July 1, 2008
Entertainment Weekly's top 100 movies of the last 25 years.
I saw this over at Five Dollar Shake a few days or so ago, and kept meaning to do it.
Well, I'm going to do it now.
Entertainment Weekly came up with a list of the top 100 movies of the last 25 years. Bold the movies that you've watched and put asterisks next to the ones you liked.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)**
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)**
3. Titanic (1997)**
4. Blue Velvet (1986)**
5. Toy Story (1995)**
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)**
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)**
9. Die Hard (1988)**
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)**
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)**
12. The Matrix (1999)**
13. GoodFellas (1990)**
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)**
16. Boogie Nights (1997)**
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)**
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)**
20. The Lion King (1994)**
The other 80 are below the cut.
Continue Reading �
June 29, 2008
Migraines are truly the suck.
We had a really good time at Mindy's house yesterday afternoon and evening.
Good food, conversation, the kids all played video games while Mindy and I chatted and her husband leveled up on WoW.
I was way stiffened up by the time we got home, and laid down for about an hour or so, then I got up and dealt with emails and stuff.
I woke up this morning with a migraine from hell, and have been fighting it unsuccessfully all day and night now.
So seeing as I was defeated, I just laid around and watched movies for most of the day interspersed with going back and forth with a Bill Keller fan on a websites posting section.
There's nothing more fun than knowing more about the scriptures than the people who claim to live by them.
You all do know that no preacher is supposed to receive any pay for preaching the word of god right right?
Look it up, Corinthians 9:18.
The Keller fan has been refusing to acknowledge that little part of the new testament.
Keller has an income of $1million dollars at the end of the year, yet he tells his flock and tv viewers, that he only takes $60k as a salary.
He's a liar and a fraud, and it's time people start learning the truth about this very corrupt tv minister.
So anyway, today we watched the movie Funny Games (2008)
I just want to warn you that this remake starring Naomi Watts and Eli Roth, is absolute garbage.
I don't give a crap that it's a social commentary on our obsession with media violence, when at the crucial moment of the film, the bad guy picks up the tv remote and rewinds the movie to change the outcome, that's a complete waste of freaking time.
But we did watch a movie that we all really liked on Friday night, Otis
After being captured and tortured by the psychopath Otis (Bostin Christopher), teen cheerleader Riley Lawson (Ashley Johnson) escapes and informs her parents (Daniel Stern and Illeana Douglas), who quickly sidestep the sluggish FBI and take matters into their own hands. But the Lawson's revenge plan hit a snag when Otis's unusual brother (Kevin Pollak) enters the picture. Jere Burns co-stars as the FBI agent assigned to the case.
I suppose I should get back to work now.
I have some stuff I need to do before I can go to bed.
I hope when I wake up in the morning this migraine has left.
It feels like my right eyeball is going to pop out any second.
June 28, 2008
Off to eat and play!
We're all finally awake, and the teens are taking their showers, then I'll head in to take mine.
We're heading over to Mindy's house this afternoon for some bbq and video gaming.
Not really sure how long we'll be gone, but we'll be off having a good time.
I hope y'all have a great day and enoy your weekend!
Later days!
June 26, 2008
Did you watch the Baby Borrowers?
The teens and I watched the Baby Borrowers tonight on NBC, and I'm pretty sure we'll be watching it all the way to the end.
Some of those teenagers who came in there all gung ho "I want a baby, I love kids! I'm great with kids!", learned really quick that no matter how cute you think babies are to look at, they actually require you to do more than hold them and dress them up cute.
I have a feeling more than a few of these teens came from families where they were spoiled by their parents, all the best clothes, shoes, schools, jewelry, Sector watches, and lives that didn't require them to lift a single finger.
Take Kelly and Austin.
Kelly is a spoiled brat of a girl.
She refused to wear the pregnancy belly, she screamed at Austin and threw a temper tantrum, and she thinks she can be a mother?
Uh, no.
Then there's Cory and Alicea.
Here's another young girl who is obviously used to getting her own way.
She was absolutely terrible with the baby, she was swearing, said the baby could "starve" because it was being fussy about eating, she cried several times during the episode.
It got so bad with the pure neglect of taking care of the baby, that the real mother had to come over late at night and tell these two idiots that the baby needed to be fed, have it's diaper changed, and bathed, and put in clean pajamas.
Seriously, they didn't do any of those things, and when the mother came over to tell them all of that, Alicea made excuse after excuse why she didn't feed the baby, bathe it, change it, she said it was the babies fault. She actually said the baby was refusing to eat.
Honey, as a parent, you HAVE to feed the baby. You are the adult who knows what's best.
You must be patient and not throwing a hissy fit if the baby spits some of it back out.
They do that.
A lot.
All Daton and Morgan did was fight with each other.
Daton was another crybaby of a girl.
I think their couple bio says everything about these two that anybody ever needs to know about how they are as would-be parents.
This on-again, off-again surfer couple has been dating for over a year and a half. Morgan and Daton live a life that is virtually free from responsibility where they get to surf and skateboard everyday. Still dependent on their parents financially, they feel that this social experiment is about taking on new responsibilities and will put their relationship to the ultimate test.
'Nuff said.
Jordan and Sasha actually did pretty good.
When they opened up the door to the baby room and saw all of the items that needed to be put together like the crib, changing table, and dresser, clothes, toys etc, Jordan told Sasha who was wearing the pregnancy belly, to go lay down and rest, he would do it all, and he did.
He built every single piece of furniture and made the room look very nice.
They only had one rough night of the baby crying, but they got a handle on it pretty quick.
Sean and Kelsey.
Kelsey wants to be a mother, right now, Sean knows he's not ready for this, so he's actually enjoying watching her have a hard time when the baby cries and things become difficult.
These two didn't do too bad, Sean actually has a decent thing going on with the baby, he bonded to it, and the baby bonded to him, rather quickly.
Kelsey is struggling a bit, only a few moments of frustration and tears, nothing at all like the way Daton and Alicea were though, which is a good thing.
This week's episode ended on the eve of the very first day with the babies.
They will have the babies for 2 more days, then move on to toddlers, pre-teens, teens, and then elderly parents to take care of.
Oh, and whatever and how many pets the "families" have too.
I really hope a lot of teenagers are watching this, and I think there might be from checking out the poll on the main page.
But it looks from the results that a lot of teens who are voting in the poll, think being a parent in your teens is best.
These are the current results as of the time of this post;
When are couples best prepared to become parents?
A) Teens
45.48%
B) 20's
25.90%
C) 30's
27.56%
D) 40's
0.78%
E) Later
0.27%
Yeah, teens think being a teen parent is the awesome.
I'm hoping by the time this show/social experiment ends, those numbers will change, or the show will at least have a positive impact on some teen-aged girls.
I know there has always been, and there will always be, teenage moms, but we can hope those numbers decrease right?
Maybe they just don't get it, how hard of a job being a parent is, even if you are happily married and financially ok in life, own a home and all that jazz, being a parent is the single hardest job I've ever had in my life.
I still struggle from time to time, babies don't get handed to you with a manual when you walk out of the hospital.
They just get bundled up and handed to you.
You might get a gift bag from Enfamil or some other baby formula company, but there's no manual in that bag either.
Anyway, the teens and I watched the show together tonight.
They actually paid attention to it, sat through the entire hour long show, and said they'd watch it every week.
Maybe it will have a positive impact on my boys.
I'm so not ready to be a grandmother just yet.
June 25, 2008
Remember Wednesday June 25th 2008.
It's time for another round of Remember Wednesday, a new-ish weekly music meme that Jade started.
This week I bring you "You Got Lucky", by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, off of their 1982 album "Long After Dark".
