Film List Time...
The list below is the films I saw in 2007...despite the large amount there are still about 15 or so films that I wanted to see and missed...scary! This is in release date order, but not necessarily in the order I saw them, or a reference to quality. Maybe later.
Smokin' Aces Universal Pictures
Breach Universal Pictures
Ghost Rider Columbia
Black Snake Moan Paramount Vantage
300 Warner Bros
Shooter Paramount
TMNT Warner Bros
Grindhouse Dimension (guess this counts as 2? Deathproof and Planet Terror)
Hot Fuzz Rogue Pictures
Spider-man 3 Columbia
28 Weeks Later Fox Atomic
Shrek The Third DreamWorks Animation
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At Worlds End Walt Disney Pictures
Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) Fox Searchlight
Mr. Brooks MGM
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer 20th Century Fox
1408 Dimension · MGM
Live Free Or Die Hard 20th Century Fox
Ratatouille Walt Disney Pictures
Transformers DreamWorks
Rescue Dawn MGM
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix Warner Bros
The Simpsons Movie 20th Century Fox
The Bourne Ultimatum Universal Pictures
Stardust Paramount
Superbad Columbia
War Lionsgate
3:10 To Yuma Lionsgate
Into The Wild Paramount Vantage
Resident Evil: Extinction Screen Gems
The Kingdom Universal Pictures
Michael Clayton Warner Bros
Into The Wild Paramount Vantage
30 Days Of Night Columbia
Gone Baby Gone Miramax Films
American Gangster Universal Pictures
No Country For Old Men Miramax Films
Beowulf Paramount
The Golden Compass New Line Cinema
I Am Legend Warner Bros
National Treasure: Book Of Secrets Walt Disney Pictures
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem 20th Century Fox
Anyhow 2007 was a decent year...no funerals, a wedding, many friends had chilluns, cats still alive, still speaking to all of my relatives, etc...Happy 2008!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
By the power of...Wal-Mart?
"New Eagles album, a Wal-Mart exclusive, sold more than twice as many copies.
By Gil Kaufman
Britney Spears just can't catch a break. Even when she makes a positive career move — i.e. a strong album — things seem to fall apart in unprecedented ways.
In this case, after a surprising last-minute rule change on Tuesday night, her expected #1 debut on next week's Billboard albums chart for her fifth effort, Blackout, will be trumped at the finish line by the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden. Though Britney was pegged to top the charts with sales of 290,000, according to early SoundScan numbers, a press release issued Tuesday afternoon from Wal-Mart, the exclusive retailer of Eden, revealed that the Eagles' first album in nearly 30 years sold 711,000 copies.
Just hours before the press release was issued, a Billboard executive lamented that even though it appeared the Eagles had handily beaten Spears, they would not debut at the top of the charts because of rules forbidding albums exclusively sold at one retail outlet from hitting the Billboard 200.
"In consultation with Nielsen SoundScan, Billboard will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on the Billboard 200 and other Billboard charts, effective with this week's charts," read an article posted on Billboard.biz Tuesday night. "Prior to this, proprietary titles were not eligible to appear on most Billboard charts."
I find this to be pretty amazing...Shows how powerful the late Mr. Walton's company is and how huge their influence is. I do not shop there typically, mainly due to the general fluorescent-light-creepiness-suspended-time-feeling you get when you go in there, and the fact they claim to be all morally upstanding, but still sell controversial albums (albeit with edited lyrics, which the numbers above, I can see why the music types conform to this.)
...personally, I am more of a Target guy.
"New Eagles album, a Wal-Mart exclusive, sold more than twice as many copies.
By Gil Kaufman
Britney Spears just can't catch a break. Even when she makes a positive career move — i.e. a strong album — things seem to fall apart in unprecedented ways.
In this case, after a surprising last-minute rule change on Tuesday night, her expected #1 debut on next week's Billboard albums chart for her fifth effort, Blackout, will be trumped at the finish line by the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden. Though Britney was pegged to top the charts with sales of 290,000, according to early SoundScan numbers, a press release issued Tuesday afternoon from Wal-Mart, the exclusive retailer of Eden, revealed that the Eagles' first album in nearly 30 years sold 711,000 copies.
Just hours before the press release was issued, a Billboard executive lamented that even though it appeared the Eagles had handily beaten Spears, they would not debut at the top of the charts because of rules forbidding albums exclusively sold at one retail outlet from hitting the Billboard 200.
