Lost in the dark

What do you do when you are tired of walking towards the light you have hoped was leading you to where you wanted to go?

When the lines on the map that were leading you towards what you hoped was a new beginning starts looking like a lot of chicken scratch from a drunken man with a nervous tick?

What do you do when those pools of water that you waded through like puddles, turn into puddles that you are to tired to step over because your feet are dragging?

How do you address the sun breaking through the clouds when all you feel is the wetness from the rain?

Am I just sleep deprived and tired? Have I allowed myself to work too many days in a row and just gotten lost in the shuffle working from whenever to whenever, over hill and dale, cities and towns running together in a poll of rainbow layers.

Where is the love

Soooo I'm checking my voice mail today right, and there is this message for deletion that needs to be re-saved(yes I have been that gully in not checking my voice mail) and it's from one of the times that my mom was visiting my sister at the hospital right. I'm guessing since I hear myself on it that it's my moms phone in her purse. The thing is I had called my sister before I got in the room to pick my mother up and I guess when my mom saw my name pop up in my sisters phone it wasn't one of my normal nick names, noo it wasn't T, or Tom Jr, Older brother, Awesome older brother or even T2. Nope see that would be too much like right, what does my dear sick sister call me, who I was coming up to the hospital to see:

DARTH DRUNKARD oh yes, not only am I a dark lord of the sith but I am so NOTORIOUS for my love of the liquid courage that instead of some TERRIFYING name that will strike fear in the names of the galaxy I am called Darth Drunkard. Like I take a few shots of the old synthehol and I start

It's November, the stretch run

Yup it's time to put away your scary or silly costumes and turn those jack o lanterns into pies. Another year is coming to a close and for many it has been a hard bitter journey. Before it ends though it is of course the time here in America to prepare to give thanks for all we have had, seen, done, those we have known, lost and will never forget. Depending on your outlook on life this is either a somber or joyous time, hmm I guess it could be just like any other time. I am talking about my personal bias when mentioning somber or joyous but then what of those who either don't celebrate, have no one to celebrate with, or else it isn't even their holiday?

For me it's about family, good food, usually pretty good memories and a time to reflect. It also happens to be the time before my mother and I's birthdays(Ancient lady, she was mentioned in the LTBL post), so usually it's pretty up beat time of year around these parts. Plus you get great food: Turker, Sweet potato pie, Mashed Potatoes(love potatoes any way ya serve them), candied yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing. Man the dishes about to be placed in front of us in a few weeks are going to be awesome, not that my life is ever all fun and games but really if you do not put the good times versus the bad in perspective you will always have problems.

I had so much on my mind when I started this blog earlier in the day and got side tracked, so this is where I will end it a quick update and so Holiday wishes.

The 4 most harrowing words in the English Language

"Let the boy live"

Seems innocuous right, no harm there at all. Let the boy live, I mean what harm can come in letting a youngling out in this world full of adventure go out and enjoy himself nothing you say right. Oooohoo you would be so wrong, or maybe life was trying to teach me early on that me and drama were always going to be close friends. As a G+ friend of mine always likes to mention, here comes the back story.

Many years ago on one of our normal trips to some place not New Jersey(I believe I was 11 and my little sister was 6, my brothers weren't born yet), I believe we were heading to Kings Dominion in VA it was a weekend thing KD, Bush Gardens and possibly a Wet n' Wild or something, my parents were

How well do I know me Let me count the ways

Your top three intelligences: Intelligence Score (5.0 is highest) Description 4.57 Social: You like to develop ideas and learn from other people. You like to talk. You have good social skills. Effective techniques of enhancing your learning using your social intelligence include taking part in group discussions or discussing a topic one-to-one with another person. Find ways to build reading and writing exercises into your group activities, such as: Reading a dialogue or a play with other people Doing team learning/investigating projects Setting up interview questions and interviewing your family, and writing down the interview Writing notes to another instead of talking. 4.43 Language: You enjoy enjoy saying, hearing, and seeing words. You like telling stories. You are motivated by books, records, dramas, opportunities for writing. Effective techniques of enhancing your learning using your language intelligence include reading aloud, especially plays and poetry. Another idea is to write down reflections on what you've read. You may also enjoy exploring and developing your love of words, i.e., meanings of words, origin of words and idioms, names. Use different kinds of dictionaries. Other ideas: Keep a journal Use a tape recorder to tape stories and write them down Read together, i.e., choral reading Read a section, then explain what you've read Read a piece with different emotional tones or viewpoints — one angry, one happy, etc. Trade tall tales, attend story-telling events and workshops Research your name 4 Body Movement: You like to move, dance, wiggle, walk, and swim. You are likely good at sports, and you have good fine motor skills. You may enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together. Incorporating body movement into your learning will help you process and retain information better. Here are some ideas. Trace letters and words on each other's back. Use magnetic letters, letter blocks, or letters on index cards to spell words. Take a walk while discussing a story or gathering ideas for a story. Make pipe cleaner letters. Form letters out of bread dough. After you shape your letters, bake them and eat them! Use your whole arm (extend without bending your elbow) to write letters and words in the air. Change the place where you write and use different kinds of tools to write, ie., typewriter, computer, blackboard, or large pieces of paper. Write on a mirror with lipstick or soap. Take a walk and read all the words you find during the walk. Handle a Koosh ball or a worry stone during a study session. Take a break and do a cross-lateral walk. The scores for your other five intelligences: 4 4 3.86 3.57 2.71 Just because these five are not in your top three doesn’t mean you’re not strong in them. If your average score for any intelligence is above three, you’re probably using that intelligence quite often to help you learn. Take a look at the Practice section to see how to engage all your intelligences.

On Jypsee Jynn's blog there is a link to a test(yup I mean I'm sure you could attempt to tract mine up there but just click on her blog it's fun) that gives you an idea of where your intellectual strengths are. And of course we all know who we are right, well hold on a second. Because looking right there

Prime checking in (and the jersey face)

I'm kicked back downtown waitingh for a power supply to be delivered, needless to say I am bored. I know I've been waltzing by my blog here because I keep chilling on google plus on the late night. Those hang outs are fun and you meet a lot of interesting people, that being said its no real excuse I have two computing devices so I could hang out and blog too. I've been kind of blah lately mainly because by the time I get done work it was a little less than sunny out and I was probably in a tight or hot place.

Work wise we picked up a few new contracts have done some major installs and are hopefully going to have a good winter, not one to count my chickens before they are hatched. While there is nothing like new money, maintenance and service calls are what keep us going day to day until the next new big contract. Lots of long hours and late days, I love when things pick up and yet I hate it because I have less time to arrange my day to day.

The Question that began it all

The mind works in mysterious ways and mine even more so. As the season finale of Doctor Who came on, before the little blue head in the box could speak I realized what they were getting at, I also kind of figured out how. But the question, the question at the beginning of it all, in this instanc the question hidden in plain sight that all of us have always known but of course with a little play on words would never think of.

