Big Boy Pants? Revoked.

Hey Folks-

So I moved in to my mom's house the other day. Let me just say that I'm almost 29. These two things should never be facts at the same time, but there it is.

In honor of my complete emasculation, I've instituted a new feature on the blog, starting today. I'm calling it "Big Boy Day". Essentially, it'll be Big Boy Day any time I feel particularly cool for living with my mom. I may not even say anything about it, but when you see the picture above of that tiny, angry child, you'll know... I am sitting somewhere, sucking my thumb, hoping that I may someday re-earn my big-boy pants.

Today I got home from work to find that most of the boxes of my stuff had been damaged by some water in the garage. So officially, my shit didn't even last a week before being potentially ruined by my decision to relinquish my big-boy pants in favor of saving money and attempting to build some sort of positive relationship with my mother. I didn't even spend much time thinking about all of my stuff. Just sort of took note, nodded, and went about my way. It's what I deserve.

Oh.. and as for the mom relationship status... Today's word is "TESTY".I'll be keeping you updated on that as well.

Starting in February, I'll pretty much be busy with rehearsals or the like almost every night, so I'll have a solid 3 months of being a hermit. Not much conflict should be able to arise. Of course, now that I say that she'll start each day by slapping me in the face, or something, and that'll be that.

In related news, my cats have moved in as well, and are currently dirtying themselves in the basement. They are yet to have full run of the house, as I'm not sure how they'll get along with my mom's dog, so I feel it best for them to sniff each other out under the door for a while. Disney the cat will never actually meet Cooper the dog, as she's moving in to my dad's place to fill the void left by the passing of beloved Polly last week. She's got a lot of work to do, but she's a sweet cat, so I think it'll be alright.

Pippin, I've decided, is my cross to bear. Pawning him off on someone else is the easy way out. I deserve him. It's what I get for going to the vet those 6 years ago and ignoring any one of the 5 beautiful kittens playing and sleeping and purring in the one cage, but rather being drawn to the kitten relegated to solitary confinement for being too mean to the others. As he looked at me with seething hatred, clearly plotting some nefarious act, I said "That's the cat for me!" and thus I have nobody to blame but myself for the wounds and the lack of safety he subjects me to.
Pippin is the black one. Disney the pretty, sweet looking one. She's much bigger now, as that was taken when she was but a kitten. She's also poofier.

Week 17 Football Picks... Old School Edition

Hey Folks-



In honor of the final week of the NFL regular season, I'm doing an old-school picks column. With words and everything.

First some business to take care of...

Week 15 I went 8 - 8.
Week 16 I went 7 - 9. (ouch)

That puts my season record going into the final week: 140 - 99 - 1. (FUCK-ing TIE)

Here we go...

St. Louis @ Atlanta
PICK: Alright... so first, how bout a nice hand for Matt Ryan. Locked up the Rookie of the Year by week 6 or something. Good for him. Second, I have to admit, that while I do bow down to E-Pizzy's College Football Personnel knowledge, I love it when he's wrong about someone. FALCONS

New England @ Buffalo
PICK: I know it's been said over and over, but doesn't this season with Matt-effing-Cassel show how great a coach Big Bill is? I mean... how can people question it at this point. They have a good shot to go 11 - 5 without Brady. Unbelievable. Oh...and also... PATS

Kansas City @ Cincinnati
PICK: What infuriates me most about the Bengals is that they're doing exactly what they did in the hey-dey of the Coslet-LeBeau Era. Stink and Stink and Stink and then "rise" to beat a couple of bad teams at the end. Fuck that. Fire Marvin. BENGALS

Detroit @ Green Bay
PICK: Prediction inside a prediction... If the Lions lose, the Jim Rome show on Monday morning will be one of the funniest shows in the history of radio.... So I'd get your recorders ready. PACKERS

Tennessee @ Indianapolis
PICK: My uncle Tim thinks the Colts are the team to beat in the AFC. I'm actually inclined to begrudgingly agree, though I do think the Steelers are better. I just have a feeling the Titans are one of the weakest 13-2 teams, offensively, I've ever seen and the Colts offense is one of the few that can score against the Titans. So... COLTS

New York Giants @ Minnesota
PICK: So... I haven't really checked, but I am pretty sure the Vikings have befuddled me as much or more than any other team this year, so while I'm inclined to pick the Giants in this game... I'm gonna go with the VIKES.

Carolina @ New Orleans
PICK: Dan Marino was one of my favorite players when I was younger. Maybe just because his name was Dan, as I can't really figure any other reason why I'd like him. I remember watching Bengals games and looking forward to the halftime highlights of him and Mark Duper. In any case, if there's anyone I'd like to see break his single season yards mark, it's Drew Brees. Too bad it would be in a mediocre/disappointing season. PANTHERS

Cleveland @ Pittsburgh
PICK: Pittsburgh, sadly, is my pick for the Super Bowl in the AFC. Not that they really need to try too much in this game. Of course, they don't need to try too much to win this game either. STEELERS

Oakland @ Tampa Bay
PICK: I'm impressed with the spunk of the Raiders, but the Bucs are going to be playing for a playoff spot. Going with the Pirates of Tampa here. BUCS

Chicago @ Houston
PICK: Well.. The Texans have been a pretty solid home team this year, and they''ll be fighting to get to .500. I have to admit, I'm kind of a closet Texans fan, ever since they took Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. So... TEXANS

Washington @ San Francisco
PICK: I can't get a handle on either of these teams. Seriously. They confuse the shit out of me. So I'm bringing back the coin flip... actually.. no. Wait. The Redskins LOST to the BENGALS. I'm clearly taking the NINERS.