This album went gold by the way.
The song "You Got Lucky" was awesome by itself, but made even better by MTV, who actually played music videos back then.
None of this stupid crap they do now, it was music videos 24 hours a day, and bands outdid themselves to try and out do other bands and artists.
It was a fun time, I loved MTV.
I was awake and taping (on the VCR baby!) the day MTV launched on August 1st 1981, at 12:01am.
My parents let me stay up for that, I was only 11, but I think I begged and pleaded for weeks before it actually happened, doing chore after chore, walking the dog, raking leaves, mowing the lawn, whatever it took to be allowed to stay up and record and watch those first awesome music videos.
I still have the tape too.
I've shown it to my boys who were totally mesmerized by actual music videos, rock music, and the coolness that was MTV.
Today, MTV barely shows any videos at all.
It's all pop and youth culture shows now, "reality" shows like The Hills. *gag*
MTV used to be really great, I wish they would have never left that format, I think bands still strive to make awesome videos, I've seen them on Youtube and other sites like Yahoo video, but MTV was just awesome, ask any kid who grew up in those first 10-15 years.
By the mid 1990's, they had completely changed the format, limiting the airing of actual music videos to just 4 programs.
MTV Live, Total request, Say What? and 12 Angry Viewers.
It officially became the suck after that.
But man, those first years of MTV, wow.
I was introduced to so many bands, so many different styles of music, they played pretty much anything and everything, and in 1982 when I saw "You Got Lucky", I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, and my ears were on fire.
I know the band had been around since 1976, but it was the album Long After Dark, and this video that really got me into the band.
The opening of the video is in a future wasteland where a tent is filled with all the latest technological electronics of the time, so outdated now, tvs, arcade games, jukeboxes and guitars, and the song begins to play, that opening rift, man, it still gets me sometimes.
You'll actually have to go to youtube to see it, embedding has been disabled, but this was just such an interesting and cool video.
Check it out.
You better watch what you say
You better watch what you do to me
Don't get carried away
Girl, if you can do better than me
Go...yeah, go
But remember
Good love is hard to find
Good love is hard to find
You got lucky, babe
You got lucky, babe
When I found you
June 24, 2008
I have to switch to digital anyway.
Oh man, I really wish I had some extra money right now.
Buy.com has an awesome sale price on a Westinghouse 26inch LCD HDTV right now that I would so love to have!
A 26 inch set is the perfect size for our house, it's the same size I have right now with my regular tv.
It's a refurbished one, but that's ok, I don't need to have a brand new one, used and reconditioned is a-ok-fine with me.
Heck, the tv I have right now is used.
It was given to me by my sister's boss when they bought a new tv for their house.
And this one looks good.
The Westinghouse has a 26" screen, with 16:10 aspect ratio, and can produce 16.7 million colors with a resolution of 1366 x 768.
That sounds so saweet!
It also automatically finds and switches to the best digital source for the cleanest picture, so no more of that messing around with the remote that came with my converter box, the tv will just find the best channel for me if I choose, for example, channel 40, the local news channel, which is so hard to tune in with the converter box.
It has two HDMI inputs so that if I hook up the dvd player, it will still give me the cleanest picture.
I can't afford a new tv right now, not in the foreseeable future either, but I hope when I do get some extra money, Buy.com will have another really good deal on a digital tv.
I'd really like to have one before the analog broadcasting stops completely in February 2009.
It's so hard to tune in channels right now with the converter box.
My antenna isn't strong enough to pick up all the local channels clearly, so it gets frustrating trying to watch the local news and the picture chops up or disappears completely.
I will have either a new digital tv or a much stronger antenna before the switch happens though.
June 24, 2008
Are you watching this?!
On ABC right now, it's the show "I Survived a Japanese Game Show", and this stuff is absolutely crazy!
These Americans have absolutely no idea what the heck is going on, they have to dress up in crazy costumes, eat crazy foods they've never eaten before, and do all of this stuff without knowing a single word of Japanese.
It's hysterical!
I think this is my new favorite game show!
I did like the place they get to stay while they are there though.
It's like a condo hotel kinda place, but the beds are hard as rocks and on the floor.
And the mama-san who is like their house-mother, she isn't so sweet.
She yelled at them to go to bed, take their shoes off, "No shoes in house! No shoes in house!"
Seriously, this is my new fave show.
It's awesome! 
I hope they play human tetris though, that game is so seriously funny, I nearly pee every time I watch it.
June 24, 2008
In my head.
I had to go to bed early last night because I had to get up for my doctors appointment this morning, and I have this routine, habit, whatever, that I do before I actually fall asleep.
I have to go in and make my bed, straighten out my sheets, turn on my lava lamp, (yes, I do have one and I love it) and then get all settled in and comfortable before I pop my earbuds in.
I was thrown totally off last night because my MP3 players battery died after playing just 3 songs.
It has an internal battery that charges by usb, and it would have taken a long time to come back out here, plug it in, and wait for it to charge up, so i said screw it, I can sleep without music tonight, and I'll charge it tomorrow.
Wrong!
I had the worst time falling asleep last night.
I tossed and turned, and tried to think of lyrics to songs, hear the tunes in my head, but it didn't work.
I really do need to hear music so I can sleep.
The louder the better too.
When I came home from the docs, the first thing I did was to go get my mp3 player and bring it out to charge it up.
Tonight sleeping will come easier.
June 24, 2008
I watched Camp Rock.
Oh yes I did.
See, Saturday was just super crappy weather, it rained and rained, and so my joints ached something fierce.
And because they ached, the easiest, most non-painful thing to do was to lay on the couch all day and night.
I have watched pretty much every single movie we own at least 3 times each, so I clicked through the channels at 8pm and landed on ABC.
The Disney movie logo started across the screen, so I was like ok, cool, maybe a good animated film or something.
Nope.
ABC was doing the world broadcast premiere of Camp Rock with the Jonas Brothers.
I have teenage boys who enjoy the Disney animated movies, we all dig those, we are planning on going to see Wall-E if we can, but this tweeny bopper shit?
Um, no.
Mark and Sebastian would rather be stabbed in their eyeballs with hot knives, and have their ears cut off with a dull rusty nail, than to watch and listen to anything tween-ish.
They nearly died when their cousin Helena was here for a week last summer, and all she listened to was the High School Musical soundtrack.
The day my sister Jo took all of them to Busch Gardens for the day and Helena wanted to listen to the soundtrack on the car stereo, was a lesson in patience and selective hearing for the boys.
They were bug-eyed and stir crazy when she dropped them off late that night.
So anyway, I'm laying on the couch, nothing else is on tv at all, so I settled in and watched Camp Rock.
They heard some singing and came out to see what it was, and both of them in 2 part harmony said "Aww hell no. Mom! What are you watching?!"
I explained that there was nothing on, my bones hurt, so the Jonas Brothers it is.
They turned around and left, retreating to their game room, and closing the door tightly behind them.
I watched the entire thing, all the little conversations between the commercials and the movie where the Jonas Brothers talked up their album, what's going on at Disney, and promoting their new cd and video which was making it's world premiere at the end of the show.
I was mesmerized I tell ya.
I thought the movie was absolutely the suck, but I couldn't turn away from it.
I was like hypnotized by these teenagers on my screen.
The constant breaking out in song, the dancing, the absolute gayness of it all, held me captive.
I have absolutely no idea how mothers put up with this crap, and I don't understand how mothers can even be fans of this stuff.
I guess I would understand if I had a few pre-teen daughters who dug this shit, and because it is oh so wholesome and clean, it's good tv viewing for tweens, but dear god gag me.
It was sicky sweet, sugar-gumdrop gag-worthy crap.
And now there's a High School Musical 3 coming out?!