Now as Doctor Who has always had a thing against spoilers and I am a fan I will keep to that covenant. What I will speak of instead is exactly when does time begin? I mean none of us were actually there at the beginning now were we, nor our ancestors. None can tell us how the sun looked on that first day, or the moon, how tall the first tree grew so in actuality the beginning of life on this planet was not yet the beginning of "time." When th e first sentient beings began to notice that 1 hour was not the same as the next while it had always been ticking away as we crawled from the primordial ooze or from the mind's eye of some great deity still yet that was not the beginning of time, so when pray tell did time begin, why at the first recording of it. The first time some one set a not into the ground to gauge how this hour was different then the last and that upon the start of a new day Rebirth had begun. And at that time it was so young, so very, very young. While we knew that time continued once the sun went down we didn't really have a way to gauge it at first, how do you record said unit of time when the almighty glowing bright spot in the middle of the sky is not there and the only other glowing object does not move the same. Hell it may not even be there some nights, that most likely would have been the invention of the hour glass. It may not have been perfect a single second or two of missing those last few grains of sand or even an energetic flip and time would be slightly off. Hell even we in the present have to reset our clocks by one that we have sworn to have absolute accuracy down the the pulse of an atom.

NFL Week 2

These are my thoughts and my thoughts only.

First off on my Eagles, that loss Sunday night was hard to take. We were kicking Atlanta's tail and we let them off the hook, the coach admitted it, the players knew it, and if ANYBODY starts talking how over rated and overblown our team is I can't wait to play yours. We had a guy with NO regular season NFL snaps in the game and I wonder if the coach would have taken the leash off earlier if we wouldn't be talking about the 2-0 Eagles instead of the gritty 1-1 Falcons. We need to tackle better, it wasn't just Casey Matthews while everyone wants to blame him, even on the last drive there were at least 4 missed tackles before he crossed the 50.  As for the Offense, if we can cut down on the dropsies, that 4th quarter doesn't even matter. I also think Andy Reid needs to fall out of love with some of those gadget plays, one gadget play cost us field position(that lead to the first fumble), and the other one made a 3rd and 3 a 4th and 4.  We have the backs to run screen plays, we are the Philadelphia Eagles in the Andy Reid era we have been known as the "screen kings" why not let Dion Lewis or Shady Mccoy who had been eating Atlanta up all game long have a go at them, get it to a 4th and one maybe or even the first. Hell do a play action and get Kafka to stop being so focused on Maclin, and give Djax a chance in the open field(unless his arm injury was so severe that he was really just a decoy out there).

Defenses

I think we are gonna see quite a few new Defensive Coordinators at the end of the year, it may be good for the league to see games coming down to the wire and things being so run and gun, but I think I saw at least 4 games this weekend and possibly 5 last where the team with the lead through 3 quarters wasn't the team who won the game. Talking to my dad he thinks that defense was hurt by the lockout, I think that with all the turnover we had when free agency began a lot of teams are playing looser since they have an excuse no OTA, two a days, and fewer 10-10-10's if you start slow you have a ready made excuse. This is bringing a lot of parity to the league and making a lot of teams wake up and stop hitting cruise control like they have some kind of edge just because they brought back a strong team from last year.

You wibble, you wobble, but you get the "W"

For at least two quarters of the week one game of the Philadelphia Eagles vs the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome it was a nail biter, watching it on gamecast on CBS I teetered on the bow of the mighty over reaction. Every long run, every penalty, every long pass a reason that this player was useless or that needed to be benched. For the offense it was even worse anger when I didn't see madden like bars hitting the screen as players whom I could control with such perfection and have scoring points in bunches appeared in real life not to know how easy the process was.

After the second quarter fumble return and that last minute field goal I calmed down a little and then when Michael Vick and Desean Jackson combined on a few critical pass plays before Djax's 6 yard td grab in the end zone while I did not exhale a 24-10 lead is pretty easy to manage deep into the 3rd quarter. The defense had a great goal line stand in the 3rd that allowed the Rams to only score a field goal after a (what by some Eagles fans online was called a questionable) Pass Interference call which had given them 1st and Goal on the 1. The Eagles didn't have a good goal line D last year. Giving up way more points inside the 20 then most fans could stomach, it's cost former Defensive Coordinator Sean McDermott his job, and gave us another quick playoff exit. That was last year though, this year the new Wide 9 style got us 5 sacks and a decent amount of stiffening on the goal line. While it wasn't Jim Johnson's Blitz happy style and our safeties and line backers were a little overwhelmed for a while our corner backs and down lineman handle their parts quite well.

Week 1 is fast approaching

I'm scanning injury reports, I'm constantly on the Eagles website trying to catch the next little tidbit of news, video, commentary. To say that I have a jones is an understatement I have loved football for the entirety of my life, and since I first learned how to sit up straight have watched the Philadelphia Eagles play football. Unlike others I had no doubts that we would have football this season too much money in it and unlike basketball, where people have become tired of all the sideshow antics both on the court and in the owners box, there is too much outside pressure from people in states who take their football seriously. If Roger Goodell let this lockout remain on too long I guarantee you there were a few states that he would have been persona non grata in most of the states who have pro football have a deep passion for it. Regardless to if you have a Lombardi trophy sitting in the case or not we go out in 0 degree or lower weather, rain, sleet, hail if you don't cancel the game(and if you do we will have some choice words for you) we will be there.

I know that my teams Offensive line is in flux, I won't lie and say it doesn't worry me than again speed kills and all we have is speed on the offensive side of the ball. I am waiting for a big announcement that Djax has gotten a new contract, I know we had better sign him and soon. I understand that football is a business but personally while we lost the older loudmouth wide receiver to Jerry Jones and his Blue Star we damn sure better not use the young, electrifying one. I will spare my giant fan readers the video(no it isn't saved on my desktop yes I have watched it a few times on youtube), but Desean Jackson in the open field is a coaches worst nightmare I watched some highlights of him in college, because I was bored and there are no 2011 highlights yet, and to see that he's always done that to DB's and punt teams is just wow. Yes I am still chomping at the bit to see Dion Lewis in a game situation, the kid just tears up the field and looks so illusive. I heard that Jeremy Maclin is going full speed and that possibly Steve Smith will play too, I will not lie and say that Jason Avant is another speedster but hey sometimes you just need a possession receiver and he's it.

My favorites of the 29

Can you read a book, watch a movie or even hear a story and not immediately come up with "your favorite character", it may not even be the main character nor have some long ranging part but if you fall for him you fall for him. While yes many of us loved good ol Han Solo the dashing rogue in Star Wars is there not a huge fan club for Boba Fett(or the Fett as many of his disciples call him), I think he had maybe 8 scenes through both movies and yet people love Boba. While I love the Harry Potter stories, I would love the actor who plays Ron Weasley to be the first Ginger Doctor Who, why because I think he would be hilarious in the role somewhere between Matt Smith and David Tennant. Great Facial expression and wild flights with the dialogue, so with that said my favorite "Mistakes" from the 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes by Judy Delton and how I will in the future try much harder to avoid them.