Jacksonville @ Baltimore
PICK: Man... How pissed must the Jags fans be about this season? They thought there was all this hope and they have downright stunk for parts. I mean... they LOST to the BENGALS. The Ravens, on the other hand, have handled the Bengals twice. RAVENS.

Miami @ New York Jets
PICK: I'm making this pick strictly on how delicious payback can be. I used to love Brett Favre, but he's such a douche, I can't support him anymore. I used to respect the Jets as somewhat lovable losers who didn't factor enough for me to care. Then they picked up the aforementioned douche and dropped the oft-injured, but always good when healthy Chad Pennington. I liked him. DOLPHINS

Dallas @ Philly
PICK: Two of the most up and down teams of the season. Both have looked great and both have looked terrible at different times. I'm going with the Homies though, and picking EAGLES.

Seattle @ Arizona
PICK: Have the Cardinals become the most apathetic division winners in history. They start off so, so strong, and have sort of won a war of attrition with the rest of their crappy-ass division. I can't imagine that the Seahawks, who should have been better but for some injuries won't be bringing the pride to this one. SEAHAWKS.

Denver @ San Diego
PICK: What's wrong with the Western divisions? They're ridiculous. Neither team is any good, but I'd probably go with the Broncos in this one, just because I can't forgive the Chargers for getting rid of Brees for the overrated Phil Rivers. BRONCOS.

Later folks.

A Holiday Movie List

Hey Folks-

Briana's boyfriend, Drew, posted his movie Top 5 lists on a different website, and it seemed like a fun type thing to do, so I'm gonna post my own.

So in any case, Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or whatever you do or don't celebrate.

Oh...and Thanks Drew for giving me a fun thing I write on a lazy day. (The categories are his...mostly.)

Top 5 Comedies:

1. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
2. Wedding Crashers
3. Anchorman: the Legend Of Ron Burgundy
4. Bowfinger
5. Groundhog Day

Top 5 Drama's:

1. Unforgiven
2. Children of Men
3. American Beauty
4. Goodfellas
5. Road to Perdition

Top 5 Horror:

1. The Shining
2. The Exorcist
3. Dimensia 13
4. Halloween (original)
5. Scream

Top 5 Sci-Fi:

1. Back to the Future
2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Unbreakable
4. Dark City
5. A Clockwork Orange

Top 5 Disney ( I can't help but think Drew put this in here JUST to get me to respond):

1. Peter Pan
2. The Lion King
3. The Little Mermaid
4. Hercules
5. Fantasia

Top 5 Foreign:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. The Seven Samurai
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. 8 1/2
5. Ran

Top 5 Romance (chick flicks, but without the bad connotations):

1. Almost Famous
2. The Notebook
3. Sleepless in Seattle
4. Jerry McGuire
5. Pretty Woman

Top 5 Documentaries:

1. American Movie
2. The Thin Blue Line
3. Grizzly Man
4. When We Were Kings
5. Hoop Dreams

Top 5 Action (New Category)
1. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. The Dark Knight
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. Kill Bill vol. 1

Top 5 Fantasy (New Category)
1. The Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers
2. Ghostbusters
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. The Princess Bride
5. The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King

Top 5 War Movies (New Category)
1. Braveheart
2. Full Metal Jacket
3. Apocalypse Now
4. Saving Private Ryan
5. Tropic Thunder

Top 5 Sports Movies (new Category)
1. Cool Runnings
2. Rudy
3. Hoosiers
4. Rocky IV
5. Seabiscuit

Top 5 Steve Martin Movies: (Kinda random, Drew)

1. Bowfinger
2. Three Amigos
3. The Spanish Prisoner
4. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
5. L.A. Story

Top 5 Directors:

1. Kubrick
2. Scorsese
3. Coen Brothers
4. Wes Anderson
5. Spielberg

Top 5 Christmas Movies

1) Christmas Vacation
2) The Family Stone
3) A Christmas Story
4) Miracle on 34th Street
5) It's a Wonderful Life

Top 5 All Time Favorites (This is really impossible. Seriously)

1. Peter Pan
2. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
3. Unforgiven
4. Unbreakable
5. The Lion King

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Who Knew Hamsters Were So Hilarious?

Hey Folks-

When I was in Colorado a couple of weeks ago, I had some time on my hands to check out the new Disney movie Bolt. I would be lying if I told you that I'd been on the edge of my seat in anticipation for it's release, and there were a couple of reasons for that:

1) While I've liked a couple of the non-Pixar computer animated Disney Films (Meet the Robinsons was great, actually), a couple of the others were downright dumb (The Wild, Chicken Little [thank you Zach Braff]). Even the good ones weren't on par with the brilliance of almost any of the Pixar films.

2) I can not stress this enough... I hate me some John Travolta. I think he's creepy and weird and gross and untalented and a lunatic. Much of my perception of him as a human being (the gross, weird, and crazy part) stems from his inexplicable affiliate with the Sci-fi cult known as Scientology... There's just something really unsettling about those people. Still... Scientologist or not, he's a pretty weak actor. This didn't bode well for a film where he voiced the main character.

3) The trailers didn't inspire me at all.

4) I will admit that as much as I LOVE Disney and Disney movies, I've never felt all that rushed to see the animated ones when they opened. In fact I never did see Cars in the theater. Or The Wild. Or Chicken Little. I guess I just don't feel like they lose much going from big to small screen.

That said? Bolt was great.

Here are a few reasons why...

1) The trailers did not do justice to what turned out to be a really funny (and also kinda dark) script. The movie was a satire of the television/film industry masked as a kids movie about a dog. The story was a thinly veiled ripping of an industry with it's priorities out of wack. primadonna talent (cats), heartless agents, money hungry execs. Still... even without the in-humor, the script still stands up. The themes of heroism and loyalty are universal and couldn't apply better than when told through the story of a dog.