"In consultation with Nielsen SoundScan, Billboard will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on the Billboard 200 and other Billboard charts, effective with this week's charts," read an article posted on Billboard.biz Tuesday night. "Prior to this, proprietary titles were not eligible to appear on most Billboard charts."
I find this to be pretty amazing...Shows how powerful the late Mr. Walton's company is and how huge their influence is. I do not shop there typically, mainly due to the general fluorescent-light-creepiness-suspended-time-feeling you get when you go in there, and the fact they claim to be all morally upstanding, but still sell controversial albums (albeit with edited lyrics, which the numbers above, I can see why the music types conform to this.)
...personally, I am more of a Target guy.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Pool Update...
Arrrgh!....more pool delays...this time someone forgot to get a permit...no inspection,no kids swimming.
I think the General Contractor has some odd form of Stockholm syndrome and doesn't want to leave the job...
And the day started so well, we had a nice building dedication for the other project (minus handrails of course-4 to 8 weeks for delivery, 'doh!) But the school at least has a sense of humor about it...they put signs on the temporary ones Ala the 60's Batcave saying "temporary handrail".
....you wins some, you lose some...'sigh' :(
Arrrgh!....more pool delays...this time someone forgot to get a permit...no inspection,no kids swimming.
I think the General Contractor has some odd form of Stockholm syndrome and doesn't want to leave the job...
And the day started so well, we had a nice building dedication for the other project (minus handrails of course-4 to 8 weeks for delivery, 'doh!) But the school at least has a sense of humor about it...they put signs on the temporary ones Ala the 60's Batcave saying "temporary handrail".
....you wins some, you lose some...'sigh' :(
Sunday, October 21, 2007
30 Days of Night...
I can't say I'm really up on the current horror genre, the Saws, Hostels, Jenifer Lopez movies, etc. But I went and saw 30 Days of Night because I had read "The ground-breaking graphic novel" to quote the trailer (A.K.A. "comic book" it is based on) and I do feel a certain obligation to those films based on comics. I also have a soft spot in my heart for zombie movies and this seemed to have a similar bent (the last Resident Evil movie was funny as hell, so you can get a gauge on my odd sense of humor...zombie crows! Bwah-ha-ha!).
Have to say this movie does its job, there is some messed up and creepy stuff in here. I thought they did a good job and although the movie is violent, there are things not shown Ala Hitchcock that make a few of the situations just downright...well horrible. Not to mention some moments where you just plain have to enjoy the intelligence of the villains. I love smart villains!
...Two thumbs up for me Dave!
"No, no, they're wrong! The creature they seek is the walking undead! Nosferatu! Das Wampyr!...[Family looks blankly]...[exasperated] A vampire!"
-Lisa Simpson-
I can't say I'm really up on the current horror genre, the Saws, Hostels, Jenifer Lopez movies, etc. But I went and saw 30 Days of Night because I had read "The ground-breaking graphic novel" to quote the trailer (A.K.A. "comic book" it is based on) and I do feel a certain obligation to those films based on comics. I also have a soft spot in my heart for zombie movies and this seemed to have a similar bent (the last Resident Evil movie was funny as hell, so you can get a gauge on my odd sense of humor...zombie crows! Bwah-ha-ha!).
Have to say this movie does its job, there is some messed up and creepy stuff in here. I thought they did a good job and although the movie is violent, there are things not shown Ala Hitchcock that make a few of the situations just downright...well horrible. Not to mention some moments where you just plain have to enjoy the intelligence of the villains. I love smart villains!
...Two thumbs up for me Dave!
"No, no, they're wrong! The creature they seek is the walking undead! Nosferatu! Das Wampyr!...[Family looks blankly]...[exasperated] A vampire!"
-Lisa Simpson-
Monday, October 15, 2007
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Murphy strikes again...
"Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance." I think Mr. Murphy was talking about building an indoor swimming pool.
As of today, we have had a five month delay due to a bad pool subcontractor, delays due to rain, delays due to the special type of paint involved in painting all the metal in a chlorinated environment, delays in getting the pool plastered, delays due to flooding a pump, delays in starting up the special air conditioning system required for an indoor pool, delays due to poor tile work, delays in getting the pool clean and finally today they put down part of the special flooring required on the deck, and then the pool subcontractor (the same bad one above) left a waterline on and proceeded to flood the entire area (about 1/2" of water).