1. Don't Procrastinate


Ouch, that one stings hard I am notorious for procrastination, or maybe I should call it spontaneous boredom. I might start something get halfway through and either forget where I was heading or else just let something else catch my attention. As many will probably see from my breaks in writing from time to time I go til I get tired of going and then I pop up again later. No it isn't because "Oh well it's the beginning of the month I better write something", it's more "hmm I wonder, meh well let me go head and put it other so I can think on it again later".

Basically I am trying to get myself to look at some blog somewhere and just write something. I don't care if its read by 2 people or 1000 just talk let my mind roam and allow any who wish to follow.

Watchmen the Graphic Novel

For those who have not noticed by now I am a comic book fan. I may not bore you with pictures of my not so grand anymore comic collection(one of the saddest things of my youth was that we moved so much that I always had to leave something behind, many times my comics were among them) or start posts talking about which character is so awesome and why this character is so lame(though there may have and may be in the future posts on lame villains, every hero has them). But I do like a good story and I am one of those types who if the movie peaks my interest I will go search out more on the characters to see what I missed out on, I have done that with Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Jason Bourne and now with Watchmen.

Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is kind of interesting in one sense because the tone of the movie even with the updates in constumes, some of the rhetoric and the locales came threw as this sort of cynical world where heroes had enjoyed a good run and then tapered off into the distance. Things weren't all bright and cheery as they were in other comics they were sort of sad and disinterested, similar to our world but without some of the joy we take for granted. I wondered when I watched the movie in as much detail as the director and screen adapters had included what did they cut out. I mean I caught some nuances that normally would be left out just to slip in an extra special effect or else add more weight to the directors vision(*cough* Harry potter 4, 5, & 6 *cough*) and while I had watched the "extras" and heard all of the commentary about what they wanted to keep in and how they were trying to stay true to the comic, not to be rote but "I'd heard it all before". Usually that's what a director and crew say just so you rush to the theater and spend your hard earned money while they have treated your childhood memories as so many fire hydrants pestered during Fido's afternoon walk.

Fast Approaching 8,000 hits

As has been the trend since I have been regularly posting here on the ponderings we seem to have hit a nice steady clip of about 700 viewers a month sometimes it spikes to 1,000 if I post a lot other times it hovers between 650-735. As always I'm ecstatic about this, while yes I do advertise this blog now in my various social networking haunts and keep the link posted in my twitstream(not so much in my tumblog as I haven't been there as often lately) just because you see a link doesn't mean you will click on it, trust me I am weary of links on peoples pages too. While sometimes it's something nice usually its a link to something less than healthy for your computer, and I don't mean extra sprinkles on your soft serve cone less than healthy either extra sprinkles at least give you a good taste before they help to give you cavities. Oh no, some of these links lead to malware, pop ups and viruses. So just because I have something linked to my page doesn't mean they will come.

Of course just like before the majority of my visitors seem to find me from Google, looking up either my various reviews or accidently looking up some other subject that I have either title my blog similar too or they have just misspelled. Some stay and read on others just disappear as quick as they came, to date The Warriors Way review still seems to get the most hits. Kind of burned out on movie reviews right now, maybe in the future but as of today everything past The Hangover 2 way back in June has gone unreviewed, I started one for both X-men and Green Lantern I just never finished them and have thus not even started any others though I have gone to the movies for most of the summer(as my trailer blogs will show). And the Hangover 2 was of course reviewed on WordPress because well most of what was done and said in that movie would be hard to describe here, it would almost be like trying to review a porno on this blog no bueno.

One more set of Library books

Motorola Backflip

Blackberry Bold

Last week I made an impromptu trip to the library because I was bored and I wanted to see if the book I had been looking for on my first trip was there(and if you observe the colorful blue book it was), also to see if there was anything else I could get from my local library. To compare it's selection to my old favorite haunt in Voorhees, Nj when I was in school doing the majority of my book reports, research, et al would be unfair because the Raleigh branch(while it has a better picture than the Voorhees Library) is possibly a third of the size.  I know it's hard to tell from that horrid forrest of a picture, I mean they are barely showing you the front door or the top of the atrium. As a favor to me IF you just so happen to live in New Jersey, in Camden county, AND happen to own a camera or digital phone could you please give the library next to the FORMER Echelon mall a better photo. The old girl may be camera shy after all these years but she looks way better than that overcropped, myopic nightmare that seemed to focus more on the flora around her than on the well worn beauty of that concrete dam of knowledge.

Classic Primal Rant

I was going back through some of the posts over on my word press blog and I came to this GEM, let me just say in my defense, their is sick, there is tasteless and then there is handing someone a splooge covered laptop that they don't find out about the splooge until they open it up. And no I am not exaggerating, I even included a picture of said laptop. I don't care about what kind of porn you have on your computer, seriously I am not anti porn, I am not anti masturbation, seriously we all have to release some stress sometimes.

I am anti Love juices on something that I have to touch when the love juices do not belong to me. Would you hand that to your local Best Buy tech(and if you would I hope they IMMEDIATELY hand it back to you and ban you from the store, you're just sick)? Again while I could PROBABLY get away with the picture here what I had to say about the picture nah pimpin thats all Wonderful World right there. It was actually a short post, don't ask me how I divined that down so far and quickly, it just felt good to get that off my chest. Especially how man never mind just the thoughts that went through my head when I had to work on it, when I wrote the blog and even now, just WOW. I swear next time you get the Hazmat  charge if I get something like that

Doing a little profit taking

It's been a while since I decided to blog about my ups and downs in the stock market and since I decided to sell a few shares of one of my stocks I figured hell why not. Now I know normally people(including me) say don't look at your portfolio when you have a need because most times you will be selling something before it has a chance to reach your markers for it. And I agree with this premise it is very true, thus when I was buying this laptop I am now typing on I acted like my portfolio didn't exist. This is for a less selfish reason and I knew the money was just sitting there plus as of yet I hadn't locked in any of my Sirius profits so I figured kill two birds with one stone. And yes I said profits now that I have finally sold some shares of a "winning" stock I can say I made a profit, and yes I will be paying Capital Gains on said profits next year, thankfully they are long term capital gains as I have owned said stock for going on 2 years now.  I'm not going to focus on stocks I no longer hold any shares in, they're sold I either made or lost money on them and it is time to move on.

!!Attention!!

 This is simply my OPINION on stocks that I OWN, this is in no way, shape or form a recommendation for said stocks, nor is discussion of their past gains or losses an indication of future events

!!Attention!!

