Can we be a little more random please?

Yeah, so I kinda has this random post topic thing going on, don’t I. Should I pick a theme for my blog? We’ll see.

A finguer twitching good time… or not so much

So…. I have this problem. I have a little bit of an anxiety issue, and sometimes it’s hard to deal with.

It tends to happen when I get into stressfull situations, or recall stressfull situations. It’s funny, because some stress, I can deal with without any issue. Other times, it seems like I can’t stop going over the cause of the stress/anxiety, and not matter how much I try to think my way out of it, it won’t go away. My wife knows when I’m having one of these moments, because my finguers start twitching, and they just won’t stop. It’s like I have a nervous tick or something.

Went to the walk-in clinic one day, and the doctor there gave me a trial of a pretty hard core anti-depressent, saying that it would help with the anxiety. All it did was make me very, very tired. I felt like I had no energy at all. I went to my regular doctor, and she had me try to loose weight. Something about the endorphins (sp?) that are release or something. That didn’t work either.

I don’t quite know what I’m going to do about this. I’m sure about this very self indulgent day where I’m sulking and thinking how horrible this is will go away, and tomorrow will be a better day.

That’s all we can hope for, isn’t it?

BNL Rocks like…. Barenaked Ladies!

This is so Cool. Ed rocks! I hope that he does “When I fall”!!!!!

Bond, James Bond. I think…..

Went to see the Casino Royale last night. Late night, expensive Babysitter, but very worth it. It takes the traditional Bond film and throws it right out the window. It also messes with the traditional movie structure a little as well. There are heavy spoilers ahead, so don’t read if you aren’t interested.

 

As has been mentioned by several other reviewers, the opening sequence is fantastic. By having this section in Black and White, the director creates a “Film Noir” feel, and gives Bond a chance to show that he is, as always, deadly serious about his work. The opening sequence also takes the opportunity to show how an MI-6 agents gains Double-O status by showing how Bond earned his. This section is slick, as most Bond movie are, but show a bluntness that most Bond movies lack. Great intro for the movie.

 

The title sequence was very disappointing in my opinion. It was a cool idea, but one of the iconic things about a James Bond movie is the women in the opening sequence. Instead of an esoteric sequence, with lots of women, it turned out to be a long, abstract fight sequence. Reminded me a little of those new iPod commercials.

The rest of the movie was very well put together, with the plot moving along quite well. I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say that this is definitly a Bond that is learning who he is, and how to do what he does. He makes mistakes, and lives to ensure that he does not make them again.

The one part that screws with the normal flow of the movie is the “fourth act.” Most movies have a three act structure (read more about that here). Just when the story ends, and you expect the film to start wrapping things up, it keeps going! I won’t give away any more of the story, but I have to say that the torture scene made me very uncomfortable. It made my wife so uncomfortable that she put her head into my shoulder for a few minutes. I did find myself, about 10 minutes into this fourth act, saying to my wife “Will this movie ever end?” It’s not that it was not entertaining, it’s just that it felt like it was going, and going, and going…….

Overall, I would highly recommend this film to anyone who liked the classic Bond movies, as long as they understood that this one messes with the formula. I would also recommend this movie to anyone who would never watch a Bond movie. I would compare this one more to The Bourne Identity than to the classic Bond movies. Pretty much anyone who likes a good spy action movie.

Enjoy the movie, and have a good one.

Why can’t Wii all just get along?

OK, I know, pathetic title, but what are you gonna do about it? At least you have some idea of what I am going to write about today. While most people are going to be busy writing about the PS3 launch today, I am going to conform in my anti-conformism (is that even a word?)

The Wii. A pretty novel concept, if you ask me. The idea that you would be able to just move the controller in front of you, and have the game pick up the movement and accurately represent it in game is just a really cool idea. It sounds like, from the previews and reviews that I have read so far that is have been implemented pretty well. So far, it seems that the Nintendo Sports game and Zelda are the best at using the controller to its full advantage. In one preview that I read, it mentioned that you use the Wii-mote to pull back the bow string in Zelda, and that when you release the bow string, the speaker embedded in the Wii-mote gives the “twang” of a bow string. Pretty darn cool. The one thing that I am MOST excited about though, and that I may beg my wife to let me buy a Wii for, is that Lucasarts has said that they will create a Star Wars game for the Wii. And you will be able to use the Wii-mote to control your Lightsaber. I MUST HAVE THIS! Oh, and can you tell that I like Star Wars?

