Saturday, January 31, 2009

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
With their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning

... Uphill... barefoot...

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, There was no way in hell I was going to lay

A bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it

And how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old
age of Thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean,
compared to my
Childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how
good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the
damn library and Look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write
Somebody a letter, with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way
across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a
week to get there!

There were no MP3' s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store
and shoplift it yourself!



Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd
usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!


We didn't have fancy crap like
Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

A nd we didn't have fancy
Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school,
Your mom, your boss, the principal, the attendance office, 20 your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you Just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video
Games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600!
With games
Like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You
Actually had to use your Imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or
Screens, it was just one screen
Forever!

And you could never win. The game
just kept getting
Harder and harder and
Faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a Little book called a
TV Guide to find out what was
On! You were screwed when it Came to channel surfing! You had to get off
Your ass and walk over to the TV to change the Channel and there was no
Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.
Do you Hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK
For cartoons, you spoiled
LITTLE FARTS !!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
Something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids
Today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't
have lasted
Five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Friday, January 30, 2009

Taken Movie Going Experience

In The Motherhood trailer/behind the scenes look - Is Cheryl Hines getting prettier? Seriously.

Lumberjack show on the History Channel that looks cool called Ax Men.

He's Just Not THAT Into You has some behind the scenes shenanigans that we must watch...oooooh chick flick!

PREVIEWS

Miss March

I Love You, Man

Friday the 13th

The International

12 Rounds

Taken was pretty good and quite an experience at the movies....

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Book 6 of 52 -- Kathy Reichs' Bones to Ashes



Her last book was a little better but this one is a lot.

Ms. Reichs is slowly getting back to her original writing style.

This book actually was more realistic than her previous two or three books since the characters seem to come alive more.

Unlike some others, I'm happy that Ms. Reichs took the time to tell us about some of Tempe's childhood.

I enjoy getting to know the characters and their reasoning behind their actions especially in a long series.

I loved that Ms. Reichs brought Tempe's sister, Harry about to meddle around some.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a medical mystery.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Book 5 of 52 -- Kathy Reichs' Break No Bones



BREAK NO BONES is definitely worth reading as it is a good mystery with good characters and lots of action.

Temperance Brennan is at it again, finding bones where they shouldn't be and then becoming a player in a pretty complicated plot.

Tempe deals with a county sheriff who is not a typical stereotype in that while he needs to convinced before he takes action, he does eventually act upon real facts and does seem competent in his job.

Tempe also has the awkward situation of having her estranged husband and her lover together with her in one house.

I believe this was supposed to be somewhat comic, but I just got the feeling that Kathy Reichs missed on this situation.

The climax just seemed too hard to believe for my taste.

Nonetheless, this book was a page turner as I have found all the Temperance Brennan novels to be so far.

This isn't the best one, but it's much better than a lot of books I've read and so, I say, go ahead and give it a chance.

We also get to see a more human side of Brennan... that we haven't seen yet... so I was happy about that...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Reader Moviegoing Experience

Hey! The lady next to me had surgery and dropped 50 pounds to get to 94 pounds.

She didn't know either of the two people on either side of her and yet -- we know more about her than Barack and Michelle combined.

Other highlights: She had two regular and one C-Section deliveries. She thought her doctor's first name was Chun and the last name was Lee, but god bless his soul - he was a great doctor no matter how he spells his name.

My wife is getting updates by me typing them into the Blackberry while the Rocky theme is blasting in the background.

Please start the movie!!!!

Duplicity

The Wrestler

Oh no! With 30 minutes left in the flick... the projector broke and we got to see a lot of stereotypes pop out of the audience.

They eventually started the film again and it was a good movie... definitely worth the accolades...

Monday, January 26, 2009

Book 4 of 52 -- J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard



J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard was created by J.K. Rowling to help satisfy the jonesing of Harry Potter fans and to raise money for a worthy cause.

The book was decent, in a cutesy kind of way.

It is a very quick read -- somewhere around 100 pages.

Being in my thirties, I think I was probably a little older than the intended audience.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but with one caveat: Don't get your hopes up too high.

It's good and provides some insight into "The Deathly Hallows," but it's no Harry Potter.

My favorite story was... Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump... and I enjoyed Dumbledore's explanation of the story afterwards as well.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Wrestler Moviegoing Experience‏

Fresh on the heels of the uber-uplifting Revolutionary Road, my wife and I bought more tickets to see The Wrestler and nestled down in the warmth of Cranford Theater.

We are well aware of Mickey Rourke's good reviews and the seriousness of the movie, but buckled down regardless.

The theater had a lot more people than we expected.

Terminator Salvation (looks cool... Christian Bale is awesome... )

X-Men Origins Wolverine (huh...)

WOW... Mickey Rourke deserves every single accolade...

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Revolutionary Road Moviegoing Experience‏

Cranford Theater at noon is not as empty as we thought it might be, but we buckled down with full bellies and plenty of tissues for this pretty heavy flick.

