USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!

This was THE most exciting swimming event I've ever witnessed.

The French were heavily favored, they publicly said they were going to "smash" the Americans. They held the lead the entire event, excecpt for the last .08 secs (which is faster than you can blink).

If you missed this, you are a poor bastard, a communist, and a freedom-hater.

USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!

Also, Phelps dream of winning 8 Golds is well in hand. He has already gotten gold in the 2 events he was not favored.




(that guy should probably work out, he's all flab)

here we go!

We had a summer get together on our roof. Those pictures are lame. The one good one was of me and Mrs. Preacher Man awesome-ing it up on Rockband!



Here is our new kitten, Flannery. He gave us a little scare by almost dying. He was running a fever of 104, which is like 101 in human years. But all is better now and his favorite thing is to snatch large chunks of our other cat's hair out.


MOVIES:
Into the Wild - I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about this movie. It was either "I loved it" or "I hated it". I was in the love camp. Maybe its my inner desire to strike out and see the world, to leave all the conventions behind. Emile Hirsch was great and all the supporting cast was amazing. The score perfectly resounded the sentiment of the movie. 4/5

Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction - I had never seen these movies before, and I started watching them while DanB was here. The first one was entertaining, the second a little too much cheesy-ness for me, and the 3rd was pretty good. Mila was hot as always, and they kept to their stengths, blood, gore and fun violence. 3/5 for the series.

The Wackness - It was kind of a sweet and bitter coming of age in NYC in 1994. If you like 90's hiphop, drug dealers, high school relationships, and ben kingsley and mary-kate olsen sex, this is the movie for you....and me. 3.5/5

Encounters at the End of the World - Director, Herzog (Grizzly Man), forays into the Antartica, and we get to learn about the people who congregate at the end of the world. It's not just about the researchers, but the construction workers, and welders, etc. And really amazing cinematic view of the icy desert and the underwater life down at the South Pole. 3.5/5

Grace is Gone - A really powerful story about a man raising 2 kids when his Army wife dies. My old man crush, John Cusack, shines in this movie. Probably his best performance since High Fidelity. 4/5

Teeth - Vagina dentata. Silly and fun. The story was the most interesting part of the film. Nothing to write home about, though. 2/5


BOOKS:
Reading the 3rd book of the Twilight series: Eclipse....Jacob is a douchebag.

so much to write about...

This will be more a placeholder and a reminder to myself, than an actual post. But first, here is what I've been watching and reading over the past few weeks:

BOOKS:

Girls for Breakfast - Its by this Korean author that mrs. ktl met at some librarian conference. Seems like this guy and me live the same lives, we both don't speak a lick of Korean and have white-y wives. Except i'm a real Korean and have a natural affinity towards math and science, and he loves english. BUT he evens it up by being successful, so touche. The book is semi-autobiographical about his time in high school. not terrible, not great.

Twilight/Eclipse/New Moon - This is some vampire book that all the young adults seem to be raving about. It's kind of whiny and high schooly, but at least it's not like a novel-ized version of scooby-doo (I'm looking at you JK Rowling) Above average, and if you like seeming cool with the hottest trends, check it out. We all know you didn't start reading Harry Potter till the 3rd book came out.

MOVIES:
I'm sure there are alot of movies that I am forgetting but here goes:
Batman - The Dark Knight 5/5 - If you haven't seen this yet, you're a poor bastard.

Hancock - 2.5/5 - I'll agree with my friend JoaJ, the first 2/3 of this movie was good, the last 1/3 sucked the big one.

The Incredible Hulk - 3.5/5 - Definitely better than Ang Lee's attempt, two pretty good fight scenes and very entertaining.

Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Tour - 3.5/5 - Some pretty good stand-up and other interesting bits

21 - 1.5/5 - Don't see it. Read the book.

Cassandra's Dream - 3/5 - It's got Colin Ferrell and Ewan McGregor, so it's pretty good. Just about 2 brothers getting in and out of trouble.

