FBI agents and documenting it. There were a few shaky camera scenes to ad a bit of realistic touch. All the acting was up to par, and the music went well with the movie, perhaps not as cleverly as Wes Anderson does in his movies, nor was there as much pain staking detail as Wes Anderson puts into his movies, but that's not the type of movie that this was. It was a great way to end my night.

Sunday, which was my actual birthday was very low key and laid back. It was spent the same as all of my Sundays. We just lounged around the house, went to church, came home, ate dinner, and watched football with a few sprinkles of television shows. I also was able to squeeze in, Reign Over Me, which was a very nice and enjoyable movie as well.

Hot Fuzz

Heather rented Hot Fuzz for me a few days ago, but wasn't intrested in watching it, so Saturday night I set up shop in the living room while she stayed in the room, and I watched the movie.

I have to say I was rather impressed and found the movie very humorous, and the story was actually pretty darn good. It was far better than my expectations. Not sure what I mean by that, I suppose I thought it was going to be lacking in plot, but be a humorous shoot em up type movie with subtle splashes of dry humor.

Hot Fuzz was done by the same guys that did Shaun of the Dead, which was basically a parody movie with their own personal twist to add comic relief. I enjoyed it, so that's what made me want to check out this movie of theirs. I have to say I heard alot of sub par and negative reviews from some people about Hot Fuzz. They said that they were disapointed, but after watching the movie I am rather confused as to why. I felt Hot Fuzz was better than Shaun of the Dead. The only thing I can think of, was they were expecting Hot Fuzz to be another horror film with a splash of comedy. Also Shaun of the dead had more in your face comedic moments, and Hot Fuzz was more subtle, and it was more dry. As for my personal opinion I feel humor is best served DRY.

I have to say that the end of this movie, or the last 20-30 minutes is one of the best endings I've seen in quite some time.

Best line of the movie: "You're a doctor, deal with it!" (I edited it to keep my site family friendly.)

DisturbiaMimzyFractureEx

I keep forgetting to update my movie watching, and now so much time has passed I can't recall all the movies I've watched, so here are a few highlights I do remember.

Disturbia: This movie was decent, it ended a bit too quickly and didn't really develope the story or develope any sort of suspense like I was expecting. It was worth watching at least once though.

The Last Mimzy: A kids movie, that wasn't terrible, but also wasn't spectacular. It wasn't the "Feel Good" movie I was expecting it to be, but it was decent. Despite Keli (Heather's good friend) complaining throughout the entire movie.

Fracture: I spoke to my brother Mark, and my "BFF" Bucky and they both said they had the movie figured out pretty early. Me, I never figured it out, and so I felt the movie was pretty darn good, and very entertaining. I spent the entire movie trying my hardest to figure it out. I figured out ONE aspect, but not the MAJOR aspect. Anyways it is one of the better movies I've seen, NOT "300" good, but it was good.

The Ex: I have been keeping an eye out for this movie to hit theaters for awhile now, because I'ma HUGE fan of Scrubs, and a bigger fan of Zack Braff, so when we were strolling through Blockbuster and I saw it on the shelf I was rather surprised because I never even knew it hit theaters. Regardless I quickly snatched it up and it wasn't the GREATEST comedy, but it was definetly funny, and enjoyable. So it's definetly worth anyones time.

Quick Movie Update

We watched two movies recently which were both good.

Trust the Man: Heather and I both laughed alot through out this movie, and all in all it is a good story, and ends happy.

Bobby: I'm not a HUGE fan of any of the Kennedy's at the same time I say that I also know little to nothing about them. I just know we are from separate political parties. That being said I enjoyed the movie, but I enjoyed it not so much for what types of political undertones were being delivered, and the different stabs at what is also happening today, but I enjoyed the acting, I loved the Simon and Garfunkel song they played at the end. I also really enjoyed how Bobby Kennedy played himself by them mixing in actual footage of him anytime he was in a scene. There's a ton of well known actors in the film, so that was kind of cool aspect as well.

Also I just wanted to mention a few recent music finds I've been currently enjoying while I work:[Thanks Angie (I doubt she would ever even read this.)]

Cake
Postal Service
Death Cab For Cutie
Joshua Radin
Bishop Allen

Ready, Set, GO!