2) The supporting players were all excellent. Clearly the best was Rhino the Hamster (voiced by Mark Walton). That little guy is hilarious in every scene in which he appears as the blindly brave, super round rodent who lives and fights from within a plastic hamster ball. The crux of his character is that he derives his bravery from the adoration he feels toward Bolt himself, and where many other films would leave him disappointed in Bolt at some point, the movie takes the other route and allows Rhino to remain in awe of his hero, even as Bolt himself goes through his identity crisis. In fact, it's Rhino's unwavering faith that provides Bolt the boost that he needs in the end.

3) Travolta and Miley Cyrus were both actually pretty good. As much as it pains me to say it... John Travolta was pretty damned good as Bolt. There were even points where I even forgot that Xenu was in the building at all. Dare I say it... John Travolta may have found his new niche (his old one being that of a disco loving greaser or something). It's possible that the voice work allows him to use his voice (his one inoffensive asset) and also allows him to hide everything else (the offensive ones). I wasn't really surprised to see Miley do well, but you know... it's hard to tell what kind of talent that girl has. I even like their duet.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give Bolt a solid 4. Totally worth checking it out, and I'm almost definitely going to get the DVD now. (Like I wasn't.)

On the note of DVDs... Why does Blu-Ray have to exist, and not only exist but be awesome? WHY? I have so, so many DVDs and soon enough it'll be considered antiquated technology. Not only that, but the fucking Blu Rays are effing expensive. Do you know how long it's going to take me to rebuild my Disney DVD collection in BluRay? A long effing time. And then they'll come out with something else like X-Ray or Disc-Tech or some bullshit. One thing that's for sure? Disney'll be raking in new money on re-releases in perpetuity. Fucking technology.

Quick mid-move Football Picks

The thing I hate most about the NFL, and the reason our picks get derailed toward the end every year is that the stupid league starts having games every fucking day. So far, we've had 3 non-Sunday games this week. Ee had a game Monday (technically last week), Thursday and Saturday.

In any case for the Thursday game I picked the Jags in my trusty memo field over to the right. Tonight I verbally picked the Ravens (Alan picked the Cowboys) and here I go with the rest...

BENGALS (I know!)
SAINTS
STEELERS
MIAMI
(4 road teams so far)
RAMS
PATRIOTS
BUCS
JETS
TEXANS
BRONCOS
EAGLES
FALCONS
GIANTS
PACKERS

I'll have to tabulate later. And depending on how busy work is, I may post my review of "Bolt" finally.

The Pilgrimage

Hey Folks-

The time has come. Well maybe not THE time, but at least now I know when THE time is.

2 months from today I shall once again be basking in the beautiful glow of Walt Disney World. In fact... 2 months from this past Saturday. February 13th through February 16. It's going to be awesome!

Why those dates? Disney in their infinite awesomeness has decided to grant us the greatest gift any person could ask for. Free Admission on your birthday. I know... I know... it's too good to be true. I thought so too, but I've looked around and done my research and it would seem that it's real. On February 16, 2009 I will be entering a Disney Park FREE OF CHARGE. It's one of my greatest dreams. I'm not kidding.

So here's my dilemma...

On which park should I use my free birthday admission?

The arguments for each are as follows:

The Magic Kingdom: Mostly this would be symbolic. It's the flagship park. It was the purest of Walt's visions (well... EPCOT was probably his pet, but Magic Kingdom started it all.). Also, since the birthday pass can't be used as a park-hopper, it's logical to use it at one of the parks that can literally take a whole day to enjoy.

Epcot: Probably my favorite of the parks, if pressed. It's the other park that can take a whole day.

Animal Kingdom: Not really an option, as I see it. I love it just as I love the others, but it seems like a waste for my birthday pass.

Hollywood Studios: Ditto.

Anyone have thoughts on that?

The other option is that I don't use it for entry, but rather I get a "Birthday Fun Card" which is good for merchandise and whatnot in the parks in an amount similar to a park admission. That appeals to me for sure.

There are so many decisions left to be made. I'm staying at The Pop Century. It'll be the first time I've stayed on property since January of 2005 (4 trips ago) and it'd even been a while before that. I'm interested to see what this one is like.

Oh... and despite my free flights, I'm gonna drive. It sounds crazy, but flying standby is a great benefit if you don't have places to be, but I'm not risking a minute of my Disney time with flight issues. And I'd have to rent a car there anyway, so the cost isn't much different.

More to come on this...and maybe when I'm not working or packing I'll write about "Bolt".

Slackers and Football

Hey Folks-

So I'm moving next week. I'm not going far, but packing is taking up much time nonetheless. Sorry for the laziness. I promise to do better coming up.

Gotta put up the football picks... First off the record update.
I went 9 and 7 the week before last and I was 13 and 3 from Colorado (Interesting how my 2 best weeks have been while I've been away.)
That makes me 125-82-1. (fucking tie)

Here's this week:
FALCONS
REDSKINS
RAMS
DOLPHINS
BILLS
COLTS
CHARGERS
PACKERS
TITANS
CARDINALS
PANTHERS
RAVENS
PATRIOTS
GIANTS
EAGLES

Sorry this sucks. Hopefully I'll have a little time to blog tomorrow.