For those of you non-gamers out there (why the hell are you reading my blog if you’re not a gamer?) here is a first impression that you will probably find interesting, from a non-gamer.

This is definitely something that I will rent when I get the opportunity. I am still a pretty big fan of Nintendo. I mean, I rented the Virtual Boy several times. Yep, I was one of the 10 people that actually enjoyed playing on that system.

Have a good one.

This is just cool

I stole this from someone else, I admit it. Thank you youtube!

Would you like some O.J. with that? Hell no!

Just when we where all finally done with O.J. who, in my opinion, got away with murder, here he is in the spotlight again. I read this article (here), and see that now he has a book deal, the book title being “O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened”. Man that just ticks me off. Here is a guy who, I have to admit, was found not guilty in a criminal trial, but was then found liable in a civil trial (here), had FINALLY fallen into obscurity. We had just gotten rid of the guy for crying out loud! And now we have to have all this…. stuff….. dragged up again. Talk about desperate for any publicity.

Anyways, so we finally have him as a joke in the world, and he come out with this book. Yeah right, “If” he did it. Uh, huh. Well, it turns out that the publisher of the book, Judith Reagan, considers the book a confession (here). Don’t we all.

Gonna post a more tech/movie intensive post in a few. Feel free to comment on your opinions about this new O.J. “news.”

Here we go…..

I figured since “everyone and their cousin” was writing a blog, I wouldn’t want to let one of my cousins down. Ok, bad joke.

What do I plan to do here? Just write. Talk about some of the things that interest me.

Here is the first thing. I was surfing around Ain’t it Cool News when I saw this article: New Spider-Man Trailer WITH Venom. All I have to say is WOW. I wish that they had finished and released this trailer instead of the one that they did. As a very big fan of Spider-Man for many years, it excites the inner fanboy in me. And the questions of the day: My thoughts on Venom? Well, we hardly got to see him, but what we did see was cool. It looks like they took almost an “anime” approach to him. They would have to with Topher Grace playing Eddie Brock. For those of you who don’t know, in the comics, Eddie Brock (the guy who turns into Venom) has a body builder type of physique, and Venom is huge! From what I can see in the trailer, it looks like the have Venom about the same size as Spider-Man, but at least it looks like they got the face right. If you don’t want to read through the comments to find the link to the trailer, here it is. EDIT: Sorry folks, but it got pulled. Search the net for it though. It’s worth the effort. There is more talk about this trailer here. Feel free to start a new discussion here.

 

Another thing that I think is really cool right now is the launch of the Zune on Tuesday. I like what I have heard so far about this player. With a screen larger than the current iPod, and the Wi-Fi capabilities, this thing is going to rock. Now, some of you might say that the Wi-Fi is not as important as I might make it out to be. For those of you who don’t know, at the moment, the Wi-Fi for the Zune will only allow you to share songs with friends wirelessly. If the song on the Zune has DRM on it, then the song that you send to your friend will only work on their Zune for 3 days. If it is DRM free, then the transfer has not time limit. The thing is, I am sure that they will add the ability to purchase songs through Wi-Fi at a later date. They would be crazy not to. Can you imagine walking into your local Starbucks, hearing a song that you like, and then just popping onto your Zune and downloading the song through the Wi-Fi hotspot? Wow.

As far as the Zune goes compared to the iPod, here are my thought: Right now, nothing beats iTunes for simplicity and ease of use. I have been meaning to play around with Songbird, but haven’t gotten around to it. I hear good things though. I like my 1GB iPod Nano, although I have been having technical difficulties lately. The darn thing just won’t connect reliably. I think that the cable AND the connector on the actual iPod are shot. I would hate to send it in though, cause I hear it is very expensive. Let me know about your experiences with Apple Repair.

Not, another thing that has been fun for me lately. Dungeons and Dragons Online. The first thing you have to understand, it that when I was in high school, and pretty much until I had kids, I was a hardcore Pen and Paper RPGer. Mostly Rifts, from Palladium Books. Since I and most of my friends have had kids, we have tried everything from Play by Email, to playing over IM, but nothing has kept going. Now, we have Saturday night, once all the kids have gone to bed, set aside. We all downloaded the 10 day trial for DDO, and are trying it out. I think that we are all going to get it. The tactical aspect of it (you can just click on a monster and auto attack, you’ll die pretty quick), and the built in voice chat make it a great experience for everyone. It just feels right.

Anyways, thanks for reading my blog. I will try to update twice a week, but we’ll see.

Have a good one.