I haven't even seen the first 2, and honestly, you'd have to tie me down to a chair and pin my eyes open like in A Clockwork Orange, to make me sit through any of those.
If they are anything at all like Camp Rock, I'd sooner be dead.
But if you haven't seen it and want to, click that link up there and you can watch it absolutely free on the Disney website.
The whole thing.
I'm sure there are some tweens who will do just that, they'll watch it a gazillion times, because those Jonas Brothers are just so dang cute in their emo tight pants and sugary sweet good boy charm.
Me?
If I ever have to watch another one of these types of movies again, I'm going to make sure I have some booze on hand, and I'll make a drinking game out of it.
Every time some emo-tight-pants-wearing over the top happy boy breaks out in song or dance, I'll take a big drink.
That should make the movie much more enjoyable.
June 23, 2008
Here comes the 'he's with Jesus' stuff already.
I am still as shocked and saddened today as I was last night upon hearing the news that George Carlin has died.
Of course, people don't say someone died any more, they say they've passed on.
Carlin said that in one of his skits about words, soft language, it's wickedly funny.
But it's already started.
People everywhere in blogs today, and on the news, and there will be newspaper cartoons drawn up, about how he's in heaven now.
But no, he isn't.
George Carlin was an avowed atheist, and just because others believe in god and heaven, does not mean Carlin is with Jesus now.
That's those people's beliefs, not Carlin's.
People should just take a few minutes and read Carlin's bio.
All those jokes about religion weren't just jokes to him, it's how he felt, he really did not believe in god, jesus, heaven, hell, none of it, and by saying he's with god now is really disrespectful to him as a person.
Just watch this clip where he talks about death, it's not just a joke to him, that is how he felt.
There is no 'up there' he said, he really doesn't believe it exists, he was an atheist.
To say he's in heaven with god now is just disrespectful to him.
I mean, just imagine if after you died, if people started saying the exact opposite of what you believed?
How would you feel about that?
Well, you wouldn't feel much, you're dead, but do you like the idea of people saying the opposite of what you believed your entire life?
You wouldn't want that, you'd want people to remember you as you were in life, to say what you believed so strongly in.
If you believed in god, you'd want people to say that you are with jesus now right?
To be respectful of your beliefs right?
But if you didn't believe in it, you'd want people to say that, to let it be known that you didn't believe if people said you're with god now.
You'd want the truth to be told about you and your beliefs.
I've been reading blogs through my feed reader all day now, and so so many of them think all those jokes were just that, jokes, and they are saying he's with god now, he's at peace finally, he was such a troubled soul but now he's with god, and he'll be at peace for once in his life.
I don't think he was a troubled soul at all, he said exactly what he felt, what he believed.
He was at peace in his life, he battled his drug addictions and over came them without a higher power, he did it on his own.
Why is it that as soon as someone dies, everyone says they are with god now, they'll be at peace finally?
Why can't people respect the person who has died and what they believed in?
It just bothers me that so many people have no respect for his true beliefs.
They want to believe he's gone to the heaven they believe in, and that's not what he believed.
He's just dead.
He was here yesterday, and now he's not.
June 23, 2008
George Carlin dead at age 71.
It has been reported that comedian George Carlin has died at age 71, from heart failure.
Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said.
In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission vs. Pacifica Foundation, the top U.S. court ruled that the words cited in Carlin's routine were indecent, and that the government's broadcast regulator could ban them from being aired at times when children might be listening.
Carlin's comedic sensibility often came back to a central theme: humanity is doomed.
"I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. I don't believe in this country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in all these man-made institutional ideas," he told Reuters in a 2001 interview.
Carlin, who wrote several books and performed in many television comedy specials, is survived by his wife Sally Wade, and daughter Kelly Carlin McCall.
George Carlin was a wicked funny man, I loved pretty much every joke he's ever made, and I loved his cynicism, his wit, and all his dirty jokes.
The world just lost one of the greats.
Because this clip is what really thrust Carlin to the forefront, here are the 7 dirty words you can't say on television.
If you have small children or are offended by dirty words, don't click play.
You will be sorely missed Mr. Carlin.
June 20, 2008
Pregnancy pact?!
17 girls at Gloucester Massachusetts high school, entered into a pregnancy pact, and only one of them is above the age of 15. She's 16 years old.
17 girls at the high school have become pregnant this year, with half of them sophomores who had entered into a pregnancy pact. All but one of the seven or eight girls who set out to become pregnant are 15 years old; the other is 16. Most got pregnant by their boyfriends, but one father is reportedly a 24-year-old homeless man.
"Gloucester is a very, very proud community," she said of the heavily Roman Catholic and insular town that is accessible only by a bridge from the mainland. "It has a long tradition of fishing industry that has really gone away in recent years. Jobs are not there anymore. The jobs that these young people thought they were going to have are disappearing."
The kids, she said, can't see a way out. "None of them have a very strong life plan," Kingsbury said. "Being a mother became something they can do, gave them an identity: 'I can be someone. I can be a mother.' They didn't really have an alternative. Nobody offered them a better life."
Then there's the 24-year-old homeless man whom one girl chose to father her child. What to do with him?
June 18, 2008
Movie watching freaks.
I watch so so many movies, with no cable and it being scalding hot outside most of the time, watching movies is my enterainment all of the time.
I have a fairly decent tv, it's good size, but I would absolutely love to have one of those plasma mount tvs.
A big one.
Not movie screen huge or anything, but good sized, like above 30 inches or something.
Most movies on DVD are now in HD, and it's been said that Netflix will eventually be moving to all blu-ray, so a nice digital tv would be so totally kick-butt to watch them on.
Don't get me wrong, my tv does have a nice picture, my new LG DVD player my sis bought me, is awesome, but a bigger digital tv that was meant to have all those awesome HD and blu-ray movies on would be so so nice.
I'd hook the surround sound back up too.
We got our new rentals from Netflix today, we got The Bucket List
I really want to watch Unknown tonight, but Sebastian absolutely loves the show Wife Swap.
It is kind of interesting, and tonight's show is looking like a good one too.
The farmer/truck guy, looks like a total jerk and the show just started.
June 16, 2008
Creepshow (1982)
We watch a lot of movies here, the teens and I are huge fans of films, and they are so totally my kids.
They love horror movies as much as I do!
Tonight's dinner and a movie fest is a flick from 1982, and was based on the E.C. horror comics of the 1950's, Stephen King's Creepshow
The screenplay was written by King, and it was directed by George Romero.
There are 5 short films on the disc, Father's Day, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, Something to Tide You Over, The Crate, and They're Creeping Up On You.
All of the actors of these short stories are very famous stars, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, Ted Danson, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Harris, E.G. Marshall, and as he always has done, even Stephen King himself makes an appearance in the starring role of Jordy Verill.
All of the stories are good, and even though the movie is 26 years old now, it still holds up pretty well.
For the time, 1982, the special effects were on par with all of Hollywood, they look completely out-dated now, of course, and in some of them like Father's day, totally cheesy, but one of them still scares the crap out of me to this day.
The Crate.
It's the longest one on the disc.
It stars Hal Holbrook as a sort of loser professor at a local college, whose wife is a horribly nasty woman.
"Billie" is played by Adrienne Barbeau, a drunk and offensive old hag, who makes his (Holbrook) life hell.
When a colleague of his finds a really old crate under the stairs at the college with a really hungry creature locked away inside that has eaten two people already, he finally finds a way to get rid of his verbally abusive and hated wife.
He lures her to the college on a made up story of a young co-ed being sexually assaulted by his colleague, telling her she's the only one who can coax the young girl out from under the stairs.