Football Picks from the Tundra

Hey Folks-

This is going to be a quick one. Just the winners for this week:

BEARS
VIKINGS
PACKERS
TITANS
COLTS
SAINTS
GIANTS
BRONCOS (I'm curious to see what it's like on game day in Denver)
DOLPHINS
JETS
PATRIOTS
CARDINALS
STEELERS
RAVENS
PANTHERS

I'll tabulate upon my return on Monday. I'll also post my thoughts on "Bolt". Not nearly as Travoling as I expected. Quite enjoyable actually.

Greetings from the Tundra

I'm in Colorado right now, enjoying my holiday, but I wanted to post my Thursday football game pick:

CHARGERS.

Also... I saw Bolt last night, and it was awesome. Totally better than I expected, and frankly... the best thing Travolta has done in years. He's such an idiot it's hard for me to admit liking him, but I think being the voice of a cartoon is right in his wheel house.

Let the menstruation begin; My Twilight Blog

Hey Folks-

I consider myself relatively well read, or at least knowledgable regarding current phenomena and popular culture type thingys. That said, I didn't really know anything about the Twilight Saga (books) until earlier this year when the 2 stars made the cover of Entertainment Weekly. I still didn't pay it much mind. It's actually very similar to how I was totally in the dark about Harry Potter. I only vaguely knew it existed until right before the 4th book was released, and then suddenly it seemed to be everywhere.

How I Came to Read the Saga

So I was in the dark regarding Twilight (ba dum bum), and then I went to dinner with my friend Jill and she mentioned that I should check it out as it would make good reading for the long plane rides to Rome and back. So... I bought the first book (Twilight), and started reading it lightly before the trip, finding myself really enjoying it, and also realizing that despite it's girth, it was a quick read. I'd clearly be finished with it way too early into the plane ride. Jill then loaned me the second book (New Moon) right before I left. Surely, I thought, that would be enough to get me through. I packed both giant books and headed to Rome.

Well... about 2 hours into my 6 hour layover in New York (on the way) I was more than halfway done with book 1, and I decided to buy book 3 (Eclipse) at the airport. Now I have 1700 pages worth of Vampire fiction to satiate me on my trip to Italy (featured in book 2, oddly enough). Hard to say that I was wrong, exactly, as I plowed through book 1 on the plane, and most of book 2. I finished book 2 completely during my stay, and I got about halfway through book 3 before even heading for the airport home. because of that, I had to borrow book 4 (Breaking Dawn) from my sister's roommate (Thanks Sarah!). I actually almost made it through that before getting back to Cincinnati as well.

The last portion of the Saga is, of course, Midnight Sun. Stephenie Meyer started re-writing Twilight from Edward's point of view and stopped writing after the first 12 chapters were leaked. It's available on her website, and I killed the remaining couple of days before the movie's release by reading that. I liked it more than I liked any of the others, so of course it stands to reason that she'd just stop writing it.

The Books... a question and answer.

Are they actually GOOD?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that they ARE good. Not just addictive in that same way that a showing of Cat People on AMC will suck you in, despite it's general shittiness. That's not to say that I think it's particularly well written, but if you look at the 4 books as a whole, I think the story is strong.

That said, I think Stephenie Meyer is a pretty bad writer. How is this possible? Well... I think the story and the writing are basically two separate things. She's like George Lucas, in a way, in that the story is good and interesting, and the characters are cool, but she really needed someone else to put a stronger voice to the actual writing. There's a lot of repetition. I honestly think that there's a cumulative 100 pages of the series dedicated to how the Cullens look. That'd be one thing if she'd been expansive in a more specific way, but it's usually the same things. There are repeated actions (Every kissing sequence in books 1-3, every time anyone smells anything, the incessant inner monologue regarding Jacob).

Sounds like I don't like them, but basically it amounts to me being more interested in plot and character than I am about the cadence of the prose. In fact, I almost think that too creative a narrative voice would have distracted from the flow. I certainly can't complain about the readability. In that the plot is the driving determiner in whether I think a story is good, Twilight is good.

Oh...and hey... The books are not meant for me. I read a review of the book that called it "Essentially professional fanfic." and that's not far from the truth. She's writing a mash letter to these characters. That's allowed. It's a good read.

What bothers me about the books?
Well... There wasn't a lot that really bothered me, but there are a couple of things...
1) Edward is portrayed as being pretty much perfect. Supermodel looks, a genius (or just someone with a perfectly sharp mind and 90 years to gain knowledge), amazing will-power, extra super-powers, all that. That's not what bothers me... Stephenie Meyer didn't really give him any flaws at all, except that he's possibly overprotective...so... why create the conflict within Bella that flows all throughout Book 3? I mean... I get that Jacob was there for her in Book 2 and I get that for some reason she loves him. I also think that the outcome was sort of a foregone conclusion, so why prolong this "triangle" when the time could have been used to flesh out backstory.
2) The love between Edward and Bella is great and all, but jeebus was it fast. It went from confusion to outright "forever yours" in like 16 seconds. I can't recall what chapter it was, but it was after the dinner in Port Angeles...they've been in eachother's company for like.. 2 hours and she's saying she's "completely and irrevocably in love with him." I mean... yikes. So intense it kinda creeps me out. And it never really waivered at all. In the second book, the girl literally puts herself into dangerous situations just to hallucinate his voice. God. On the other hand, I again realize this book was written for people who would find that sort of blind, blazing love to be romantic and they're not wrong.

Who's my favorite character?
That's a tough one, but I think I'll have to go with Jasper Cullen. Personally, I'd prefer to just read about the Cullens anyway, and he seems to be the most damaged. Damage is interesting to read. He's also one of the more fleshed out of the vampires. (No pun intended). His backstory is interesting. And I think Alice is the one I'd most like to hang out with, and they're all soul matey and stuff.