Sirius Xm Satellite Radio( SIRI :Nasdaq) part of me wants to rail because the last time I looked at Sirius it was well over 2 bucks a share, but as I didn't decide to jump in and sell any shares then and thus lock in that extremely high amount of profit I should really pipe down. Been there, done that, and I DEFINITELY know better. But again I started off at $ 0.13  a share(yes that says THIRTEEN CENTS a share) so *ahem* complaint about a profit of 1.61 per is technically looking the grand slam in the mouth and I will not. For those who do not know Sirius XM is of course the satellite radio company who provides you with that coast to coast non stop radio programming from the skies above. I think the current hit is just because of the overall economic slow down and not indicative of anything being wrong with the company(and hell even if there was anytime you hit 10 times your entrance point shut up and enjoy it, yes talking to myself too).

Plans for the night

As rare as it is FINALLY a late night has knocked me off my normal center. I slept well into the afternoon and it wasn't even a Sunday(which is my usual lazy day) so tonight I plan to get back to reading the books I got from the library, continue to watch some more Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny (I would recommend watching the first season otherwise that vid will make absolutely no sense), possibly try to find some news from my Eagles preseason finale(who am I kidding I will be on the webs watching the whole thing), maybe trying to swing a ride to pick up the new Madden(what this will be the 3rd one I have bought in the current gaming generation 1 360 and it would be my second ps3), more goofing off on Facebook and possibly do some google+ ing not unlike facebook while I get a lot of interaction on plus, some days I just ain there. These lulls of mine aren't just limited to my ability to write a blog and be satisfied with the content(and yes if I don't like it I refuse to post it, same as with a comment. I am evil with the backspace key if I don't feel engaged enough or dislike the quality), speaking of content seems a lot of people have been stopping by as of late(not according to google analytics but she is such a hard taskmaster to please anyway) I thank you, hope you enjoying. I know since I rarely post anything controversial here(me lack controversy, the unmitigated gall but yeah here no cursing very little controversy what can I say) I don't get too much reader interaction but then again I have gotten some, and not just from people who know me.

Just a little help for those stumbling onto my page looking for a famous black personality

It's TAVIS Smiley, not Tagus, you got the Cornell West part right but the man's name is Tavis, hell let me help you out further and provide some appropriate links(no I am not a big Tavis Smiley fan, while sometimes his heart appears to be in the right place he also has a huge ego, but this ain about me)

One of his Websites
his PBS page
the Wiki Dedicated to him
his all Tavis all the time radio show
His Twitter
Huff Po Article
The Intersection of Madness and Reality article about them(yes rippa's site is awesome)
the Charlie Rose Interview with him and Cornell West

Now if this ain the Tavis Smiley you are looking for, I can't help ya. Yes I am a kind enough person to attempt to help send you on the right path whether I like the establishment you are trying to reach or not, it ain always got to be about my likes or dislikes sometimes it can just be about helping out your fellow HUMAN. I'm sure you can find quite a few articles about first Mr. Smiley(and I don't mean Rickey, this time), and Professor West if you go to this Google Page which is where I found the rest of this stuff. I know he has a weird name, I used to think way back in the day that his name was TRavis Smiley and that somebody was just mispronouncing and spelling it but hey normally you go for a name you are used too(and I knew quite a few Travis' at the time) instead of something new and different, I guess it's similar to Brendan Fazier(Fayzyour) going as Brendan Frazier for so long because he didn't want to argue with people screwing up his name.

Hope this helps

Sequels vs. Remakes and Reboots: Robin Hood pt 1

The English Highwayman and his jolly friends have been the subject of many an offering from comic books, cartoons, small and silver screen. He's been played by Errol Flynn, a fox, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Carey Elwes, Russel Crowe and many others. His tale is well known Robin an english subject, is an outlaw he steals from the nobles and the corrupt Prince John to help those less fortunate feed their families. Prince John is only ruling because his brother King Richard is currently at war.

The wars have changed a few times sometimes he's off on the crusades other times he's fighting Prince Phillipe of France. Robin is usually a former archer of the king back from the wars to find his life turned upside down. Depending on where we pick up the story he either gathers his merry men on the way or has been travelling with them the whole time, Friar Tuck is always a Jolly and USUALLY an alcohol enjoying holy man who attempts to bring the lords word to Robins wayward group.

The Legend

No movie this week

Those who have come by frequently may be expecting me to post the trailers for a movie either tonight or tomorrow but as the only movie that I wanted to see didn't play at the theater down the street I decided to pass on the movies tonight. I wanted to see Columbiana that suspense thriller staring Zoe Saldana as the young girl who's parents were killed in front of her as a little girl and she grew up to be this awesome hit woman. What can I say I love those "spy" type movies. Hanna was good and so were the Bourne movies so another in the list why not. Unfortunately the Malco 12 at Raleigh Springs isn't showing Columbiana just Conan the Barbarian(on for a second week I guess it got enough ticket sales to remain), Don't be Afraid of the Dark(yeah didn't make my socks roll up and down either), Final Destination 5(*Ahem* you know it kid of defeats the purpose of saying FINAL Destination if you keep making sequels, and I will now sit down with my hypocrisy and play the next FINAL Fantasy game, what I admit i'm a hypocrite can you), Rise of the Planet of the Apes(good movie), and the Smurfs(Seriously, yall are still watching this movie? The Smurfs are in New York City HELLOOO they live in a forest, inside mushrooms way back in the time of kings and castles I just, something is wrong with yall).

This is NOT a review

I just want to say that after watching Captain America:First Avenger I was so relieved. I'm 36, do you know how many HORRENDOUS Captain America movies they have made in my lifetime. I think as far as my most hated goes it has to be The Beach Ball shield, I may do a write up on that one for the Sequels vs Reboot/Remakes series but just off top how on gods green earth did that crew get a chance to touch a marvel property. If ever you wondered why Marvel stayed away from the movies for so long it's because of crap like this

Live long enough and you will see it all

As a youngster I remember telling my mother "It doesn't snow in February" with all the confidence and pride that all of my 8 years of life on this planet at the time had filled me with. Yup in 8 years of life I had NEVER seen a single snow fall past late January and most likely similar to many of my other fellow 70's children thought that as I had never seen it and I had seen much that it must have been impossible. That very February I was witness to one of the worst blizzards in New Jersey history, or possibly not. It may just have been my mother deciding to give me a taste of my own arrogant medicine. Well it seems that in 2011 another mother has decided to scold her rather arrogant child.

Me and many other East coast natives have been known to joke that while we love sun and sand that we prefer our ground to be nice and stable thus we will keep to our eastern shores cause the terra stays firma, ahem well I guess the ground ain so stable after all. While it was only a 5.8 for a spot where in 35 out of my 36 years when we heard earthquake we were wondering if all the folks in California were okay for once I had to hit up quite a few of my hometown and state friends and ask "are you okay". And now as if a return to some form of "normalcy" Hurricane Irene is about to strike, which also makes me think back to a guy who I used to work with who SWORE that we didn't get hurricanes up in Jersey. And yet I remember being a Jersey resident and living through at least 3 hurricanes that made it all the way up the coast as well as one that had an almost iconic video of some of the Atlantic City boardwalk floating out to sea.