Once she gets down there, he stirs the monster awake, it devours her, and then he dumps the crate off a cliff into the ocean.
He and his colleague think it's all over, no evidence of any foul play, but the monster breaks free of it's crate under the sea in the very last scene.
This is also the bloodiest one of the five, and it's definitely the scariest.
I've seen Creepshow about a dozen or more times over the years, and it still doesn't disappoint as a fun movie.
June 14, 2008
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Sebastian and I decided to walk down and get us all some subs for lunch, and the going out of business Boogie Woogie cd, dvd, and video game store, is still open, and now everything is up to 75% off.
So we swung in to check and see if they had any more good deals.
All their used dvds are now another $3.50 off, so movies are super duper cheap.
I found buried amongst some truly horrible titles, the 1990 film Pump up the Volume
Anyone remember this one?
When a book on Lenny Bruce falls into the right young, disaffected, youthful hands, the FCC has its work cut out for it. Christian Slater plays a quiet high school student whose alter ego "Hard Harry" cries injustice and spins punk and rap records from his basement at night for a growing fan base who finds his radio frequency. When the ultra-conservative school administration starts swinging, Hard Harry's fans rally, and Slater gets the girl.
And unlike most teen movies of the 80's and 90's, there is no prom, there is no wrong side of the tracks love story with a super happy ending and pretty pink dress, this is teen rebellion with all it's angst and problems, from suicide, to coming out of the closet in a defining moment kind of way.
Instead of the usual stereotyping of being a fag, Hard Harry instead tells the young male caller how he finds the bravery of people to be amazing, and with that he signs off for the night leaving his listening fans to ponder the coming out confession and who they are as well.
The movie has it's absolutely silly moments as well, it's truly stupid in some parts, but hey, no movie is without it's flaws.
But Pump Up the Volume is a really decent flick and has an amazing soundtrack.
Liquid Jesus' anthem- Stand, to Chagall Guevera's Tale O' The Twister, and Concrete Blonde, Peter Murphy, The Pixies, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth.
The opening song that is played several times throughout the film, Everybody Knows, is done by both Leonard Cohen and Concrete Blonde in the film, yet Cohen's version is noticeably missing from the soundtrack
I prefer his version over the latter myself.
His voice is raw and real, and his version is slowed down a bit, allowing you to hear every word, and really get a feel for the meaning behind the lyrics.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows
Anyway, it's a good a movie, on a scale of 1-5 stars, I give it a 3.5, and only that low because of some of the silliness.
I really think they could have left that out and had a truly remarkable teen rebellion film on their hands that was unlike every other teen movie past or present.
June 13, 2008
Timber Falls (2007)
When Mike (Josh Randall) and his girlfriend, Sheryl (Brianna Brown), go hiking in West Virginia, their idyllic getaway quickly turns into a nightmare they can't seem to wake from. Their choice to follow a less-traveled trail brings them face to face with a homicidal backwoods family with a creepy religious agenda. The next day, when Sheryl vanishes, Mike must comb the woods to find her, enduring a series of horrific events.
That is the basic plot for Timber Falls
This movie was so much better than I thought it would be, I just rented it because I love horror/slasher flicks, but it didn't disappoint at all.
It had a pretty intelligent story, pretty decent acting, and it moved at a pretty fast clip.
There wasn't a single moment you could turn away from the screen due to any type of boredom, it really kept you involved and paying close attention.
It has all of the elements that are lacking from other horror movies, and that you wish those other movies had, like the decent story and decent acting.
Our main characters, played by Randall and Brown, are two of the dumbest hikers ever though, they do one stupid thing after another in the beginning of the movie like taking a trail that they know is not patrolled by the park rangers, continuing on that same trail even after meeting up with some backwood rednecks that are far from helpful and nice, and Brown (the girlfriend Sheryl) is especially stupid for going for a morning swim in the lake by herself after the troubles they had just the day before.
The twisted backwood religious family, is absolutely crazy and sadistic, but absolutely totally enjoyable!
Their whole need for kidnapping young couples is because the wife, Ida, cannot carry a child of her own to term, and with the help of her husband and park ranger himself, Clyde, and her deformed by fire brother Deacon, they kidnap and force young healthy couples to have sex and conceive a child for Ida to raise as her own.
If the couple isn't married, Ida marries them in the eyes of the lord, and then forces them by horribly torturous means, to produce a child for her and her husband.
They (Sheryl and Mike) probably would have complied with the forced sex if maybe, just maybe, the religious freaks would have cleaned the blood off of Sheryl, and put her in something a little more enticing like a nicer nightie or some sort of sexy babydolls lingerie.
Blood and a white gown with a big ol' cross on it, isn't exactly sexually appealing.
Mike (Randall) endures the absolute worst of all the injuries and torture in this movie.
When he realizes Sheryl is gone, he goes running through the woods to find her, trips, and ends up with a stick stabbing him deep in his arm.
He removes it and ties a bandanna around it, only to run into the first group of rednecks again, and getting into a knife and gunfight where he's hit hard several times, and cut across one of his legs.
He survives that, only to step in a bear trap just a few minutes later.
He is "rescued" by Ida only to find out just a little later, that she is the captor of his girlfriend Sheryl.
He is whipped by cat o' 9 tails, branded with a branding iron, beaten, stabbed, hit about the head with the butt end of a shotgun, a shovel, fists, and finally a huge knife to the gut.
I don't want to tell you any more, I really think that if you are a fan of slashers and horror films, that this is one you should definitely rent because of how much slashing takes place, and because it's actually a very intelligent horror film.
I was very surprised at just how well the story was done, and I really think that if they had a bigger budget, some better cameras, and some A-list actors in the lead roles, that this movie could have done really great in theaters.
It was only released in 49 theaters nationwide.
I really believe that despite the above, that this is a really good movie, and it even left it open for a part 2, which I would definitely see.
It scored poorly on Rotten Tomatoes for some silly parts, (what horror movie doesn't have a few laughable scenes?) only having 1 "fair" review out of a total of 4 reviews, but ranks highly of the reviewers on Netflix, getting 3.5 stars out of 5.
It gets an "ok" rating and a pretty good review at BoxOffice.com, calling it "a perfectly serviceable scary movie."
On a scale of 1-5 stars, I give it a 4.5.
June 13, 2008
Tim Russert, 1950-2008
I just heard the news that reporter Tim Russert has died.
WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press," died Friday after being stricken at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.
Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday's "Meet the Press" broadcast when he collapsed. He was rushed to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, said Russert's physician, Michael Newman.
Newman said the cause of death was not immediately known.
He has an extensive and impressive background from being a senate staffer before going to into journalism, he received an Emmy for his coverage of of President Reagan's funeral, 48 honorary doctorates, countless awards for excellence in his career, member of the broadcasting hall of fame, and on the board of the baseball hall of fame.
He was a trustee of the Freedom Forum's Newseum and a member of the board of directors of the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Club and America/s Promise - Alliance for Youth.
He was also named father of the year by several different organizations over the years.
This is just a shock and tragic loss of a man I admired.
My heart and thoughts are with his wife Maureen and his son Luke.
June 11, 2008
Ergo what?
When I got my first little baby computer, an Emachine, back when I first moved here in 1997, I had it set up much like I do now, except that every time I was on my computer, my right shoulder and arm would hurt after about an hour of using it.
It made me not want to be on it at all, and I loved being on it just as much as i still love it today. *hugs the tower lovingly named Ace*
I complained to my sister about it, and she said it was because of the mouse I was using.
It was a standard 2 button mouse and a mouse pad.
When you have one of those, you are moving your arm and hand all over the place to click around on the screens, and the way I was sitting combined with the way I was moving my arm, was causing me pain.
