Tuesday, December 28, 2010

another movie review by the highly unqualified!


true grit - 2.5/5
me and cvd went and saw true grit last night at some luxury mall in atlanta. what could possibly go wrong? coen brothers. western. bridges, damon, and brolin. that should be a friggin amazing movie. but oh no. it was not. i didn't care a lick about a single character in that movie, except for MAYBE bridges's, rooster cogburn. everyone else was one dimensional, and if they lived or died, didn't matter.

admittedly, i came into this with high expectations, because of all the stuff mentioned above. when i left, i felt like the coen brothers had ripped me off. there was at least one shining star, lucky ned pepper played by barry pepper. loved his character, wish there was more screen time.

other things that bothered me:
lots of humor thrown in, maybe too much. little too much pedophilia with damon's character. course ANY pedophilia is too much, so there's that. no character development. eh.

and i still think unforgiven is the modern western all others should be compared to.

if you haven't seen true grit yet, wait for the dvd/netflix.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

poorly written movie reviews for the laymen!

had some time on my hands, so i checked out a few movies...


winter's bone - 4.5/5 - didn't really hear about this in the theaters, saw it make some top ten of 2010, so i decided to give it a shot. glad i did. just plain awesome. set during the winter in rural missouri and arkansas. about a teenager trying to make ends meet, and trying to find her father. jennifer lawrence plays the overburdened teenager perfectly. and john hawkes steals every scene he is in. the pace, story, and just overall feel of this movie was spot on. you could feel the cold and desperation coming outta the movie.




scott pilgrim vs. the world - 4/5 - innovative hipster/cera superhero relationship movie. yeah yeah, i know i should have seen this a while ago. lots of hype, and mostly lived up to it. slow at parts, but really entertaining the rest of the way. some really great cameos, and i loved kieran culkin.




the fighter - 4.5/5 - go see this movie. bale is amazing as always. adams nails trailer trash hawtness to a tee. and wahlberg, going back to what he does best, being from massachusetts, like his role in the departed (thanks to fts for the reminder) except not so brusque. go see the fighter.



i've now started in on mad men season one, after finishing up it's always sunny in philadelphia. yes, that was another show that i should have been watching for a long time now. thanks to max anger for peer pressuring me into watching it. it's an amazing show that has no redeeming characters, yet it works.

on deck for movie watching is either, the kids are all right, up (this comes on the movie channels a lot, but i keep missing the first 10 mins, which i've heard is the best part), exit through the gift shop, and audition. we'll see which one strikes my fancy, and i'll put up a poorly written review about it!

found this on the interweb

and it's one of the reasons i've started blogging more.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

and for those who don't celebrate christmas

so drink your gin and tonic-ah!


there will be an airing of grievances tonight over dinner.

christmas time!

merry christmas everyone!

so our family tradition is to do all the gifts at midnight on christmas eve. it started out that us kids would stay up playing monopoly with my father, then we could open up one present at midnight. then a bunch of my mother's family would come over the next day, and we'd have a merry christmas. but then years of getting older and years of family drama later, we decided to just open them all up at midnight.

also, growing up we had a fake tree, more recently, no tree, just a bunch of poinsettias. but this year....awesomeness:

can't beat the smell of plastic and l.e.d. lights!




roommate christmas will be later this week.
we got one of those living christmas trees, which will be planted at a later date.
here she is:

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

white elephant party

work related white elephant party.
i usually get the crappiest gift at these things, but this wasn't too shabby
black raspberry wine, stolen from an old korean lady
i was a little nervous that i wouldnt like it, but its a lot like a port.


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

my most favorite christmas song....also the most date-rapey

and those are unrelated....
this is my favorite version of this song. dean and doris, make it sound like butter.
enjoy...


date-rapey parts:
doris - "say, what's in this drink?!"


doris - "the answer is no"


doris - "i really can't stay"
dean - "baby, don't hold out"

tuesday night dinner...the wiler

chili with beans
cornbread
and warm red wine pears

wonderful on a cold night. hearty and delicio-so!
i, of course, stuffed myself silly.


oh please let it be viggo...



rumored dark tower leads...clicky


viggo would be perfect. he's got the hard looks, the compassion, and the acting chops to pull this off.

Monday, December 20, 2010

oldie but goodie

few weeks ago i was told that there was a really good danzel impersonator on snl. i thought there isn't muched nuanced stuff that denzel does that would constitute someone trying to imitate him. woah nelly, i was wrong. jay pharoh nails this. enjoy.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

welcome to the top five!

...amy adams.

i have been thinking about putting her in my top five for a while, but after watching "sunshine cleaning" this afternoon, followed by "the fighter", she has cemented her place among the elite. so, so long christina hendricks, and welcome amy adams!



and "the fighter" was pretty freaking awesome.

nawt you! nawt you! and nawt you!

Friday, December 17, 2010

gotta love colbert

enjoy...