Here's a video of Hannah jumping off the top of her slide. She came and told me that she wanted to, "Ready, Set, GO!" so I followed her to her room, she told me where to sit, and luckily I grabed the camera as I entered the room so I could catch her in action.

For more videos Click Here.

In other news:
My sweet wife Heather rented 300 yesterday right when Blockbuster opened and had it sitting on the counter waiting for me, so as soon as Hannah went to bed, and Heather left to do some grocery shopping I slipped the DVD into the DVD player poured a glass of grape Kool-Aid grabbed a small blanket and sprawled out on the couch and hit play.

The movie was spectacularly filmed and acted. It was beautiful and stunning. The way the battle sequences pan out where they keep switching from real motion to slow motion at the perfect moments freezing a crushing blow to the enemy on screen. Boy do I really feel like I missed out on catching this on the big silver screen.

I believe it delivers a great message of a people willing to fight for their freedom, a people who were happy to see death stare them in the face while fighting for their families, friends, and their nation.

Lost

Around four years ago the battery on my watch died, so I slid it off my wrist and into a basket where I kept a collection of personal items in. The basket sat on top of a dresser in my closet. Four moves later and for some reason I have gotten this gun-ho urge to revive the watch with a new battery. Only problem is, I don't have a dresser in my closet, and I know longer use that basket as a resting place for personal keepsakes. Despite these minor details Thursday night during a commercial break of "Mad Men" I decided to go on an all out hunt for the watch. 1 hour later Heather (my wife) and I dug up countless small treasures buried away in boxes that have been left relatively untouched throughout multiple moves. We even threw a portion of junk away.

The watch still remains to be un-found, and Mad Man is proving to be NOT as interesting as I first thought, especially since the search for the watch consumed the remaining 20 minutes of the show, and on until almost 11:00 pm.

The problem now is, with me I get really irritated when I can't find something, so it is just stuck in my mind and just keeps itching away at me until I finally find it.

What things have ya'll lost over the years?

In Other News:
Heather started watching a 6 year old boy who talks non-stop the entire day. Hannah has really enjoyed his company, not to mention someone to play with throughout the day. He seems to be a pretty good kid and it is a way for Heather to make some extra money to help us pay off some of our debt.

Movies:
Factory Girl: LAME!
Zodiac: Intriguing, and very entertaining. Also I'm a sucker for true stories.

Have you seen any really good movies lately?

*The movie I am really anxiouse to see on DVD is 300! Which comes out this coming up Tuesday*

Pan's Labyrinth

This is one of the better movies I've seen in awhile. The movie is set in Spain 1944, and is totally in spanish, so unless you know spanish, you will be reading the entire movie, but it's worth it. The movie is rated R, and does have a few scenes of violence, because it is during a time of war. However this movie has one of the best messages of all time. The movie is basically a fairy tale for adults.

One great lesson the movie teaches is basically an analogy of life itself. There is a part in the movie where the girl who's name is Ofelia, has to go to this room and recover an item in a box to which she has the key for. This Faun tells her when she enters the room their will be a large feast, but not to eat or drink ANYTHING, & that it is necessary to her survival that she obeys him in doing this, because their was a being in there that was not human, and that was evil, and her life would be in danger. Also she had a specific time limit to getting back before it was too late. The Faun sends three fairies, which are his friends to go along and help Ofelia. So as she enters the room there is indeed a large table with a larger quantity of food of all sorts, and at the end of the table is a monster with it's hands rested on the table appearing to be a sleep, the monster has no eyes , but directly in front of him on a plate sitting on the table is two eye balls. The fairies fly over to three small locked boxes to the left of the table and so she figures out which box her key fits and opens it, retrieves a very shiny dagger or knife, then begins to make her venture back to the doorway. As she is walking back past the table of food it is becoming more and more enticing, and her appetites begin to grow. She stops and looks back at the frozen and silent monstrous figure at the end of the table, and she silently begins to move her hand towards some sumptuous grapes. The fairies make many attempts at stopping her and putting her back on course. She brushes them off and continues in her attempts to quench her appetite. As soon as she plucks a grape from the table the monsters hands twitch awake, and begins to feel around for it's eyes. All the while Ofelia is oblivious to the whole awakening of the monster. The one grape was not sufficient, and the taste was so grand that she had to have another, the monster by now has placed each eye ball in either palm and is now able to see Ofelia partaking of the fruit from his table. The fairies begin to flutter their way over to the monster in attempts to distract him, suddenly Ofelia becomes aware of the monsters awakening but is still not afraid, it was not until the monster catches two of the fairies and begins to eat them, then Suddenly she begins to run, and the monster walks after her in true cliché fashion...