Wow...that's a long sentence. Good thing is this area is completely isolated from the rest of the school (see chlorine issues above) and so the damage, if any was kept to areas that the floors are intended to be wet in some form or fashion most of the time. I will go check the extent of the damage tomorrow and see how bad it is.
The worst part is the superintendent's for the general contractor is working his tail off and things keep hitting the proverbial fan through no fault of his own. He is actually doing a great job, but things just keep going downhill.
Things are always darkest before the dawn...I wish him luck.
"Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance." I think Mr. Murphy was talking about building an indoor swimming pool.
As of today, we have had a five month delay due to a bad pool subcontractor, delays due to rain, delays due to the special type of paint involved in painting all the metal in a chlorinated environment, delays in getting the pool plastered, delays due to flooding a pump, delays in starting up the special air conditioning system required for an indoor pool, delays due to poor tile work, delays in getting the pool clean and finally today they put down part of the special flooring required on the deck, and then the pool subcontractor (the same bad one above) left a waterline on and proceeded to flood the entire area (about 1/2" of water).
Wow...that's a long sentence. Good thing is this area is completely isolated from the rest of the school (see chlorine issues above) and so the damage, if any was kept to areas that the floors are intended to be wet in some form or fashion most of the time. I will go check the extent of the damage tomorrow and see how bad it is.
The worst part is the superintendent's for the general contractor is working his tail off and things keep hitting the proverbial fan through no fault of his own. He is actually doing a great job, but things just keep going downhill.
Things are always darkest before the dawn...I wish him luck.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Feelin' Minnesota...
Just came back from visiting my brother in Minnesota. (He's my Mom's favorite now since he is the only one with the wife and the 2 grandchilluns.) It's funny to see him all grown up but he is a great dad and his kids are a lot of fun. I mostly played Uncle during the visit (and by gosh, even did some actual babysitting!) Lots of Lego fun and watching cartoons (right up my alley, really.)
Minneapolis/St. Paul is an interesting city. It is like a cross between Dallas/Fort Worth, but with the environmental and cultural sensitivities of a place like Austin, but with the general niceness of a stereotypical Texas small town. They have a huge set of bike paths that connect a good chunk of the cities (we rode on some) lots of parks and lakes. They are very architecturally sensitive as well. Every time I go there there is an article in the paper about an architect or a building, park etc. There local government is also very cutting edge, with the small towns surrounding the cities having "Green" City Halls or posting town meeting video on their websites. If it wasn't for the winter (can go as low as 50 below zero), I would consider moving there.
Anyhow, nice break and back to the race...time to play catch up.
Just came back from visiting my brother in Minnesota. (He's my Mom's favorite now since he is the only one with the wife and the 2 grandchilluns.) It's funny to see him all grown up but he is a great dad and his kids are a lot of fun. I mostly played Uncle during the visit (and by gosh, even did some actual babysitting!) Lots of Lego fun and watching cartoons (right up my alley, really.)
Minneapolis/St. Paul is an interesting city. It is like a cross between Dallas/Fort Worth, but with the environmental and cultural sensitivities of a place like Austin, but with the general niceness of a stereotypical Texas small town. They have a huge set of bike paths that connect a good chunk of the cities (we rode on some) lots of parks and lakes. They are very architecturally sensitive as well. Every time I go there there is an article in the paper about an architect or a building, park etc. There local government is also very cutting edge, with the small towns surrounding the cities having "Green" City Halls or posting town meeting video on their websites. If it wasn't for the winter (can go as low as 50 below zero), I would consider moving there.
Anyhow, nice break and back to the race...time to play catch up.
Monday, August 27, 2007
*gasp!!!!***
Coming up for air, the summer is over, school is starting, will post pictures of the buildings soon.
Building A - everyone seems to like but one cranky old chemistry teacher, who called her lab "unworkable". Working on expensive fix. Building is still not finished, fancy handrails creating issue with subcontractor with no sense of time management. Temps are in place, but no clue when real ones arrive. Placing trees shrubs and grass (not done due to 36 days of rain in 2 months) and meeting a really entertaining botany/landscaper/biology professor in the process. Interesting cast of characters overall. Technology issues (always!) but working on better way of communicating with client to prevent future disasters.