So she explained to me what computer ergonomics was, and took me to a store to get a mouse I wouldn't have to do that much moving with.
She bought me an ergonomic trackball mouse that day, and I've never looked back.
It instantly felt better, my shoulder and arm never hurt again.
In the last 11 years, I've now been through 2 of those trackball mice, and when this one dies, I'll just get another one just like it.
You should totally try an ergonomic mouse if you are having pain in your wrists, shoulder, or arm after being on the computer.
Trust me, it will make you feel tons better!
June 11, 2008
Remember Wednesday June 11th 2008.
It's time for another round of Remember Wednesday, a new-ish weekly music meme that Jade started.
This week is all about the Journey.
I've always been a big fan of their music, they are a solid rock band.
Each member a master of his instrument, and when combined, they all come together with an amazing sound.
Back in the early 90's, my friend Shell and I would go down town, down to the beach clubs like Mr. Goodbar's, (where they still play) and a few other bars and clubs, and see a local band called Riot Act.
Riot Act was one of those good-time bands, they played some of their music, but they mostly played covers for the tourist crowds who came in to hear rock music they knew and loved.
Guns n' Roses, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, 80's rock songs mostly, but nothing got the crowd going like when they would play covers of Journey.
The lead singer, Johnny, just had the voice that could pull off a damn good interpretation of Steve Perry.
Put his voice with the very talented members of the band, plus a good Journey hit like "Don't Stop Believin', Send her My Love, or Faithfully, and the crowd would eat it up, the place would be filled, over capacity on most nights, and it was guaranteed that you would have a good time.
They did an amazing cover of Separate Ways, one of my personal favorites of Journey, and wow, it was always so awesome to hear it played live, you'd get goosebumps when Johnny hit those high and long notes.
Shell and I would make a point of being there whenever Riot Act played, or as often as we could.
The both of us were young mothers of young toddlers, but we'd get a babysitter and head on down to the beach for our one night of fun and music, after a long week of taking care of kids and working, and Shell going to college.
We could let loose, and hang out with our friends, have a good time and just rock out with Johnny and the guys.
I think at one point, both of us actually worked at one of the clubs they played at.
I was a waitress at the Whitehall, and I believe Shell was a the only female bouncer at Goodbars.
It was a good time, good memories of being with a good friend.
So here is my Remember Wednesday song for this week, Separate Ways by Journey.
If you decide to play along, make sure you go to this week's post on Jade's blog, and leave a comment so other music lovers this week can come read about your music memories too!
June 11, 2008
Still no idea what it is.
I just got back from my pain doc appointment a little bit ago.
The pain doc is till not sure what it is, and is very glad I'm seeing my surgeon on Friday.
He said no matter what it turns out to be, call his office, and tell one of his nurses when I get home from that appointment.
I'm still banned from doing any ellipticals workouts until we know what it is, but amazingly, even without working out, I've lost some weight.
I told him it's not that amazing, I've been sick the last few days.
When you're vomiting and the smell of food makes your stomach turn so much you can't eat, it's pretty damn easy to lose weight.
But I am doing better today.
I've been taking it so easy the last few days and having the teens put staphaseptic on the red spot, so I was able to eat last night and today.
Mindy drove me again, and we took her daughter Katie, and Sebastian.
When we got done at the docs, I had promised Katie that if she was good and patient while waiting for me, that I would treat her to McDonald's for lunch.
But when we got out, it was still too early for lunch, so we went to Best Buy and bought Sebastian the graphics card he needed for his computer.
He had most of the money in a gift card he got for his birthday from his Aunt Heather, and I paid the balance.
Then we got to McD's, and ate, then came home.
I installed his graphics card, and then he installed the rest of his Sims games, and now he's a happy camper.
I'm way tired, and need to rest for a little bit, and then I have a lot of catching up to do.
Later days.
June 6, 2008
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Born with an acute sense of smell, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) resorts to dark deeds in creating a perfume that captures the essence of a woman in this 18th-century thriller based on Patrick Suskind's best-selling novel. The disturbing intensity mounts as Baroque-born Grenouille's obsession to create the ultimate scent moves from innovation to murderous aberration. Alan Rickman co-stars along with Dustin Hoffman as a master perfumer.
We watched Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer
The story is so well done, the narration, the acting, and the period dress, everything about this movie is perfect.
It is rated R for "aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images", and yes, it deserves that rating, but wow, this is just such a great story.
It's disturbing and dark, Jean-Baptiste's obsession with capturing the scent of women as pure essence oils, and what he does to get them, is disturbing yet sensual.
He takes great care of their skin and hair, gentle touches to the skin, it's painful to him.
Each perfume is made up of a top note, a middle note, and a base note.
By adding just one more oil, you completely change the scent of the perfume, and Jean-Baptiste wants nothing more than to capture and save forever, the very essence, the souls, of women.
His obsession leads him to first try to get women to let him cover them in animal fat, wrap them in cloth, and then after a few hours, unwrap them and squeeze the fat into a pot mixed with alcohol to boil it, and have the liquid evaporate and rise to the top of the oil maker, where the essence oil will then drip down into a vial.
But the women think he's just some kind of kinky rapist, they don't understand, so they try to escape and he's left with no choice but to kill them in order to capture their scents.
I will not spoil this for any of you who may be interested in renting it from Netflix or your fave movie rental place, but it has a really great and sad ending, yet the perfect closing for the tale.
This really is a very interesting and captivating movie.
It held both the teens attention through the entire movie, a full 2 hours and 27 minutes, and when it was over, they said how much they liked it, and that I picked a really good one this time.
Haha! I pick a lot of good movies dammit!
June 5, 2008
Take it easy, we oughta take it easy.
We ended up not going to Mindy's for dinner tonight, I had a rough day adjusting to the meds.
It's been about 2 years, since the surgery actually, since I've taken any oxys, and they hit me hard today.
Between how hot it was, and how strong they are, my stomach was doing the ol' back flip and making me nauseous all day.
They are helping with the pain, taking the edge off so I can actually pee without crying, but I've spent most of the day laying down on the couch.
I'm sorry Mindy, once I get adjusted to them and my shoulder starts feeling better, we will do dinner.
Did any of you watch Fear Itself on NBC tonight?
Tonight's first episode was called The Sacrifice, and it was about vampires.
I actually liked this, and it gives me hope that future episodes will be good too.
It reminds me of the old Twilight Zone or Outer Limits shows that used to be on.
Every week, a new story.
Next week's episode is called In Sickness and In Health, the episode guide says it's about a private investigator is driven over the edge while on a stake out in a haunted mansion, and it stars Eric Roberts as the PI.
All of the episodes are written and directed by some big name directors and writers like John Landis. You can read who else is doing episodes both in front of the camera and from behind it.
I used to love the show Amazing Stories that was on back in the late 80's.
Do you remember that show?
I used to love that show.
Anyway, I have big hopes that this show gets better and better every week, and more people tune in to watch it.
It's a great summer time show in my opinion, better than all the stupid reality crap tv shows, talent shows, and stupid game shows, that are planned on just about every network for the summer season.
June 4, 2008
I will never stay in a hostel.
I'm taking it easy and resting as much as I can, the new meds are starting to really help take the edge off the pain.
I'm able to sit up without having waves of pain tear through my shoulder and chest, but I'm still taking it easy and not moving too much.
But I got my two new movies in the mail from Netflix today, so that gave me an excuse to lay down and rest for 2 hours.
I rented Frontier(s)
As riots break out all over Paris after a right-wing government is elected, reluctant thief Yasmina (Karina Testa) recruits a few friends to exploit the bedlam by looting. With the police on their tail, the gang splits up and regroups at a hostel near the Luxembourg border to divide their haul. But the decision proves fateful when the innkeepers turn out to be neo-Nazi freaks who want to make Yasmina the brood mare for a new Aryan master race.