Batman: Gotham Knight - 3.5/5 - Kind of like the Animatrix. This was a series of 6 short animated films, directed by 6 different people. Each has it's own feel and view. Really great supplement to the Dark Knight.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry - 2/5 - I liked this movie from a comedic stand point. It was Adam Sandler being himself, and Kevin James being himself. What partially put me off was how the gay angle was treated. I could definitely see how a gay person would be offended by this movie. The larger problem I had with this movie was Rob Schneider's asian character. Now, I'm all for funny stereotypes. And most of you readers know that I'm not one to be easily offended, especially when it comes to my own ethnicity (cause if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?) But Rob's character was a homage to the 60's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", Mickey Rooney character. I really don't understand the reason to do a throwback character that was so blatantly racist. Why not slap on blackface and prance around like in "Birth of a Nation"? I don't know, maybe I'm getting a little sensitive in my old age.

I also watched "The Departed" twice. Can't get enough of that movie.

THE SUMMER:
Oh, so many things have happened that I need to write about:
-DanB came and visited.
-JoaJ came and visited.
-We got a new kitten, Flannery.
-We went to go see my buddy RBD in State College (Penn St), last weekend.
-There is a dodgeball event coming up.
-Touch football season ended, and college football is nearly upon us.
-I've been tasked with ranking my top 25 movies of the new millenium.

But all that and much more are in store for you in later posts. I will leave you with Max Anger's dodgeball email flyer (it is a re-hash of the very first one he ever made, and my favorite)

Funny Games (2007)

I had never heard of this movie, but in my ramblings across the internet, I happened upon a review of it, and I was intrigued. I saw it on Thursday, and I was blown away.

4.5/5 stars maybe even 5/5. It was that good.

The one I watched is a shot-for-shot remake of "Funny Games" (1997) and both were directed by Michael Haneke. It's basically about 2 guys (one is Michael Pitt) who terrorize a family (Tim Roth and Naomi Watts).

The pacing, directing, acting, story, plot, everything was incredible. It is a horror movie of sorts, like Se7en was as horror movie. And like Se7en, almost all of the violence occurs off screen, which makes lets our imagination take its course.

Please go rent/netflix this movie.

stumble

I'm not sure if you folks use Firefox add-ons or not. If not, check them out. If you do, you probably have stumbler. I ran across this today, while stumbling through the internet:




my other add-on include:
script-blocker - keeps pesky viruses off my computer
weather - i can always see the current and the next day weather on the lower right part of my screen
drag and drop attachments - instead of "browsing" and adding a file to an email, i can drag'n drop it in there
g-directions - you highlight an address and right click and it will automatically pull it up on googlemaps
g-dictionary - you highlight a word and right click and it will give you the definition

And if you use something that is coolio. Let me know about it, dammmit!

Khaaaaaaaannnnn!!!!

Mongol was disappointing to me. I think if I had grown up in China, watching alot of Ghengis Khan movies, then this one would have been awesome. The scope, cinemetography, and story were great, but it smelled alot like "The English Patient". I guess I was expecting alot more of his reign as Khan of all of Mongolia/Asia. I give it 3.5/5 stars.

bits and pieces

I don't have a lot of time to post since I'm at work, but things are going well. I have some pictures to post up from comicon and other things.

One update is that I have a new job. Another is that I read alot of books nowadays, with my extended commute. So I will be updating you about what I'm currently reading, and also maybe what movies I have watched that I enjoy or not. Here we go:

Books I've Read Since Starting Work:
Cell - Stephen King
Dark Tower Graphic Novel - Marvel
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich

Currently Reading:
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq - Thomas E. Ricks

Some TV Shows That I Am Ashamed To Watch:
Top Chef: Chicago...go Antonia and Richard!
America's Best Dance Crew....JABBAWOCKEEZ!!!!
The Soup
Worlds Wildest Police Videos (I will admit that I only watch this show while others are on commericial)
Keeping up with the Kardashians

Movies Recently Watched:
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - Philip Seymore Hoffman is awesome
The Savages - Philip Seymore Hoffman is amazing, again
For the Bible Tells Me So - informative
Ironman - best superhero movie since the first Batman
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - ugh
Mongol - watching it tomorrow...im excited, wish you were here JoaJ
One Missed Call - started, but couldn't finish, I only wanted to watch this bc rottentomatoes gave it zero freshness
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Apatow and Segel, always funny
Gone Baby Gone - impressed with the Afflecks
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - go see this movie
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - I love me some Jason Statham, but do not ever see this movie

Hopefully, I'll get off my ass and post up some real material, but not likey.