Are the Harry Potter comparisons apt?
While I see what people are saying... I'm gonna say they're not really that comparable. Except that they are both these huge deals with teens, and there is that magical element to both. The main differences are along those same lines.
-- Where Harry Potter has a much more universal appeal.. it's grander in scale, it takes place over a larger number of years and places. The story is more adventure and less romance.. Twilight is very focused in who it was written for and who it most appeals to. I mean... My DAD read and enjoyed Harry Potter, and while he'd probably read Twilight just because he reads constantly, and there are vampires, I'm not quite as sure he'd like it.
-- The writing in Harry Potter is better, generally. Rowling was pretty raw at the beginning, but you sort of get the feeling that she gave herself time to grow. There were 10 years or something between Book 1 and Book 7. On the other hand, Stephenie Meyer wrote all 4 Twilight books in a 3 year period, so she didn't have a lot of time to self improve.
-- The magic in Harry Potter is more... magical. The magic in Twilight is more incidental. In fact, there's rarely even mention of "magic" itself, and it's more of a thing that isn't really understood.

Really I think that Harry Potter has some real cultural staying power. The movies are huge. The books are all enormous best sellers. It seems to have permeated the lexicon a bit more completely.

The Movie... Yay or Nay?
I liked it well enough, but I think they REALLY have to put more money into the next ones. I really liked the casting (Edward and Bella specifically). They did a great job with an average script. The biggest issue was definitely the special effects, and well.. they weren't good. There are basically 3 truly important effects in the whole movie. The car crash where Edward saves Bella, the running through the woods, and the "sparkle Edward".
The car crash was done well enough. In fact, really well.
The running is just weird. I don't know how to make it look better, but it looked blocky. I don't know how else to describe it. Maybe it's just the mechanics of this exact type of effect, because one of the very few effects in Lord of the Rings that I didn't like was when Merry and Pippin were being carried on the backs of the Uruk-Hai. You could tell that it was a combo of dolls and tiny stunt people. I dunno... It's gotta be fixed
The "Sparkle Edward" is such a HUGE deal in the book. I mean... Stephenie Meyer describes the "diamonds" over and over and over and over and over. And poor Robert Pattinson just looked like he'd put on some glitter. It was bad bad bad.
I think the larger budget that's been promised for New Moon will be helpful, but I'm still worried. The effects in New Moon are way more difficult. You have werewolves. You have to do chases through Italy. And the Volturi stuff... it's all just MORE. Harry Potter made huge strides between movie 1 and movie 2 in terms of effects. Hopefully so will Twilight. I don't know if it has the power to hold the audiences otherwise.

Okay... I'm done talking about this. There's a lot more I could say. I tried to keep less spoilery. Let me know what you think.

Some sort of Milestone

Hey Folks!

Happy 2nd Day after Thanksgiving!

Anyway, I wanted to post my football picks for tomorrow's games and touch on some other minor things, but first... A celebration of this blog.

I started this particular blog in June. Sort of as a more publicly available alternative to my MySpace blog that for work reasons has to remain private. Plus, not everyone has MySpace and let's be honest here... My words are meant for a larger audience. Well... I believe that last night I finally achieved some sort of actually cool milestone.

Take a good look at the image above. Notice anything? As of last night my blog has been visited by people on 6 different continents. When that poor sap in Brisbane, Australia went onto Google searching for tattoos and came across this... well... I must admit that I'm thrilled. I feel bad for that guy, because I'm sure that it didn't provide him with the Japanese character for "Whale's Vagina" that he was looking for, but it sure makes me feel special.

In case you're curious, there's been 1 blog entry in particular that has garnered the most random visitors to my page. This one. I'd rather not venture a guess as to what they were looking for. I'd say it's fairly obvious.

So anyway, that made my day today. Also making news is the University of Cincinnati football team, who won the Big East yesterday. It's the Bearcat's first outright conference title of any kind in something like 40 years and they officially will represent the Big East in the BCS game, which is certainly the biggest deal, football-wise, in school history. I love this team. It's fun to watch, they've got a great coach, and for once football is strong in Cincinnati. In fact, Elder High School will be playing for the state title today as well. Go Cincinnati sports!

Here we go with my NFL Picks...

Last week I went 8-8 bringing my overall record to 104-72-1 (fucking tie)

I'm 2-1 on Thanksgiving.

San Francisco @ Buffalo
PICK: BILLS

Baltimore @ Cincinnati
PICK: RAVENS

Indianapolis @ Clevland
PICK: COLTS

Carolina @ Green Bay
PICK: PANTHERS

Miami @ St. Louis
PICK: RAMS

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay
PICK: SAINTS

New York Giants @ Washington
PICK: GIANTS

Atlanta @ San Diego
PICK: FALCONS

Pittsburgh @ New England
PICK: PATRIOTS

Denver @ New York Jets
PICK: JETS

Kansas City @ Oakland
PICK: RAIDERS

Chicago @ Minnesota
PICK: VIKINGS

Jacksonville @ Houston
PICK: TEXANS

I promise to finish my post on Twilight this weekend some time. Then I'll be out of town for most of next week, so the posting will be "as available".

Thanksgiving Day Football

BLAH!

Tennessee @ Detroit
PICK: TITANS

Seattle @ Dallas
PICK: COWBOYS

Arizona @ Philadelphia
PICK: CARDINALS.

Also... what the eff are the Eagles/Cardinals doing on Thanksgiving?

Week 12 Football Picks

Hey Folks-

So, here we are. Another Sunday. Seems like these picks are never ending. I know. Yesterday was a good day though. The UC Bearcats won in both basketball (not really a big deal, importance-wise) and football (possibly the biggest win in Bearcats football history). Also, I hung out with some good peoples and met my friend Angie's awesome new puppy, Hank. He's the coolest.