The movie is in French with English subtitles, but it's very easy to follow along.
That is if you are keeping your eyes open, or peeping through your fingers as they cover your face.
Frontier(s) was part of the 8 Films to Die For for 2008, but because of it's extreme gore and graphic imagery, the director was told to cut out a bunch of stuff in order to remain part of the horror fest, or go it alone and be rated NC-17.
The director loved his film, every single scene, so he chose to take the NC-17 rating, and be forced to a very limited theater release on May 9th, and then it went straight to dvd on May 13th, in the same full unrated, uncut, "sadistic glory" it was meant to be seen in.
I just got done watching it, and OMG, it is so graphic, so violent, and if I ever do get to travel to anywhere in Europe, I will never stay in a hostel, and I will definitely get myself some travel health insurance before I go just in case here are sickos at the normal hotels too.
Every single European movie I've seen in the last few years has had it's victims stay in hostels, and they all die horrible deaths save for one person, the sole surviving hero or heroine.
This movie was really good if you are a fan of gore and torture type movies.
If you loved the Hostel series, and enjoyed the graphic violence of High Tension, you'll like Frontier(s).
It's kind of like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Hostel.
We have a seriously whacked out Neo-Nazi cannibalistic family, looking for a healthy young woman to breed new members of their pure blood family.
When Yasmine and her band of thieves make the terrible mistake of staying at the hostel, things quickly go wrong.
Each person gets picked off one by one in very gruesome ways.
A lot of the stuff is some of what you've seen before, but it's action packed, fast paced, and our heroine gets a bit crazy, as anyone would in this type of situation, and she makes it out alive in some very tough and bloody battles.
I won't tell you much more, but Yasmina is a likable character, you sympathize with her, you want her to survive and get out of there even if the cops she's running from are the only way to escape.
Anyway, it's a decent film, I can totally see why it's rated NC-17, it's really gory and graphic, but very good.
May 30, 2008
Attempting to take a day off.
I am so incredibly tired today, just wiped out from doing so much this week.
I keep falling asleep sitting here in my chair.
Mark is playing quietly in the other room, Sebastian is over playing with the kid next door, and the house is mostly clean.
I finally got caught up around here.
I just have a load of clothes to put in the dryer, and then I can chill out for awhile.
I want to either watch the movies I rented, or play with my Sims.
I really just need to have some quiet, yet entertaining, me time ya know?
You ever just get so drained from doing everything that everyone else wants and needs, that you completely forget to take care of yourself until you end up crashing down out of exhaustion?
That's how I feel today, completely wiped out physically and emotionally.
I need to get some rest, a nap or just laying down relaxing, and then spend some time just doing something for me for fun.
All I've done all week is take care of others, and I don't mind it, but I end up doing far too much, and I get drained of all strength and get emotionally exhausted.
I will try to catch up with emails and all my blog reading later on.
I've neglected all the blogs I read all week, I apologize, I will catch up with everyone later on, I promise.
May 30, 2008
Anyone ever go there?
I'm talking about Branson.
I had no idea that that area was becoming the newest vacation destination for families, because of how much there is to do there, and the prices.
They have attractions like theme parks and roller coasters, museums, state parks, water rides, mini-golf courses, movie theaters and tons of shopping centers.
There's basically something for everyone to do there.
And I'm sorely in need of a vacation, so I went and looked up some of their packages.
It's really not bad.
For a couple, they offer 3 Days/2 Nights at the Welk Resort Hotel, 2 adult tickets to the following:
Grand Country Jubilee
$30 Red Lobster/Olive Garden Gift Card
Coupon Book with $1,500 worth of savings
$50 Tanger Outlet Shopping Certificate
For just $423 per couple.
I would need to see what kinds of packages they offer for just 3 people, and I noticed while looking at some of the ones they already have, that if they don't have a package that suits your needs, they will work with you to build a package that will work for you and your family.
Branson is growing by leaps and bounds, new jobs are springing up all over, especially in construction and hospitality.
People are moving there and building new homes, businesses are opening up new restaurants and stores, and things to do.
May 29, 2008
I would like to call a do-over for today.
I have been pretty much going non-sop since 8am, taking care of my neighbor and my own home, and my kids.
Mark is done with school for the year, so he was home all day.
Sebastian only had one exam today, so he was back home by 9:30am, and now he's done for the year.
I installed another expansion pack for his Sims game, and then he went on a download spree and screwed up the entire Sims installation.
So I had to uninstall all of the game packs and all of the crap he downloaded, and reinstall the whole thing again.
I was running back and forth between doing this at my house, and trying to help my neighbor again today with all the medical appointments she has to do.
And at some point in running back and forth and trying to take care of everyone and make people happy, I yanked my frigging shoulder muscle again.
It's on fucking fire right now, and burning all the way across my chest too.
Gah.
I need to take a muscle relaxer and get a nap in to make this stop.
May 27, 2008
Extra! Extra! Man gives birth to an alien!
Sebastian is having a blast playing with his Sims again.
I installed more memory for him today, and so he's been playing for a few hours.
He built some truly awesome houses and families.
He has all the best furniture and decorations, his kitchen rocks!
He has all stainless appliances, a wine refrigerator, all oak cabinets and a table that seats 8.
His property is all decked out, everything a family can have, his family has.
They also have telescopes and the dad of the family is like obsessed with looking through the scope.
Well, that's something you don't really want your Sims to do too often.
He man got abducted by aliens, and then a few Sim days later, he gave birth to an alien baby.
That's right, if you get abducted by aliens, you end up pregnant, and the men can get knocked up too.
It's so funny!
Sebastian was like OMG no!!
But now that the little alien tyke is here, he's cool with it.
If you've never seen this, here's a clip I found on youtube of a male Sim giving birth to an alien baby.
May 27, 2008
So much to do, no energy to do it all.
I have so many things that I need to do, I've gotten way behind on a lot of things.
I forgot to pay my medicare supplement part D bill, so I need to do that.
I have about 30 some odd emails to reply to.
I have 2 sink-fulls of dishes to do, and I need to finish installing a few things on the boys computer.
But I gotta tell ya, it is so much better with the xbox in their room now.
I have actually been able to watch the news every day and all my "gay and boring" tv shows.
The boys said they are so thrilled to be in the other room because the tv shows I watch are boring and gay, like really gay.
Funny, they would always ask me what time such and such show comes on. *eyeroll*
I can't believe the last day of school is on Friday.
This school year has just flown by so fast.
We are gonna be up each other's butts all summer.
I need to get them both jobs. hahaha
Ok, I really need to get cracking on all those emails and other things.
Later days.
May 25, 2008
No more sharing!
When my sister was bringing the boys back home today, she stopped in at Radio Shack and picked up a INTEC G5290 UNIVERSAL RFU ADAPTER
It was always a battle between myself and them, about what the living room tv was going to be used for, me watching the news, my fave tv shows, or movies, or them playing the Xbox.
So the RFU adapter is a huge yes!
One problem.
I don't have a DVD player anymore, I was using the Xbox to play my rentals from Netflix or from my collection.
I told my sister thank you, but I still wouldn't be able to move the Xbox until I could buy another DVD player, and sorry, I just don't have the money for it right now.
She said oh, ok, they were going to go get us all some lunch and then they'd be home.
When they got here, she handed me a long flat box.
It was a brand new LG DN788 1080i Upconverting DVD Player
Yeuss!
She said after she hung up with me, she walked around Radio Shack a bit, and she saw this DVD player was on sale for only $39.99, so she bought it for me.
She said it was my "happy summer present".