So in one week in 2011 there has been an Earthquake on the east cost that rocked from Dc, to NY, to parts of Sc and now a hurricane is blowing through to smooth out the shaken terra not so firma. As I was about to name this post "isn't it great to live long enough to be proven a fool"

The Trailers for Conan the Barbarian

Red Tails

The story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fighter group in the history of America who fought during world war II. This is not the first movie about the Airmen, but this does appear to be the first big screen telling of the tale. The name of the movie comes from the fact that the pilots painted the tails of their jets RED so that when people wondered what squadron escorted their bombers to their targets and backs you would know with absolute certainty who to ask for. In the end credits of the original movie it claimed the  332nd fighter group never lost a bomber, which has been disputed and it is said that the 332nd lost 25 bombers over the course of their missions which was an equally impressive feat as compared to their white counterparts. I don't know but I am putting both numbers out there out of fairness, it was an inspiring story then and hopefully it will continue to be in this new telling.

Since Lucasfilm is involved I know the special effects will be spectacular and I hope that the story matches.

Are you ready for some Football

It's been two preseason games, my Eagles are now 1-1 first was a win vs the Baltimore Ravens where the starters quickly marched down the field scored a quick touchdown and sat down, and the second was a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers where the starting offense posted a goose egg and the starting defense surrendered 21 points. Now to be honest in the first game it wasn't actually all of the starting offense because Desean Jackson was still holding out and Jeremy Maclin was still suffering from his then undisclosed but highly speculated disease. It turned out to be a virus and Maclin should be able to practice by next week and hopefully play on opening night. Jackson played versus Pittsburgh and in an example of what SHOULD happen for the rest of the year with no Maclin on the other side he was tripled covered on the opening play just in case the Eagles decided to go for their opening play quick strike(which they unsuccessfully did).

I know I know, whats up with the weekly posts

I don't know I can't explain it. I've been wanting to do a post about the start of football season, but as I have yet to watch a preseason game I guess it really hasn't clicked for me yet, and you would think with all the buzz about the Eagles I would be raring to go, but at the moment I'm not. As you can see from the few blogs I have done I've been to the movies a few times, and while it will probably draw the ire of my Geektyrant buddies I think I will hit Conan this weekend too.

Maybe it's my new coffee addiction but I feel so mentally sluggish lately, as I have no access to my preffered variety of mocha crack I will have to wait until later to see if that causes a spark. I also know that I am well overdue for a vacation, it's officially been a year since my last vacation, which really sucks yes I have gone long stretches of work before but I better than anyone know how much a person needs to take a break and defrag. I'm typing this out just to take my own advice WRITE SOMETHING, I always tell friends that who also enjoy expressing themselves via blog or twitter, and as of late I've only been doing it in fits and spurts. While stealthy at times I usually feel way more energetic than I do now, while whiny this is annoying. I don't know what I need to get some pep back in my step but if you got it hey send it to me I will be glad to take it. WITHIN REASON, I understand that was a clear cut case of giving somebody a chance of sending me some crazy remedy we laugh about when we here it in the movies or somebody to offer me an illicit substance NOT of my normal choosing.

Never that, I really just need a vacation it doesn't have to be surf and sand, but it does have to not include answering my work phone for more then 72 hours, it also has to include some pretty smiling faces and a lot of nakey time. Hey you vacation how you want, I'm gonna walk around butt naked in a hotel room or something until I decide to go somewhere. How can one recharge their batteries while restricted by clothing, a nice hot soak in a Jacuzzi might also be helpful.

okay now I'm just rambling anyway I'm around so leave comments, I think I have a messaging system if not there is always twitter or tumblr

trailers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Columbia Pictures takes their shot at the book trilogy by Stieg Larsson now this was already made into a movie in Europe back in 2009 and it's now getting the Hollywood treatment. I haven't read the books yet, and the one time I tried to redbox this movie it was scratched halfway through but it did have me hooked in the beginning so maybe I will give it another shot before this movie hits in December. This movie appears to have a lot of intrigue as they search for an heiress lost 40 years ago

Trailers for Cowboys & Aliens

Tower Heist

Ben Stiller plays an average joe who has worked all his life at New York City's most prestigious high rise apartment complex. Average housing cost 5 million, Alan Alda plays a multimillionaire financier who is about to be busted for defrauding all of his customers, including all the pensions of the apartment building workers. Angry that while they are trying to figure out what to do without their retirement savings the crook is stilling living in his penthouse apartment under FBI watch, Ben stiller decides to call on Eddie Murphy an old friend from the neighborhood and a career criminal.

The Goal? Steal 20 million dollars from the thief who stole their pension money. This comedy seems to be taking on the recent Bernie Madoff scandal where basically people found out Madoff was using fuzzy accounting and the new money coming in to pay those who wanted to get out. Can a bunch of hard working every day folks and one criminal steal their money back from the guy who has it all and is in the most secure place he can be?

Still no reviews

I know I know, what happened to the movie reviews. I dunno I just haven't been able to wrap my mind around writing them lately so I haven't anyway I decided to start adding the actual trailers to the blogs about the movie trailers I go see. I don't know if that will remain a constant I guess it depends on whether or not I feel it slows the site down too much. If I feel it's too much of a burden I will just switch out to links of the trailers.

Saw Cowboys and Aliens last night, I liked it I know I'm a good week behind on all of my movies but hey as I get to there I get there. Once November gets here there is no more walking to the movies. They are closing the Raleigh Springs Malco 12, its been a slow process as they close down theaters, take out games and cut down movie times. I'm just glad that for the most part it has gotten a majority of the movies I have wanted to see. Now that Summer Movie season is starting to wind down while I still want to go to the movies I will probably hit them less since well time is neither on my side nor will it be in my favor. It doesn't surprise me that they are closing the theater after the big summer blockbuster season but before the start of fall and winter breaks, get your last big hurrah of cash out of the site and then close it before it becomes difficult to close. Once the theater closes I have no clue what I will do for entertainment, I guess I can start walking to the comic shop which is only a little bit further down the street. It's about the same expenditure of cash and it's actually something I can walk home with. So one vice for another I guess, it has been a fun summer even if I wasn't able to keep up the blogging.

This is at the moment at best a hobby, and like any other hobby it requires time, sometimes I can make time for it others my time is best used elsewhere as I continue though to blog more hopefully it will become even more second nature so that the amount of time it requires to think up what I wish to put in a post takes less time. I haven't gotten to the "ooh I have to outline every thought before I go off on a tangent phase yet", but I may be near the "hmm lets write down a few things I definitely want to touch on". I think I am still fighting against such rigid constraints because at least for a while blogging would stop being fun and would require some work, mentally not there yet. I think I am getting better, could probably stand to proof read a little more than I do, but just like drawing the more you write the easier it is to write. So writing I am, even if it's fluff updates like this.

You can contact me on twitter, tumblr, or hell hit me up on google plus (button stage left) as soon as I find a contact widget I will gladly add it in if there are any questions one doesn't want to leave in a post but wishes to ask me directly. I get enough spam as it is not to want to release my e-mail address because who wants spam.