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire Blog</a>March to Keep Fear Alive



great line:
"i love how bill [o'reilly] closes with 'the lord helps those who help themselves' kinda implying that jesus said that, when it was actually ben franklin, who i believe belched out that proverb between mouthfuls of french whore"

i like him...

playoffs - click this!

i just don't think the arguments about 'its the most exciting regular season' is enough of an excuse to not have playoffs. its all about money, plain and simple. we'll see it in our lifetime. hopefully sooner rather than later, and if it's mark cuban that leads the charge, so be it.

and on a side note, i've always liked the guy. he can be douchey at times, but he loves sports and his team. and you can't fault the man for throwing around his own money to make some changes that people want.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

family dinner...stcd

surf n turf chili dumplings!
it's my new entry into the chili contest this year
and this was version 1.0

korean short rib marinated for 24 hrs
ginger shrimp
award-winning korean chili
all in a dumpling wrapper
then deep fried
then topped with homemade teriyake sauce and cilantro and green onion

the good:
taste
depth of flavor
texture

the bad:
not hot enough, spice-wise
dumplings puffed up
needs more business inside the dumpling


not a bad first try, but definitely needs improvement.
also, possibly switching to egg rolls, but we'll see
here are the pics, enjoy...


stcd coming outta the deep fryer


setup for dinner


stcd all dressed up for the ball

Saturday, December 11, 2010

this just makes me laugh

im not a class warrior, especially on here. But every now and again, i run across an article that is so ridiculous i have to post it.

washington post clicky

this dude says that making 250k a year is basically not that much after...wait for it...TAXES are taken out.

seriously, man?

250k is SIX TIMES the national household income (as stated in his article)
250k is the top 2.9% (as stated in his article)
just let those two stats sink in.
you be livin in the top 97.1% of the nation.
that's an A+ average.
you ain't no middle class,
and you can definitely get cheese on your whopper.

if you can't make it with that much money, guess what...YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!!!
and maybe, just maybe, you're not that good with money, and you're living beyond your means.

hahaha. 250k. at this point in my life, that's just an absurd amount of money.
though, i guess, there are people in all income brackets that suck at managing money.
just kinda sad to see folks with loads of dough, squander it all.
and the only way i'll see 250k anytime soon, is if i rob a few banks or hit the lotto.

gotta be in it to win it!

Thursday, December 09, 2010

roommate dinner: the wiler and cvd...and a little surprise

the last 2 tuesday night dinners, together at last!

the wiler's dish: rigatoni di gregorio
rigatoni with chicken, mushrooms, onions, in a heavy cream sauce
with spinach on the side
then to finish it off, i think maybe it was an apple crumble.
all wicked awesome





cvd's dish:
a shrimp and sausage risotto and a boston creme pie for dessert.



i can smell your jealousy through the computer.


and tonight i make my very first version of the new chili im entering into the contest.
its called: STCD
get excited!

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

my tuesday night dinner from a while ago

i made the first chicken and dumplings of the winter season. it's quick and easy and awesome. i totally forgot to take pics but it basically looked like this:

i used buscuit dough for dumplings, like this


and it ended up looking like this (minus the celery cause it sucks as a vegetable)

tracy morgan's hilarious take on star wars

enjoy...

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" - attributed to Admiral Yamamoto



love this line:

"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."

Sunday, December 05, 2010

live fast! eat well!

my saturday consisted of good food, being a janitor, and watching da foosball.

me and the wiler went to a trendy local spot. the sweet auburn curb market.
felt like the greenwich village market, just a bunch of vendors: fruit, produce, meat, and small restaurants. pretty cool.

our goal was grindhouse killerbuger. because food is mah thang. the restaurant is just a long bar with an ambiguous ordering area. the service was good at first, then got a little crappy. too many friends talking it up, and not enough working. but they were projecting voltron above the bar, so all is forgiven.

burgers were excellent. highly recommended.

here are the pics...enjoy!
















form feet and legs! form arms and body! and i'll form the head!



afterwards i had to go to work and steamclean for about 3 hours, which was awe....some.

then watched football the rest of the day.

Friday, December 03, 2010

Thursday, December 02, 2010

thanksgiving + 4loko = cabbageball

so the saturday after thanksgiving, we hosted a intimate get together for close friends, a post-thanksgiving-potluck-extravaganza, if you will.

the menu consisted of:
ktl - cajun fried turkey, probably the most perfect one i've ever done
cvd - boston cream pie, cake, and these little chocolate-cream-cheesy things that'll make you crap your pants because they were so good
woots - garlic and cream cheese mashed potatoes, which i would kill your family for, and white cream gravy
tucker - dressing that was so delicious that after i threw it up from over eating, i ate it again
action jackson - mac and cheese, and not just regular mac and cheese, like old black grandma mac and cheese. mm mmmmmm mmmmm
the wiler - cream-corny-veggie thing that was so awesome that i later bathed in it and gained superpowers, and also a cranberry/pear pie, apple pie, and sweet potatoes.

unfortunately i only have pics of the turkey. but we had the rest of that food lined up all buffet style. and it was one of the best thanksgiving meals i've ever had. so a big thank you for everyone that attended and brought something to eat. this will definitely become a kirkwood tradition.

the rest of the day was spent lounging, grazing on food, throwing up food,watching georgia take on tech (gooooo dawgs! sic em! woof woof woof), food, vomit, lounge, etc...you get the idea.

then the 4loko. then CABBAGEBALL!

this game was concocted many moons ago. it involves cabbage (and other assorted fruits and veggies), a bat, and some social lubricant.

here are the pics from the festivities. enjoy...


my most perfectest deep fried turkey, in all it's gloriousness


i broke that turkey down korean-style!(which means i used math and science to guide me)


cvd and woots in a food coma


me and tucker awakening from a food coma, action jackson might be dead


war changes a man....into a really lame wizard


choose your weapon!


my only decent pic, bc cvd has no idea how to use a camera



once i took over camera duties, and got the timing down, these gems appeared.


"watch out, tucker! it's the fearsome greentailed iceberg-lettuce-dove!"


cvd hates veggies


and boom goes the dynamite


everyone within a 3 block radius got oj-ed with this swing


probably my favorite pic of the night
thats like some slo-mo explosion stuff





so i have like 3 tuesday night dinners to catch up on, and maybe i'll post another tv theme song trivia. but since we didn't have any guess for the last installment. it might be discontinued.