So, here I am on a Sunday, waiting for the NFL to start, and for once not having a ridiculous Bengals game to possibly fuck up my mood. It's kinda nice. Must be what it's like in heaven.

Last week I went 9-6-1. That's right... a fucking tie. I'm going to make an executive decision and say that any time 2 teams tie, the picker takes the tie as well. You can't account for horrible coaching and execution to that degree. Nobody could predict a tie. My overall record is:

96-64-1. I want to punch the Bengals in the face for that "1".

I'm already 1-0 out of the gate this week by picking the Steelers, not that I went too far out on that limb.

Tampa Bay @ Detroit
PICK: BUCS. Every instinct tells me that I should pick the Lions, but I'm not going to. I can't bring myself to it.

New York Jets @ Tennessee
PICK: TITANS. I'd like to see the Titans keep winning. It's good for the Bengals to see that a team can be rebuilt quickly. This 20 Year Plan thing is killing me.

Buffalo @ Kansas City
PICK: CHIEFS (I know... probably shouldn't, but the Bills have sort of been falling apart for a while.

Chicago @ St. Louis
PICK: BEARS. I honestly am so pissed at both of these teams. Last week I picked them both to win, and both got their asses handed to them. Not cool.

New England @ Miami
PICK: DOLPHINS. I like Dolphins as much as the next guy, but isn't it a little weird to name your football team after them. I mean... they're not exactly fierce. 10 year old girls collect dolphin stickers. Wouldn't the Miami Leatherskins be better? Or the Miami Transvestites? (Never, EVER cross a transvestite)

Minnesota @ Jacksonville
PICK: JAGS. Both of these teams should be better than they are.

Philadelphia @ Baltimore
PICK: RAVENS. I hope you're happy Eagles. I had to hear Cincinnati fans gloating all week. Over a god-damned TIE. Fuckers.

Houston @ Cleveland
PICK: BROWNS. I think Brady Quinn might know how to play a little. Maybe.

San Francisco @ Dallas
PICK: COWBOYS. For the record; I don't believe the "Tony Romo takes a bum to the movies" story. That didn't happen. Stop buying in to the lies.

Oakland @ Denver
PICK: BRONCOS. I can't figure out the Broncos at all.

Washington @ Seattle
PICK: 'SKINS. Or the Redskins for that matter.

New York Giants @ Arizona
PICK: CARDINALS. Is the Rolle kid from Florida State that just got the Rhodes Scholarship a member of the Rolle family? I mean... the NFL Rolle Family? I'm just impressed by that in general. Also, I think the Cardinals have a shot at going to the Super Bowl.

Carolina @ Atlanta
PICK: PANTHERS. I picked the Falcons last week and they fucked me. May as well give them a shot to do it again.

Indianapolis @ San Diego
PICK: COLTS. Anybody else noticing the Colts are close to being back at the top of the AFC again? The Titans are throwing everyone off the scent, but it's happening. It's happening.

Green Bay @ New Orleans
PICK: SAINTS. Aaron Rogers is having a great year as what amounts to being a rookie. He'll be dangerous for a long time, but the Saints are decent at home, and Brees should get MVP consideration. He may be my favorite player right now.

A Birthday of Sorts

Hey Folks-

I'm pretty tired, so this one's gonna be short.


Yesterday was the 80th Anniversary of Steamboat Willie. The first animated film with syncronized sound. Most people don't know that Plane Crazy was the first Mickey cartoon, but many would argue that the medium was truly born with Steamboat Willie. So... here's to you, Walt Disney, for creating something so enduring that it's anniversary is noted 80 years after the fact.

Just to leave you with a quote from the man himself:

"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
-- Walt Disney

Or, you know... for the weirder among us:

"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known. "
-- Walt Disney

The Rome Blog

Hey Folks-

So... one of the reasons it's taken me over a week to discuss my trip to Rome is that the whole thing happened so fast and was over so fast and yet I saw so, so much. It's taken me a bit of time to process it, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure that I've processed it fully just yet.

Still... I've been slacking on blog entries, and the trip to Rome was a big part of the reason why. Also, it was cool and I have lots of stuff to tell you... In no particular order or coherance:

-- Do everything you can to sleep on the plane. Seriously. The 6 hour time change will fuck you up. My flight departed around 5:30PM on Thursday and I got in around 8 AM on Friday. It's very disconcerting to skip night time altogether. It was light out when the plane took off, they had the shades closed on the plane, and when we got into Italy it was light out. Basically it was like living in Alaska. And I was so, soooo tired by around 5 in the afternoon. I ended up sleeping from 5PM to 7:30AM on Saturday. Just sayin'... be prepared.

-- Traffic is awesome. See, the thing is, in America we're soft. We're cushy. We follow the rules. Not so much in Italy. First off, there are very very few big cars. I drive a 4-door Honda Accord and my car would not fit into most parking spaces. I don't recall seeing a single SUV. Most of the cars around the place are like those little Smart Cars. Tiny. And there are all of these Vespas and Vespa-like scooters. And they're insane. The scooters zip around all willy nilly. The cars park on the curbs and they smack into eachother to make more room places. The buses (of the public transportation variety) are apparently allowed to do whatever they want. There was at least one instance of me being completely ignored by a bus that decided not to stop. Oh... And the best thing about the traffic? There's an unspoken agreement between pedestrians and traffic where the pedestrian will be allowed to cross any street at any time as long as they can get themselves across said street without being plowed down by the totally un-slowed oncoming cars. It's great because nobody waits. Everyone has full accountability.