Anyways as I was watching this portion of the movie, I of course was pondering over the fact of how easy a task it was to NOT partake of any of the food. It was a short amount of time, and as soon as she returned to her room, and the "REAL WORLD" she would be able to eat. It seemed so simple. Then I tried applying it to myself, and the many appetites that we are asked to suppress, and control as well. I thought that perhaps if I was to look at a distance at my own life, I would realize that this life is but a small, and short moment in the eternal aspects of our existence. So I am sure it is also easy for someone watching my life to be able to want to shout out the exact same things, and their thoughts are probably very similar that it should be so simple to just NOT partake in the sinful acts that quench our every appetite.

It's funny too because every time I become weak I am always able to notice something very similar to fairies (a friendly helper.) attempting to put me back on the true and correct path to happiness, and so often I brush them away and partake to appease my appetites.

Other Movies:
Apocalypto: Fabulous movie
Blood & Chocolate: Extremely cheesy!
Beer Fest: LAME!

4th of July

I'm a little late but who cares I used vacation time from work and so I had a long weekend, I was off 4th to the 8th. July 4th we were invited over to a friends house with a bunch of other families with little kids for a bar-b-que. Hannah had a blast playing with everyone, the food was good, and they even had vanilla coke, and A & W Cream Soda. We ended that day shooting off small fire crackers in the front yard of the family hosting the party. The entire time I was like is it legal to shoot off fire works here or something. I let Hannah hold a sparkler, and shake it around and she enjoyed that. The rest of the time I was chasing her around in the heat while everyone else was watching the little fire works go off, and other kids continued to play with sparklers when coming up the street was two police officers, and they slowly came to a holt infront of the house. They calmly told everyone that they were illegal and that someone was going to have to recieve a ticket, and the rest of the fire crackers would be confiscated...

Thursday & Friday were spent relaxing around the house with the family. We watched a few movies, I played with Hannah, we made a few trips to the store and the mall, and that is about all I can remember.

Friday was my moms birthday, and Thursday night Mark had arrived in San Antonio. I wanted to get down there on Friday, but it didn't pan out, and we ended up leaving for San Antonio Saturday morning when we woke up.

It was pretty awesome because almost my whole family was together, we were missing my sister Shauuna and her family. I can't even remember the last time my entire family was all together, so having this many of them was a big treat. Kelly and her son Trevor (3) and daughter Lauren (1.45) had already been in town visiting for a week, Matt is living in San Antonio, and Ethan is still living with mom. Then Mark his wife Mo and their 3 daughters Maile (4) Michaela (2.5) Marissa (2.5) all had made the trip down, and then Me, Heather, and Hannah (2) showed up. It was a very full house to say the least. Hannah had a fabulouse time with all her cousins and uncles.

We left Sunday night around 7:30 after we ate some of Kelly's delectable meat loaf, & letting Hannah swim with Trevor and Lauren in Kelly's blow up pool in the back yard, and also letting Lauren and Hannah take a bath together.

Sadly we forgot our camera so no pictures or special moments were captured, for now all we have is the memories infused in our minds and hearts which hopefully can transcend time.

Movies Watched:

Black Snake Moan (intresting.)
Driving Lessons (Stars the red head from Harry Potter has a good Soundtrack, and it was a funny movie, also a good story.)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Disapointment.)
Blood Diamond (I really enjoyed this movie.)
The Groomsmen (Funny, sad, depressing, but ends happy. It should make you laugh a few times though!)
Fur (wierd.)
Little children (intresting way of telling the story through narration, it was intresting, a few wierd moments, a few moments where we were both laughing pretty hard, and other moments where I was worried, with suspence, the ending is a bit ho-hum, but it doesn't end as a tragedy like I was worried it would.)