Building B- New theater looks great, projectors too far away from screen (pesky technology again) but fixable. Everyone likes, but pool is still not done (5 months behind!) and school is completely run by athletics. Mascot we designed looks great big on walls (thank god!) Interesting cast of characters but perhaps a bit on the whiny side. Contractor is OK, has issues with the big picture, hence the delays. Delays, Delays (said with Marvin Martian Voice)
Personal life is pretty slow, just the usual movies, etc. Need to work on that.
Ahhh, good times...
Coming up for air, the summer is over, school is starting, will post pictures of the buildings soon.
Building A - everyone seems to like but one cranky old chemistry teacher, who called her lab "unworkable". Working on expensive fix. Building is still not finished, fancy handrails creating issue with subcontractor with no sense of time management. Temps are in place, but no clue when real ones arrive. Placing trees shrubs and grass (not done due to 36 days of rain in 2 months) and meeting a really entertaining botany/landscaper/biology professor in the process. Interesting cast of characters overall. Technology issues (always!) but working on better way of communicating with client to prevent future disasters.
Building B- New theater looks great, projectors too far away from screen (pesky technology again) but fixable. Everyone likes, but pool is still not done (5 months behind!) and school is completely run by athletics. Mascot we designed looks great big on walls (thank god!) Interesting cast of characters but perhaps a bit on the whiny side. Contractor is OK, has issues with the big picture, hence the delays. Delays, Delays (said with Marvin Martian Voice)
Personal life is pretty slow, just the usual movies, etc. Need to work on that.
Ahhh, good times...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Life Update...
Still working my butt off.
Cats are still loony tunes, but lovable.
Projects are going. One 4 months behind and the other down to the wire. Should be a fun summer!
Built a big sandcastle/robot. "sand-former" big pile of sand collapsed spectacularly. Transformed back into sand! Fun and exhaustion had by all.
Architect softball league is over. Discovered not great at softball, but remained mostly injury free unlike many co workers. Only threatened one co worker who was thrown out of game for a bad attitude. Not a proud moment.
Employee review happened. Very annoying and contradictory. Work is great but working my butt off too much and need to delegate tasks but do not give me the resources to do so.
Passed 3 of 9 exams...need to start up again.
Started in a bowling league...will see how it goes.
Boss going on vacation. More stress to be had.
Building committee finishing up. Hopefully things will work out. Thank god I am not the Architect on that project, or I would have killed someone by now. Very frustrating but should be over soon.
....could be worse, could be raining...boom!
More later...
Still working my butt off.
Cats are still loony tunes, but lovable.
Projects are going. One 4 months behind and the other down to the wire. Should be a fun summer!
Built a big sandcastle/robot. "sand-former" big pile of sand collapsed spectacularly. Transformed back into sand! Fun and exhaustion had by all.
Architect softball league is over. Discovered not great at softball, but remained mostly injury free unlike many co workers. Only threatened one co worker who was thrown out of game for a bad attitude. Not a proud moment.
Employee review happened. Very annoying and contradictory. Work is great but working my butt off too much and need to delegate tasks but do not give me the resources to do so.
Passed 3 of 9 exams...need to start up again.
Started in a bowling league...will see how it goes.
Boss going on vacation. More stress to be had.
Building committee finishing up. Hopefully things will work out. Thank god I am not the Architect on that project, or I would have killed someone by now. Very frustrating but should be over soon.
....could be worse, could be raining...boom!
More later...
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Movie update...
Spider-Man 3 - good but two crowded...should have reduced it to sandman only and saved Venom for SM$, oh wait, I mean 4.
28 weeks later...because I have a soft spot for the zombie movie. It was pretty good, the basic premise of the movie is how to deal with a biological threat? In this case it happens to be one that turns into zombies.
Hot Fuzz...If you like action films, you will laugh your @$$ off.
Grindhouse...again with the zombie movie, but funny as heck,...Tarantino's was good too, but it takes a bit for it to set in.
Ghost rider sucked, but looked cool (same as his comic book, really)
...Hoping FF2 doesn't suck.
Spider-Man 3 - good but two crowded...should have reduced it to sandman only and saved Venom for SM$, oh wait, I mean 4.
28 weeks later...because I have a soft spot for the zombie movie. It was pretty good, the basic premise of the movie is how to deal with a biological threat? In this case it happens to be one that turns into zombies.
Hot Fuzz...If you like action films, you will laugh your @$$ off.