Sequels vs Remakes/Reboots: Spider-man Pt. 3

Live Action


For any comic book fan live action has always been either feast or famine. Of all the characters who have gotten a Live Action version the most popular seems to be Superman, the Man of Steel has had 8 live action incarnations. From Movies to Broadway Plays and TV shows, Superman is to date the most successful Comic Book Character to be translated into Live action. Now to be fair I am not just talking about money made off of said property I also mean the dutiful translation of the character and his villains, If I was just talking about money Superman would still be up there but especially including recent box office success the list would probably be:Batman, Spider-man, Iron Man, Superman and The Incredible Hulk(mainly because of his long running TV series and made for TV movies). The problem with most live action attempts is that the medium of Comic book and cartoon allows you to create a world where physics don't matter, you can create whatever look you want and since it isn't "real" you tend to get a break on the look of things. With live action if it doesn't look right people will be disappointed.

The 1970's

Peter Parker got a live action TV show in 1978 called the Amazing Spider-man starring Nicholas Hammond

Okay, as a 4 year old at the time this show came out I would like to say as BAD as it looks now hey everybody looked like that back then. Those extra shiny costumes, the cheesy special effects, the bad wire work there was no cgi back then it was all rotoscoping, stop motion camera work, and picture flipping. As a little kid just happy to see Spider-man on my TV screen I ignored the fact that the webbing came out as a Nylon string or else a premade net, I also ignored that I guess Mr. Hammond had never done any rock climbing because it always looking like he had just bent over and dog walked up the sides of buildings. Nick Hammond had the look of peter parker though, yeah yeah those weird eye screens were always kind of silly but I guess back then it was the only way they were able to let him see. It ran for about 2 years and while today's standards relegate it to the campy-ness of the original Batman live action TV show or maybe a step below the Incredible Hulk TV show for believability. The Transformation from Bill Bixby to Lou Ferrigno worked because of the difference in stature of the two men even if since then live action hulks tend to be CGI and stay away from purple pants hood.

Sequels vs Remakes/Reboots: Spider-man Pt. 2

The Cartoons

You don't hang around for 40 plus years, sell tons of merch, become a favorite of people around the world and don't sooner or later get placed onto the small screen. Spider-mans quirky mannerism, flippant conversations and determination has made him a beloved cartoon character for generations. For most my age the iconic images of Spider-man come to us from the 1960's cartoon Spider-man named after the comic book. The colors were a little washed out but the action was evenly paced and the stories were ripped right from the comics.

One of the most memorable things from this show was the theme song, every spider-man theme song since then as well as the in show music always tries to match the resonance of it. For the most part spider-man didn't really change in look for the better part of 30 years. Even in the 1980's Spider-man and his Amazing friends Peter Parker looked the same, the funny part about the show is that Iceman was and X-man and while for the show Fire Star was also an X-man in the comics she was a Hellion, a ward of the Hell Fire Club and one the X-men's biggest rival. It was also an interesting mix because Spider-man and Ice man are both seen as "class clowns" so the two were always playing off each other. There was also a running joke because Ice man and Fire Star can pretty much to quick changes anywhere where as spidey has to find a place to strip.

Sequels vs Remakes/Reboots: Spider-man Pt. 1

As I am sure many have heard by now next year a new Spiderman movie will be released that is going to restart the entire Spidey Universe for Sony. The movie is titled "The Amazing Spiderman" after the long running comic of the same name. Now while there has been some complaining about the new movie I want to look back at how we got to this point, because especially for us Marvel Fans spidey was a culmination of years of wants, dreams and disappointments.

The Comics


Through the years if you were a spidey fan you have probably heard of the following titles: the Amazing Spider-man, the Spectacular Spider-man, Web of Spider-man, Ultimate Spider-man Peter Parker has been swinging through the streets of New York in his red and blue PJ's for the better part of 50 years. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko brought us these wonderful tales of the Queens New Yorker with the extreme case of the guilties starting in 1963. Peter Parker is a straight "A" student, slight in build, high in intelligence, awkward, and seemingly out of place. Peter stays with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May Parker, because something happened to his parents when he was a young child. One fateful night  Peter takes a trip to Empire University to see a demonstration of nuclear energy.

I guess it's better to write whats on your mind than to try and force it

While I have quite a few posts languishing in draft at the moment I am doing a post for  the "Sequels vs Remakes and Reboots" series focusing on Spider-man, one of my favorite comic book characters. For those who don't know Sony Pictures is Rebooting their Spider-man movie series starting back from the beginning with Peter Parker in high school. The name of the movie is "the Amazing Spider-man" after the long running comic of the same name. Supposedly it is taking a slightly darker tone more along the lines of the Ultimate Series, and one of the things I'm happy about is a return to the Web Shooters which are an iconic part of the Spider-man universe.

Geektyrant and Thinkhero as usual have great coverage with many different vids, images and opinions on the entire process from the initial news of Spider-man 4 being canceled for the reboot to the casting of the new Peter Parker, to high res images and video clips. Of course some people are upset about the change from Tobey Macguire and Sam Raimi to Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb. but in my eyes the reboot allows us to see some of the iconic Spider-man villians re-imagined, brought back to life, or brought into the timeline. I won't deny I have always HATED the Gobby costume from the first movie, I thought it look stupid and forced almost as if they were trying to upgrade not only spider-man's origin but also his villains costumes. For the first movie nah it didn't work not at all, it was just a disaster, I loved Doc Ock's costume in the second one, Sandman's costume was pretty good too, Venom Sucked and Gobby Jr, was meh. So as far as I am concerned Sam Raimi was 3-2 and 1  with costumes. Spidey's costume was good, Gobby's costume sucked, Doc Oc was good, Sandman was good, Venom SUCKED, and Harry/Gobby jr was in the middle he was supposed to be wearing the original goblin costume but in real life he probably would have had an updated costume with better functionality made. So I will let that one be a push.

I didn't mention it because I was hoping it would GO THE HELL AWAY

If you have been observing the weather channel as of late you will notice that the devil appears to be enjoying a nice long vacation. By that I mean down here in the midsouth hot is a damn understatement, it was 106 yesterday, let me repeat that it was ONE HUNDRED AND SIX DEGREES yesterday(yes for only like 2 hours between noon and 3 pm but ahem the 104 it was residing at for the rest of the damn day was no freakin' peach either) now I don't know about you but last time I checked this wasn't the Mojave and I was trying to enter the world of Rango. I know this used to be the doorstep to the old wild west but that was then and dammit this is now, Land of the AC home of the slushie. I shouldn't walk out my front door and immediately begin sweating like I just ran 2 miles.