-- The most amazing single thing I saw? St. Peter's Basilica. It's at The Vatican, which is awesome in itself. St Peter's is the largest church I've ever seen, and not by a little. It's effing HUGE. Like... I've been to some pretty large churches in my time that would literally fit INSIDE St. Peter's. So really, just the scope of the structure itself is incredible. If you add to that the dozens and dozens of priceless statues. The paintings. The mummified remains of popes. (that's right). The place is this crazy combination of pure majesty of faith (even if you're not particularly spiritual) and artistry and kinda creepy pack-rattedness (I mean... dead popes... right there.) I didn't even get to see the museum (Sistine Chapel) because it was closed the Sunday I was there. It's almost worth it to me to go back to Rome just to finish seeing the Vatican.

-- The strangest thing? The ruins near the Pantheon (another totally amazing place) where all of these cats live. Dozens of them. It's adorable and fun and cool and there are tons of cats.

-- I may be the only person who could go to Rome, one of the World's capitals of Cuisine, and LOSE weight. I lost 7 pounds in the 3 days I was there. The main reason is that since my surgery I still have a pretty difficult time eating things like bread and meats and pasta. That makes eating almost anything in Italy pretty difficult. I'm not saying I didn't try. I had some good melon on my first day. The mixed cheese plate included some of the best parmesan cheese I've ever had. I had some pretty rockin' gnocchi. Still... it was rough. And kinda torturous. Fucking pizzas were everywhere. Yes... pizzas were literally having sex with each other. It was crazy.

-- While hostels are cool and very inexpensive... they are not to be entirely trusted. On my first night, someone parted me with about 30 Euros while I slept. On the other hand, I met some really cool folks and I learned the rules of Crickett and taught an Australian girl the rules of Baseball. A true demonstration of diplomacy. (though Crickett is nearly incomprehensible)

-- I think my favorite single thing was this little fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps. I know it's kinda weird, with everything in this amazing city splayed out for all to see, but this little fountain of a boat that has sprung a leak just has so much character and grace and whimsy. It makes me feel like there was a sense of humor, even back when all of these masters were creating these incredible works of art. Occasionally they just wanted to make a boat. I love that fountain.

-- There's something really cool about being in a place that has seen so much. If you're in America and something is "old" it's like... 150 years old. In Rome it's like... 2500 years old. That thing has this huge historical footprint. And everything there is like that. I love that you can walk down the street and end up passing some little fresco on the wall of some building that's 500 years old. I love that these little churches or buildings have been standing for longer than the world even knew America (AS A LAND MASS) existed.

-- Lastly for this blog, I think it's really pretty amazing to see the power of the Catholic Church demonstrated for you in such definitive ways. I mean the organization, not the religion. The best example I can give is the Pantheon and the aforementioned ruins with the cats. The original structures were built around the same time. Within a hundred years or so...and one of the structures was sort of commandeered by the Catholic church and one wasn't. Can you guess which building is still standing and in perfect, pristine condition and which one is...well... a ruins? You see that kind of thing EVERYWHERE. Secular structures are falling down. Churches from the same time period are perfect. It's very interesting.

(In case you wondered... that's a Pope.... from the 1600s.)

-- Oh... for real the last thing... Flying Business Class is pretty effing awesome.

In any case, I had an awesome time. It was so cool to see my sister having such an amazing experience and really taking the reins in a pretty material way. She was the one leading, and that's for sure. She had that shit on lock. And I only embarassed us once or twice with me sad attempts at even the most basic Italian.

Week 11 Football Pickzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hey Folks-

I know... I know... I've gotten boring. That's okay though... I promise to make up for it soon with a big post about Rome and probably a Disney post or two. Actually.... I hate to admit this here, but I'll probably write something about Twilight. You know... the book series aimed at tween girls who fantasize grossly about being bitten by a vampire. Well... I like it so shut the fuck up.

In any case, those are all in the works, but work has gotten busier and perhaps will continue to do so, though I can say that I was cast as Charlie Brown in "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and that is awesome.

Anyway, here are the football picks, since they're required. I seem to get this way around this time every season where I kinda don't care anymore, but it would be too weird to have done it so religiously up until now and then just stop. So...onward.

2 weeks ago (November 2) I went 8 and 6
Last week, with my sister's help, I went 12 and 2 (hilarious)
That puts my overall record at 87-58

Here we go
Denver @ Atlanta
PICK: FALCONS

Philadelphia @ Cincinnati
PICK: EAGLES

Chicago @ Green Bay
PICK: BEARS

Houston @ Indianapolis
PICK: COLTS

New Orleans @ Kansas City
PICK: SAINTS

Oakland @ Miami
PICK: DOLPHINS

Baltimore @ New York Giants
PICK: GIANTS

Minnesota @ Tampa Bay
PICK: BUCS

Detroit @ Carolina
PICK: PANTHERS

St Louis @ San Francisco
PICK: RAMS

Arizona @ Seattle
PICK: CARDINALS

San Diego @ Pittsburgh
PICK: STEELERS

Tennessee @ Jacksonville
PICK: TITANS

Dallas @ Washington
PICK: 'SKINS

Cleveland @ Buffalo
PICK: BILLS

Pick 1 for Week whatever

Hey Folks-

Things have been totally insane lately, which explains the lack of posts. I will be writing later on tonight about my trip and some other stuff, but I've gotta get my Thursday night NFL pick:

New York Jets @ New England
PICK: PATRIOTS.

More later.

Week 10 Football Picks (Rome Edition)

Hey Folks-

So here's the quickest football picks you'll ever see. I'm writing this from Briana's apartment in Rome, and I don't want to monopolize her computer. In any case, here we go...