One thing about the Cranford Theater is that their pre-show entertainment is really old and crappy slides - one advertises that Ratatouillie is coing soon to theaters!

The previews started 10 minutes late!

He's Just Not That Into You (Oh boy...)

The Soloist (Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. -- Sigh... I heart Downey, but am totally over Foxx... )

Friday, January 23, 2009

Bottle Shock Movie Going Experience‏

39,000 feet above the Earth

Conan O'Brien show sketch...

One of my favorite SNL digital shorts -- Kristen vs. Andy

The wrong movie! It was supposed to be The Duchess which I already saw on another flight!

Yay!

Not the greatest movie, but it was nice and about the rise of the California wine industry in 1976.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sunday, January 18, 2009

San Diego -- It's Warmer Than Where You Are

TW left me this morning and is on her way back to New Jersey.

I am stuck with 4 more days of nice weather, but indoor meetings all day.

We took a tour yesterday and that included stopping at Coronado Island...

Gorgeous beach...

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Mahalo Maui

As we pack and soak in every last possible ray of sun... I leave you with a shot of a whale we saw yesterday...and were about 10 feet away from as it swam underneath our boat.



Very awe-inspiring...

San Diego is next!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Aloha -- Fun Shoes



I love how the staff here lines up our shoes every day... we sure as hell didn't do this.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Friday, January 09, 2009

Aloha....

... I'll be sure to drop some pictures into the blog for you to see in the near future. :)

Maui... Here we come!

Mahalo...

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Book 3 of 52 -- Kathy Reichs' Cross Bones



One of the better parts about this time of year is the absolute crazy amount of nothing on television. There is tons of nothing!

Also... trying to keep up with the working out from the holidays provides me with time to read at the gym.

Sooo... on the eve before the TW and I set out on our annual short trip for TW and long trip for me... I read this hardcover book in faster time than I normally would so that I wouldn't have to bring it on the plane.

In 2005, Ms. Reichs' jumped on the Jesus is fact fiction bandwagon and wrote this book about some old bones that were found that might debunk the whole Jesus is awesome and religious belief... a la The DaVinci Code.

It is a decent story until the heroes head over to Israel where it all just seems a bit too contrived, but all in all, it's a standard Bones book

One more thing. In this book, Reichs wrote a lot of one sentence paragraphs... why the switch?

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Doubt Moviegoing Experience

Here's something I learned.

When you go to the movies at 10 am on a Sunday, there are very few people there.

I also felt bad because I got all excited for the upcoming Friday the 13th movie after seeing a cardboard cut out for it.

Previews

Gran Torino

The Wrestler

Revolutionary Road

Duplicity (sigh - I want to see this b/c Clive Owen is in it with Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti, but Julia Roberts might ruin all of that).

Adventureland

Great movie and phenomenal acting.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Book 2 of 52 -- David Baldacci's Divine Justice



Divine Justice, as the other Camel Club books, is an exciting read.

As the book progresses, there are two plots that we know will come together at the end.

As the story unfolds it becomes like old home week with characters from earlier Camel Clubs joining in.

Having said all of this I felt the dialogue was not as sharp as the earlier efforts.

It was less of a Club effort and the club members were not as believable.

It was a fair Baldacci but a good mystery by most standards.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Book 1 of 52 -- Laura Pedersen's Beginner's Luck



Thanks to Gina, I was treated to this author who writes in a fun and fresh way.

The protagonist of this novel is a 16 year old girl who arrives in my world in a cute and fun way.

She deals with her problems like a regular person and not finding her solutions in a cult or with vampires...

I liked it a lot and I loved the cast of characters that she meets when she moves in with the Stockton family...

Even the chimp...

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Frost/Nixon Movie Going Experience

Wow! We drove all the way up to Paramus Mall to see this and the sheer magnitude and scope of that mall AND the movie theater were beyond what I am used to around here and we have some big movie theaters around here!

Best movie of the year so far... and I really liked Milk and Slumdog Millionaire too.

Previews...

The Beast

Beyond the Secret

Angels and Demons

The Wrestler (Why oh Why isn't this playing anywhere around here...)

Disneynature EARTH

State of Play

Duplicity

Saturday, January 03, 2009

The Smelmooo Goes to AC...

... and experiences a crazy up and down day of bad beats and great wins...

... to finish even.

Blargh.

Friday, January 02, 2009

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Movie Going Experience

So we showed up to the theater on the first about 20 minutes before the movie was supposed to start in arctic chills and winds ablowin' and the theater wasn't even open!

Like dopes, we stood outside with a few other people until it finally opened 10 minutes later.

Blech...

Duplicity

The Ugly Truth

The Proposal

Revolutionary Road

The Soloist (ARE YOU REALLY KIDDING ME?)

Plus... TCCOBB was just shy of three hours long... and it was about 68 minutes longer than it needed to be.

Argh.

Thursday, January 01, 2009