There's warm

There's Hot

There's too hot

And there's "I'm not that idiot who doesn't believe in climate change, global warming or that we are damaging our planet so could you please quit playing and turn the air back on"

Another lull

I could blame my lack of production blogwise on the heat, a heavy work load, even getting lost in the keys, it's no excuse though. Even with my new laptop unlike before when I would sit up and write until I fell asleep(or watch porn, it was a toss up  but writing usually got done too) I have not gotten myself fully back into that habit yet. It's sad but especially as of late I won't say I have commitment issues I will say my stick to  it tiveness is at an all time low.  I mean yes I have followed through on some things and yes, I am sure if I check I am well over 120 posts to this here blog. I also know that a good portion of those 120 posts came in may when I was a blogging fool(it happens when it happens), part of it inspired by the fact that thanks to that Tornado/severe thunderstorm that rolled through we had no power so the only thing I could do was blog to clear my head. No power meant no video games, no facebook, the barest of human interaction because in essence I was cut off from the digital world. 

Every little happenstance became a reason for me to write, cause for me to look back later and either laugh or shake my head. Hell I even have stopped writing my movie reviews(mainly because I am so far behind), I have seen Green Lantern, X-men:First class, Transformers, and Captain America now(I didn't get a chance to peep HP7 pt2 yet, but I will) done a few trailers posts for them, but as far as reviews go NADA. I actually have this long one written for X-men that I want to break up into a smaller piece but well at the moment my brain just isn't fitting the pieces together in a way that I'm liking.  While in the book I read a few weeks ago it mentions how "talking politics on a blog was a death knell", I happen to like talking about politics sometimes and personally the best thing about a blog or website that you produce the content for: You can do it your way. So yes my political views may scare some folks off but hey, if you disagree be brave enough to say it with your keyboard. I may moderate you out of here if you are off topic(my content is diverse enough that you could probably find SOMETHING that you can speak on without hijacking a post) too much but I'm not so heartless as to say "You disagree with me so you have to go".

The trailers for Captain America

Apollo 18

This seems to be a horror thriller based on "why we don't go back to the moon" when american astronauts for the Apollo 18 mission arrive they find the helmet of a russian cosmonaut and his tracks on the moons surface. The harrowing events that happen next are enough to keep all countries from coming back to the moon.

The Three Musketeers

Has it been 10 years already? It's seems like every 10 years there is a new 3 musketeers based movie. As usual young D'Artangan comes to Paris to join the musketeers following in the footstops while Malady Dewinter, King Buckingham of England, and Cardinal Richelieu plot to take over all of France from King Louis. It looks to be action packed along the lines of The Musketeer, but honestly I don't know if anything will be as fun as the early 90's version of The Three Musketeers. There may have been a high amount of cheese in that movie but it was still fun, and that cast was awesome, I'm sorry Tim Curry as the Cardinal was just great.

The new Sexy:Targus Miami Messenger CityGear Laptop Case

Targus CityGear Messenger Laptop Case

As I already posted I purchased a new laptop last weekend, a Toshiba Satellite, which was lovely, shiny and pretty. And while I did have a laptop before the old laptop was a 15.5" Acer Aspire which barely lasted me two years, well when I bought the Aspire I also bought a laptop case so that I could carry it around to various job sites and better handle my responsibilities. The problem is my Toshiba is a 17.3" laptop yup thats right a good 1.8" inches larger than my old laptop, so when I attempted to place my laptop in the case it wasn't happening. and it makes absolutely no sense to attempt to use a laptop case that won't fit your laptop. So needless to say I went shopping for a new one.

First things first it seems that 17.3 laptops don't get a lot of love in the case department, looking at Best Buy's site(I have a reward zone card because we tend to buy a lot of electronics as a company and hey why not get bonuses for it) MOST of the cases 17" and over(which is funny the largest screen size I have seen Best Buy sell is 17.3 thus why not just say 17.3", it's not like a 17" won't fit in there) were on the ugly side, not only that but they were pretty expensive. Looking at the site best buy offered 4 two of the messenger bag/briefcase style and two of the Backpack style, now to some who know me it would probably seem like a no brainer that I would go for the backpack, I used to gladly carry one for years. NO, I am trying to get away from that so no more backpacks yes I still love carry lots of things with me and tend to be "king of pockets" but I don't want to have a back pack on my back anymore. So in essence those were out.

Trailers for Transformers 3 take 2

Moneyball

This is the story of Billy Bean, the Oakland A's manager who started a new trend in baseball:look less for talent when you are acquiring players and more for tangibles. Those tangibles being Runs, on base percentage, hits, RBI's, etc. Brad Pitt plays Billy Bean and _ plays the architect of the Moneyball system.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Ethan Hunt has a new team and a new mission:figure out who framed the IMF for bombimg the Kremlin. Looks to be lots of car chases, suspense, action, and more Ethan hunt hanging from a line somewhere. You're mission, if you choose to accept it, is to hang on for the ride.

Spotify.com and why you should care

I don't know about you but I love music, I love to hear it, I love to chair dance to it, I love to make those awkward hand moves on certain songs when you just feel it. I tend to have a sound track running in my head as I get into various situations, I may not always remember the name of the group or the song but I will remember one of the two. If I don't I'll remember the movie or TV show I heard it on, usually thats enough to get it stuck in your head and drive you insane. Thanks to all of our digital devices we can stream music pretty much anywhere, thing is it's some "created by an arbitrary rating process" playlist that sometimes may hit the song you want but other times it just has you waiting for your favorite or hoping something new and hot comes on.

Spotify allows you to look up the group or the song(I had to use it for Brick's Dazz earlier because ahem too many things use Brick in the name) and as long as somebody has uploaded it on a playlist somewhere there you go. I'm not saying it's perfect, I'll critique the only semi annoying thing I noticed later on, but if all you can do is remember the song or the group and you want to see what other songs they may have that you missed there you have it. And while the occasional ad here and there on the free version may bother some, dude my first day using it I was in 80's and 90's hip hop heaven, a 30 second ad here and there while I'm playing every number 1 from high school pfft radio doesn't give it to you that good. Now yes some of the groups didn't have every song I wanted, but I can always go buy those cd's myself and ADD it to the collective(I need to add my desktop to spotify since that's where the majority of my music is) I mean how is a global music database supposed to work if we all don't contribute to it?

There is also a playlist feature where you can add songs to either windows media player(I'm on the Toshiba so I have yet to download anything else "news at 11" to if it will add to more than just WMP playlists) or create a spotify playlist within the application. You can also star songs to help rate them up, the "What's New" page also lets you see any new artists or album releases. If you use the ad version you will get a chance to browse albums(I checked out a few tracks on Pittbull's Planet Pittbull earlier and now I grooving to Jill Scott's new album) that pop up either on the bottom or the right side. Now I'm sure since there is some tracking going on they will know that so far I am a big Hip hop, reggae, funk and Neo Soul fan so what if you can push more of those songs my way I have no problem with it. I just started my first playlist today(I have WAAAAY more funk songs to look up than the ones I have added so far, ahem what Child of the Funk get over it) and whew can I say putting in Parliament or Funkadelic was like my Dad's old record collection all over again. I think I reached the end of the list but then again I was only skimming for my absolute favorites, unfortunately some of them were live versions and while lives are nice you don't always hear the lyrics clearly. Then I looked up Dazz, then grabbed songs from the Dazz band, and the Gap band. I'll share that playlist on FB later, Jill Scott's new one has me making a neo soul playlist so yeah gotta pick up that album sometime this week.