With summer approaching, and the boys and I will be up each others butts most of the time, she wanted to make sure that we all had the ability to watch or play what we wanted without having to share the one tv and one dvd player anymore.
So this is a totally awesome happy summer present indeed!
Now the teens and I won't have to share the one tv and one dvd player anymore.
They can be in the other room playing the xbox, the PS2, and using their computer, and I can be out here watching my tv or movies when I want to without having to battle it out over whose turn it is to use the tv for an hour or two.
It's a very nice DVD player, it can upconvert to 1080i if you have a digital tv set, it is a multi-format player, it can play DVD Video/DVD+R/DVD+RW/Audio CD/CD-R/CD-RW, and a USB port for playing other formats like MP3/WMA/JPEG/DVD Audio/ Dual Disc, so I can even plug in my mp3 player and it will play the music through the tv, plus all movies I have on DVD+R from friends.
I've got everything all hooked up, they are in the other room playing the Xbox and the wireless internet router is picking up and sending the signal clear as day even with their door shut, and I'm out here with my stuff all hooked up and I'm getting ready to watch George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
All their video games and controllers are now in their room, and I was able to move all my DVDs off of my bookshelf and onto the tv stand with all my other movies I have on VHS.
Yes, I still have about 100 or so movies on VHS, and I still watch them on my VCR from time to time.
I'm a movie freak, what can I say?
So thanks sis! This was an awesome happy summer present!
May 24, 2008
Saturday play day.
This afternoon, my sister is taking the teens to the movies to go see Narnia, Prince Caspian, and I'm going to hang out here at home with my most awesome niece, Susan, and play games and stuff.
Susan really likes playing games on the computer, so I have a couple of kid related websites that she already knows how to do, and we're going to play some games on those, color, read books and maybe watch a movie ourselves.
I love it when she comes to spend time with me!
She and I get along so well, and she's so much fun and silly, it makes me happy.
After the movie, the teens will be going back to my sister's house for the night, and will come back in the morning because sis has to work.
Did I tell you my sister has a blog?
She just started it in January, she doesn't update it much, *ahem* but she writes some pretty interesting stuff when she does.
You can check her out at Jo's Mojo.
She has a few pictures up, the girls, and their new kitty Binky who is just so cute!
I love that kitty!
I was going through my stats last night, I like seeing where my visitors come from, how they find me, and I found a link to my local area news website, WWSB.
I was all hrm, why is the local news linking to my blog?
Then I saw that the link went to a subsection they have for blogs, and I'm one of just 6 local blogs they have featured there.
Pretty cool!
So thanks WWSB, I appreciate the link back and being featured.
Ok, time for me to get moving and clean up a few things before Susan gets here.
I need to get the coloring supplies out, and the story books, and the movies she likes to watch.
I also need to throw some laundry in and do the dishes.
I may hold off on the dishes.
Doing dishes sucks.
May 23, 2008
I'm skeered to go food shopping.
I have to go to the grocery store later today and get some more food for the human food disposals, but I'm worried about how much it's going to cost.
Publix is having a HUGE buy 1 get 1 free sale, but the prices of food are increasing every single day due to the trickle down effect of rising gas prices.
I'm getting far less groceries for the same amount of money than I used to just a few months ago.
Bread used to be .89 cents a loaf, it's now $1.59.
A gallon of milk used to be $3.20, it's now $4.20.
A pound of ground beef was $2.29, it's now $3.99.
The prices are getting higher and it's putting a serious crimp in my grocery budget.
And Sebastian's birthday is coming up, and I already got him a really nice digital drawing pad for an awesome price thanks to Charlotte, and I'm going to try as hard as I can to get him the computer memory he needs so he can run his Sims 2 games on his computer.
The boys Aunty Heather got them an awesome monitor instead of sending her old one like she had planed to do.
It would have cost her over $150 to pack and ship her old Dell monitor here, so she bought a 17" flat panel gaming monitor for just $89 with free shipping.
It's an Acer, just like the brand tower they have, so they have quite the nice setup going on their room.
I'd love to be able to get him the memory card though.
It will help make their computer run much faster, and help make his games look and run better.
I'm going to do some major price shopping on all the electronics sites and local stores as well.
He gets so frustrated when the Sims lag or freeze up because there isn't enough memory to keep it running for longer than an hour.
May 23, 2008
I can be such a doofus sometimes.
I was on the local forums just now in the music, movies, and books sub-forum, and someone asked about the industrial rock band from France, and wanted to know their name.
I just blurted out KVM.
Um, duh-ur.
I was quickly called on my mistake too by several music heads.
It's not KVM, it's KMFDM.
KFMDM has been around since 1984, and has put out 15 studio albums, 24 singles and EPs, and 2 remix albums.
They make awesome music, so if you've never heard of them before and like industrial rock, give them a listen, it's good stuff.
Now, what is KVM?
It's a multi-user switch that allows you to control multiple computers from a single station.
It allows you to manage servers over IP, and makes it easier to move your computers to a more secure location.
I don't know why I just spit out KVM instead of KMFDM.
It could be because I had just been looking up some info on Cat5 extenders. I have this switch box here that someone gave me, and I've never been able to get it to work, so I was looking up directions on how to make it work.
I really shouldn't try to multi-task.
I know my music better than I know technology, and I just made myself sound stupid on the forums.
D'oh!
May 23, 2008
Wanna weigh in?
Do you watch tv shows on ABC?
Do you want to be able to provide feedback on your fave shows to ABC?
If you do, you should join the ABC Inner Circle.
I've been a member of the viewer panel for a little over 2 years now.
About 3 months or so ago, they totally redid the whole site, and it's called ABC Inner Circle.
It's set up like a forum, sort of.
The moderator starts all the threads to talk about, but they do take suggestions for a new topic on a show that isn't listed already.
They want your honest feedback and opinions on all of the shows they air, the good, bad, and the really ugly.
They take all of our opinions into consideration when deciding if a show stays on the air or gets the boot, and they randomly send out some show swag.
Over the last 2 years, I've gotten a keychain, a mousepad, a coffee mug and a couple of t-shirts.
Just the other day I received a magnetic refrigerator notepad for Desperate Housewives, one of my favorite shows!
I love free swag, and this is actually a good notepad.
I have it on my fridge and when I run out of a food staple, I just jot it on the very handy list, and then I rip off that page and take it with me when I go grocery shopping.
But you never know what they are going to send out or when, it's a total surprise when you get a package stuffed in your door.
But anyway, if you want to provide feedback to ABC, then just fill out this brief questionnaire, and they'll send you a login password to get you started.
I love a whole bunch of shows on ABC, so it gives me a place to share my opinions and thoughts on those shows that will actually matter to ABC and the people who make the programming decisions.
May 18, 2008
Desperate Housewives 2-hour season finale.
There are 2 back to back episodes tonight to close out the season, and here are the descriptions of each.
The Gun Song Sun May 18 9/8c The ladies of Wisteria Lane meet Susan and Mike's new baby, Gaby forms a strong bond with their new tenant, Ellie, and Lynette is accused of child abuse.Free
Sun May 18 10/9c
Several residents of Wisteria Lane are faced with deadly threats, Susan realizes she will soon lose someone she loves, and Katherine Mayfair's secrets are finally revealed.
I'm over Susan.
She is a whiny, insecure, waste of screen time.
And of course Gaby is going to screw up the police sting concerning Ellie.
Just when she has the chance to do something right and help Carlos get the charges dropped against him, she's going to muck it all up.
I'm not really interested in Katherine's story line at all.
I'm more interested in how her daughter Dylan is going to handle the truth's that come out.
May 16, 2008
Bummed-out.