Thursday:

Denver @ Cleveland

PICK: BRONCOS (I have to forfeit this one though, since the game already happened)

Sunday

New Orleans @ Atlanta

PICK: FALCONS

Tennesee @ Chicago

PICK: TITANS

Jacksonville @ Detroit

PICK: JAGUARS

Seattle @ Miami

PICK: SEAHAWKS **

Green Bay @ Minnesota

PICK: VIKINGS

Buffalo @ New England

PICK: PATRIOTS **

St Louis @ New York Jets

PICK: JETS **

Baltimore @ Houston

PICK: TEXANS

Carolina @ Oakland

PICK: PANTHERS **

Indianapolis @ Pittsburgh

PICK: COLTS **

Kansas City @ San Diego

PICK: CHARGERS **

New York Giants @ Philadelphia

PICK: GIANTS **

San Francisco @ Arizona

PICK: CARDINALS

Note.. any pick with a "**" next to it was selected by my sister, Briana. Let's see how she does.

Week 9 Football Picks

Hey Folks-

Life continues to be hectic, so here are the football picks as quickly as I can put them up. Sad how Things are getting looser and looser up in this bitch... That's what she... nevermind.

New York Jets @ Buffalo
PICK: BILLS

Detroit @ Chicago
PICK: BEARS

Jacksonville @ Cincinnati
PICK: JAGUARS

Baltimore @ Cleveland
PICK: BROWNS

Green Bay @ Tennessee
PICK: TITANS

Tampa Bay @ Kansas City
PICK: BUCS

Arizona @ St. Louis
PICK: RAMS

Houston @ Minnesota
PICK: VIKINGS

Miami @ Denver
PICK: BRONCOS

Atlanta @ Oakland
PICK: FALCONS

Dallas @ New York Giants
PICK: GIANTS

Philadephia @ Seattle
PICK: EAGLES

New England @ Indianapolis
PICK: PATRIOTS

Pittsburgh @ Washington
PICK: STEELERS

Last week...didn't go well for me. I was 8-6 which brings my season record to 67-50. Pretty mediocre this far in.

A Little Bit 'O' Nostalgia

Hey Folks-

I had dinner with an old friend tonight, and she got me thinking about days gone by. Where I come from. How I've become the person I am. Any sort of in-depth examination of that kind of thing for me will inevitably turn up the origins of my Disney obsession. Please forgive the following ramble. I don't know where it's gonna go.

In the Summer of 1993 my Dad, step-mom, and I went to Florida. I'd never been before, and we went for a good long time. We went to Jacksonville to visit Dee Anne's brother. I still remember that vacation as the best vacation I've ever taken. The centerpiece of the vacation was a 4 day excursion to Walt Disney World right smack in the middle. I remember getting off of I-4 for the first time by the Magic Kingdom, and seeing that sign...

I just remember being so excited. I don't really even know why. It's not like I was a huge Disney fan before then. I remember the EPCOT Center commercials where Mickey stood on top of Spaceship Earth, waving. I remember hearing stories from Dee Anne about how much fun it was. I'd always heard of Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean and Hall of Presidents, but really I was pretty much a noob. (Looking back, it's hard to even imagine not knowing anything about the place past those little snippets.)

I just remember being excited.

We stayed at Dixie Landings, which has since been absorbed into what is now Port Orleans: Riverside. It's this sort of Anti-Bellum style hotel on Disney property. It was the coolest place I'd ever stayed. I'd never been to a themed hotel. I'd barely stayed anywhere but a Holiday Inn. The place was just so detailed and so... theatrical. I think that's really where Disney got me. Not just with the hotel, but with everything. There was this perfect "Theatricality" to everything about the place.

I remember that we went to Magic Kingdom first. Robert (Dee Anne's brother), my Dad, and I all raced to Space Mountain. I admit that I was absolutely terrified, as I hate roller coasters, but I still went on. Same with Big Thunder later in the day. I remember waiting in line for Pirates the first time. And riding It's a Small World with Dee Anne (and being more terrified on that thing than any roller coaster. I still am, actually. Good lord.).

The thing about Disney World is that it's timeless. Updates are made all the time... There's been something new each time I've ever gone. But there's still the People Mover, which has been there since the beginning and makes me do nothing but smile and think of Dee Anne. There's still Rio del Tiempo.

I could go on and on about that first trip, but it's really just the start of the story. That trip started an obsession that has grown with every year and every return. In 1994 Dee Anne and I started our tradition of going to Alfredo's (sadly, that tradition is just a memory. Alfredo's closed this year and was replaced with a new Italian Restaurant.)
1998 brought Downtown Disney and The Rainforest Cafe (and the China Island Chicken Salad)
2000 brought Disney Christmases and the beginning of my greatest obsession, the pins.

Ever since then it's been like a snowball down a hill. I've been several times since then, and I've seen new things like Philharmagic and Everest and Festival of the Lion King and Soarin'. I've learned more about Walt Disney himself. I've developed a sense of the details that still astounds me to this day.

Basically... And I know I could go on forever.... Disney World has housed my favorite memories. I know it has more in store. The following are a few pictures from my recent visits. Things that make me smile and that make Disney so magical for me... Please enjoy.

The Muchacho with Mickey



They made Mulan right here.

The Muchacho with the Chipmunks. Totally sweet.

My all-time favorite Hidden Mickey on the floor of the Polynesian Hotel

The amazing Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Disney Christmas is the best kind of Christmas there is.

The Muchacho with an Old Pirate at Downtown Disney.

The beautiful nightime at Epcot.

Dad and Briana in front of Everest. Pretty freakin' awesome.

The Muchacho with a Muchacho.