Grindhouse...again with the zombie movie, but funny as heck,...Tarantino's was good too, but it takes a bit for it to set in.
Ghost rider sucked, but looked cool (same as his comic book, really)
...Hoping FF2 doesn't suck.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
I can't believe someone said that #150...
I am currently on a building committee at a Catholic church. One of the members expressed the concern that the Mechanical Engineer consultant was...'gasp'...Muslim. They said it "didn't sit well with them".
And people wonder why I have issues with my faith...Tolerance...Jesus...all supposed to go together, people!
I am currently on a building committee at a Catholic church. One of the members expressed the concern that the Mechanical Engineer consultant was...'gasp'...Muslim. They said it "didn't sit well with them".
And people wonder why I have issues with my faith...Tolerance...Jesus...all supposed to go together, people!
Friday, January 12, 2007
List of Films I Saw Last Year...
TOP 10...
The Departed
V For Vendetta
An Inconvenient Truth
Thank You For Smoking
Casino Royale
Snakes On A Plane (sorrry...damn funny movie!)
Clerks II
The Fountain
A Scanner Darkly
Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Other films I saw from '06…in no particular order...
Underworld: Evolution
The Matador
Firewall
Ultraviolet
Inside Man
Lucky Number Slevin
The Sentinel
Silent Hill
Art School Confidential
Mission: Impossible III
Over The Hedge
X-men: The Last Stand
Cars
Superman Returns
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Lady In The Water
Miami Vice
The Illusionist
Hollywoodland
The Black Dahlia
Jet Li's Fearless
The Prestige
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Rocky Balboa
TOP 10...
The Departed
V For Vendetta
An Inconvenient Truth
Thank You For Smoking
Casino Royale
Snakes On A Plane (sorrry...damn funny movie!)
Clerks II
The Fountain
A Scanner Darkly
Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Other films I saw from '06…in no particular order...
Underworld: Evolution
The Matador
Firewall
Ultraviolet
Inside Man
Lucky Number Slevin
The Sentinel
Silent Hill
Art School Confidential
Mission: Impossible III
Over The Hedge
X-men: The Last Stand
Cars
Superman Returns
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Lady In The Water
Miami Vice
The Illusionist
Hollywoodland
The Black Dahlia
Jet Li's Fearless
The Prestige
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Rocky Balboa
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!
Survived the family, Santa Claus, etc.
My niece and nephew came to town with my brother and his wife. Kids are interesting to say the least. I always forget how loud the house gets. I like them, though. The boy is smart as all get out and listens to everything the adults are talking about. As a result of this, he is the only stressed out 6 year old I know. If his folks are worried about something, he is worried too. The girl is a "damn-the-torpedoes" type, nothing phases her.
My other brother came in as well, he is debating going into the seminary. I hope he can make a decision on this either way, he is very conflicted and not very happy. I just want him to make sure that is really what he wants to do with his life if he goes in. It's a pretty serious commitment to make. I wish him luck and wisdom in making this decision.
We all had a good time. It was a nice capper for a pretty good year for me. Got promoted, no one died, went to a nice wedding and a family reunion, new car is great, have enough fundage to start looking at land to build a house, started the road to getting my Architect License, and have stayed friends with more people then I have lost.
This year I am going to try to reconnect with some people, keep taking tests, and finish two projects that have been going on for a while.
Should be fun...Happy 2007!
Survived the family, Santa Claus, etc.
My niece and nephew came to town with my brother and his wife. Kids are interesting to say the least. I always forget how loud the house gets. I like them, though. The boy is smart as all get out and listens to everything the adults are talking about. As a result of this, he is the only stressed out 6 year old I know. If his folks are worried about something, he is worried too. The girl is a "damn-the-torpedoes" type, nothing phases her.
My other brother came in as well, he is debating going into the seminary. I hope he can make a decision on this either way, he is very conflicted and not very happy. I just want him to make sure that is really what he wants to do with his life if he goes in. It's a pretty serious commitment to make. I wish him luck and wisdom in making this decision.
We all had a good time. It was a nice capper for a pretty good year for me. Got promoted, no one died, went to a nice wedding and a family reunion, new car is great, have enough fundage to start looking at land to build a house, started the road to getting my Architect License, and have stayed friends with more people then I have lost.
This year I am going to try to reconnect with some people, keep taking tests, and finish two projects that have been going on for a while.
Should be fun...Happy 2007!
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