The Motorola Backflip

As I noticed somebody hit my blog talking about Hammering their Backflip let me discuss some of my favorite "blackflip issues".

Backflip issue number one: Battery life, I don't know who or what sucks the power out of my backflip while it is in "sleep mode" in my holster not doing a damn thing, but as nice as the keyboard on this phone is, how pretty the screen is. Pulling out my phone after a 45 minute car ride and it's like half dead and I haven't used it to complete a call is a no no. And no it isn't a defective battery per se because this is a new battery I had my service provider send me one of those first when it initially reared it's ugly head.

My new laptop

Today was the day: I had saved up my money, decided what I wanted, and had weighed the pro's and cons of each of my potential new "toys."  Obviously due to years of distinguished service I was strongly rooting for the Sony Vaio, I mean while my first desktop was an HP(that did it's best but as the saying goes you get what you pay for) it was a budget PC and didn't last long. Due as much to it needing constant upgrades as to one fateful Christmas holiday somebody breaking in to our apartment and stealing it and the Christmas presents. It was one of those walk in the door and instantly be struck dumb moments, nothing makes sense, it couldn't happen to you and yet it did. Unfortunately for the exact same features the Vaio cost 400 bucks more, which yes I'm a Sony fan, and yes I don't mind paying for what I want, I just don't want to get raked over the coals due to brand preference.

Still 3 movies behind

I did the trailer blog for transformers yesterday but I didn't get a chance to edit it and add in the links so its sitting in draft. I'll leave this one link free so I can just post it. Man has it been hot here in the midsouth lately, I'm glad that our AC issues have been mediated because while I love to barbecue I myself don't need slow roasting.

The issue with being 3 movies behind is simply that another movie I wish to see premiered last night, HP7 pt 2, and my memory issues will not allow me to store up 4 issues. Now there is a bit of good news on the horizon I think I've narrowed my laptop choices down to two, a Toshiba or a Sony. Now as my last 2 desktops have been Sony's and minus a few minor hardware issues(the oldest one had its power supply die, and mine has a dead top dvd-R/W) and of course my current software issues 6 plus years in the game money well spent.

That's another blog though, X-men is being re-edited, I haven't gotten past the Oath for Green lantern, and I haven't even sprayed the mud out of the tires of Transformers 3. So I'll be 4 blogs behind whenever I get the laptop. Deadlines are your friend though, or so says a Pulitzer prize winner Eugene Robinson says(no relation, lol always wanted to say that). Okay enough procrastinating. I'm already working so let's post this and get on with other things

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And back to gaming, Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

This isn't a new game, it isn't even really a popular game it's just one of the games I'm playing at the moment when I'm bored and putting flame to incense.  Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is based on the Naruto Shippuuden anime and thus the Naruto manga and as with many anime based games there is an option to have the audio in English or in Japanese(being a HUGE sub fan, I of course opt for Japanese with english Subtitles), mainly because they usually get the actual voice actors who play the characters to do the voice overs. So it's pretty much a seemless immersion into the anime. NS2 is along the lines of a fighting RPG you have to walk around and do quests to help you get items to get strong but for the most part the story moves along once you go and have certain fights. You don't really level up though in this one, you get new versions of the character as the story moves along and you get past certain chapters of the story, that coincide with things that happened in the anime. In this case you get regular Naruto who just knows how to use the Rasengan, then you get Naruto who knows how to use the Rasen Shuriken, then you get access to the "sage mode" Naruto who also uses the Rasen Shuriken but it's alot stronger. There is also an "unlockable" Naruto if you beat the game.

Fighting Role Playing Games also differ from normal RPG's in the fact that your main goal is to get characters, items, and abilities to use in the actual tournament or P v P action outside the main story. You really don't have to play the Main story at all and can just fight with friends using the characters unlocked when you first open the box, there is also an online component. If you are going to play online though, I recommend you play out the story otherwise you will be catching a few Sasuke Uchiha Kirin, and Naruto Rasen Shurikens to the face. If you are a fan of the anime you will recognize some of the locales and the epic battles. In some of the fights there will be added "interactive sequences" where you can use button combinations and directional pad presses to attempt to earn stars. The faster you enter in the combinations the more stars you get(if you fail you will be sent back to the beginning of the sequence), you have the chance to earn what is called a secret factor. Which is usually a scene from the show itself or the Naruto anime in a kind of faded out 2D. It makes you want to fight harder and pay attention more, while it adds to the story it's unnecessary to go ahead and finish out the game. For those who have to have absolute 100 percent "gotta catch them all" completion of the game there is an option to go back and attempt to earn those stars later in a game. In the Hokage's(or Kazekage later in the game) office there is a ninja who will offer you the chance to go back and refight battles. 

*Yaaaaaaaaaawn*

Hey Ponderers, I'm tired as hell today another late night in a series of late nights. I have found the "tag/script of my dreams" on wordpress, its a little bit of code that allows me to basically let me turn long blog posts into book form. I know some would prefer that my more enormous blogs could be cut down a little into more bite-sized offerings, you know let you get to the bottom of the page and feel a sense of progress before you continue on with one of my rambles.

Unfortunately as of yet that doesn't help me here, I'm sure that there has to be some html code out there to "paginate" a non wordpress blog and I am going to find it. I don't know when or where but I am now determined. I know some would say "doesn't that just give you an excuse to be wordy?" Well yes, but you won't suffer because of my wordiness now will you, okay maybe slightly, mentally, and chronologically(because if it takes a minute to write it takes a minute to read).

Anyway this is just a quick, "write what is on your mind to keep the juices flowing" post especially tailored to my "barely keeping one eye open" state of mind right now.

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my barbecue on 3/27/10

Why this blog has been languishing in draft for the last 16 months is beyond me. It's just a blog about a barbecue, with pictures to show you exactly how I roll when it comes to throwing meat on the grill and getting it that nice smokey flavor. I didn't even notice that I had turned my grill around(I do admit to sometimes missing out on subtle details). I haven't even really decided on pic placement yet because I started putting pictures in this blog and then just forgot about it. I'm human it happens, I may come back later and go ahead and place the rest of the pictures from that day in this blog, it will just have to be one of those I sneak in hurriedly dumb a blog and then sneak out.

Since I have barbecued a few times since then of course I have a lot of pictures to go through, I actually think I have gotten a lot better in that time. I'll post this as a current post instead of sneaking it into last years count because that just wrong and while SOMETIMES I have been known to do that in this case I will bite the bullet and say yup I goofed. So enjoy these few pictures and if you're ever in the neighborhood and smell some good food come on by and get a plate.