Yesterday when Sebastian and I went to Publix, we walked past Boogie Woogie, a CD/DVD/video game store.
They would buy, sell, and trade any of those items, I loved going there for great movies and good prices on cds.
Well, they are closing down for good at all locations.
The economy is forcing them to shut down because people just don't have entertainment money to spend right now.
The rent on the storefronts here and in Bradenton is a combined total of $19,000 per month, and they are barely making that.
The girl who was working there yesterday when we went in told us all of this while her eyes filled up a bit.
She said; "This is the best and most coolest job I have ever had. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but this place made me love coming to work everyday."
They are having a closing down sale, pretty much everything in there is marked down substantially, so we got Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 and 5 DVDs all for $49.73.
The PS2 game's normal price was $39.99, so yeah, big time price mark downs.
If you live in Sarasota or Bradenton, head on over to score some really good deals on CDs, DVDs and video games, it all has to go.
They will be shutting down for good in just 2 weeks.
I know I'll be going back to dig through the cds and DVDs some more.
It really sucks they are closing though.
No more close by music store.
Bummer.
I did ok at Publix this week, not great, but ok.
My total bill before coupons and buy 1 get 1 and the in store sales was $206.24.
In store coupons - $2.60
Vendor coupons - $6.74
Advertised savings - $26.52
Advantage buy savings - $2.70
In-store special savings -$1.24
Total savings- $39.70, which brought me down to $166.54.
Like I said, not great but ok.
I'm trying to adjust to the new meds, it's going ok so far.
They don't hold off the pain for the full 12 hours, I've had a few bouts of breakthrough pain, but they make me tired, like super duper lazy tired.
Not the same kind of pass out cold tired as the Somas did, but yeah, I'm like ultra lazy as you can see by my lack of posting today.
At least they aren't clouding my head, no blurry vision, no feeling like my heart is racing like some of the other stuff we've tried, but the tired thing is very annoying.
I hate being so tired.
It's depressing being in pain and it's even more depressing sleeping a lot.
Just not a good feeling over all.
After the boys went to school this morning, I fell back asleep and woke up at 11am.
That kind of sucked.
But I've been doing some reading and the say the tired side effects should go away in 5 days to a week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it does.
May 14, 2008
Just 2 more weeks! Ack!
I can't believe how fast this year has flown by.
The teens get out of school for the summer in just 2 weeks, on the 30th.
Can you believe that?!?
I was sitting here tonight watching Law and Order, and going through coupons for tomorrow's grocery stockpiling, and it hit me.
Just 2 more weeks to go and then they'll be here around the clock.
Sleeping, eating, playing video games.
Making messes, asking what there is to do, what's to eat, when is dinner, and making the dreaded summer statement, "Mom, I'm bored."
I'm hoping that Mark gets a call back about the applications he put in, I'm going to have him call the game store and ask if they had a chance to look it over yet, and would they be interested in an interview.
He went as far as applying, he can go a step further and show serious interest right?
I'm sitting here at my pc, and Shahiro and Kali are playing together, running all over the house, scrambling across the furniture, and then Shahiro found a spot to hide so she can dive-bomb on Kali.
Yeah, Kali will never see her hiding under that sheet.
Nope.
May 14, 2008
Remember Wednesday.
Jade has started a new weekly music blog participation meme/thing to do, and it involves music, so I'm all over that because I absolutely love music.
It's called Remember Wednesday.
You know those songs that every time you hear, you draw up a particular memory, or thoughts of a specific time in your life? Well I wanna hear about it!
The song I'm choosing for this week is Dead or Alive's You Spin me 'Round.
This song always makes me smile, laugh, and just have a really good time no matter what.
My friends and I used to request this every time we went out to a club, just so we could get on the dance floor and have a blast. We'd make total fools of ourselves, but we were having such a good time that we didn't care what anyone else thought.
I remember on one night we went out and the dj had now gotten used to us requesting this so he just started playing it and gave us the thumbs up, we hit the dance floor and were just having so much fun, when I glanced over and caught the drummer of a popular local band watching us and dancing along too.
We knew each other so it was only natural that if he was going to dance and watch us dance, that he dance with us.
I went over and grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out onto the floor with us.
One of my girlfriends was like head over heels crushing on the guy, and got super self conscious when I did that, and he could see she was a bit embarrassed that he was now with us, so he started grinding up on her and being all goofy which only caused her to be more self conscious.
I just started laughing, that was who he was, a big goof, and to he and I, it was hysterical, but to her, total mortification that the object of her crush was dancing all silly up on her.
She eventually ran from the dance floor to the bathroom where she stayed for about 15 minutes.
Hahah!
He and I just laughed about it, shared a drink while waiting for her to get over herself and come back out.
When she did, she was acting all prissy like, trying to impress him, but he was a goof, he wasn't into prissy, so he basically ignored her.
He whispered in my ear that my friend was cute, but lame, that if she could just relax and have fun, he probably would have asked her out, but she kinda blew it by acting like that.
We spent the rest of the night talking and having fun, and we left and headed for home.
I never told her what he said, it probably would have hurt her feelings or made her even more embarrassed.
But anyway, here's the video, it still makes me laugh and smile, and my my, have you seen Pete Burns in recent years?
Ouch Pete, ouch.
May 13, 2008
This commercial drives me crazy!
This is a commercial for Pediasure, the kids healthy meal replacement, add-on drink, to make sure they get the nutrients they should.
This commercial makes me want to slap that kid.
First, she's far too big to be sitting in the baby seat of the grocery cart.
Second, she's a pain in the ass.
"I don't like broccoli. I don't like chicken. I don't think I like waffles."
Yeah?
Then guess who's going to bed hungry tonight you little brat.
I know kids can be extremely picky eaters, but my mom had a rule, I have had the same rule since the boys could eat solid foods.
You eat what is on the plate in front of you, or you go without eating.
How do kids know what they like or don't like unless you put it on their plate and make them eat it?
Sebastian always said he hated broccoli without ever trying it.
Then I made it, mixed it in with some chicken Alfredo, and what do you know?
He ate it, said he liked it, and as soon as I told him he just ate broccoli, he was like oh, it's not that bad.
The faces that little girl makes, the tone of her voice, just makes me want to scream.
I complain every time I see the commercial, I get so annoyed listening to her voice, and the mother just smiles like it's no big deal.
No.
Sorry.
Tell the child to put a sock in it, she'll eat the broccoli, the chicken, and the waffles, or she'll be one very hungry little girl come bed time.
Oh, and she's big enough to walk beside the cart holding her mother's hand or the cart handle.
I've seen the commercial at least a dozen times since waking up this morning, and I just couldn't hold back anymore.
That kid is just so damn irritating.
May 12, 2008
Sailing away.
I am not a big outdoor person at all, I don't enjoy camping, hiking, trekking, any of that stuff, but my sister does, and luckily Mark's Big George does, so when I was asked to give my opinion about inflatable boats, I had to really think about it.
I like water, but not if it's over my head, I don't enjoy boating at all, you'd have to pay me and sedate me heavily to get me on cruise ship.
But the teens do enjoy that kind of stuff, and like I said, they are lucky that they have people in their lives other than me, that do.
I think an inflatable boat would be a cool thing for Mark and George to do sometime.
They have been boating several times out on the Gulf, so a small fold-away boat might be an ideal thing for them to try at some point.
George could keep it at his house folded up in the garage until they were to use it again, it wouldn't be as costly as the maintenance on the boat he currently uses, and they could go fishing and stuff like that whenever they wanted to.
Just throw it in the car, inflate it upon arrival, and off they could go.
I don't know if they've ever gone fishing from the boat, but they could if they wanted to.
I like the idea that kids who do things with their parents are less likely to get in trouble, but bein
