My Snowtober

Not very often you see snow in October. Pretty crazy.

Strapping on My Jetpack

This has been a rough couple of weeks at work, and naturally it's culminating in one of the worst weeks I've had in quite some time. So I need something good to happen. Really, anything. Someone to say something even remotely positive or reassuring. Maybe see a double rainbow or some basic human kindness. Ahh, fuck it, probably not going to happen.

My hope is to get a well-deserved release tonight as I go see We Were Promised Jetpacks, a fantastic band from my fatherland of Scotland. Want them to play loud, fast and hard. Strap on the jetpack and fly me away for a couple hours. This concert also has great potential because this is the first time that I can remember finding a band before Kelly and so it makes me feel about 4% cooler than normal to have him like a band that I recommended, since it's almost always the other way around.

Game On: Week of Oct. 21

My recent column reviewing Forza Motorsport 4 and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. Thanks to the Seattle Times for publishing.

Friday Funnies

This weekend the wife is getting back in the saddle again. No, really, she is. For the next four weekends she is taking horseback riding lessons. She loves horses, and after we recently watched the excellent documentary "Buck," she decided it was time to get back up on a horse and ride around. So in honor of her brave pursuit (I prefer to wager on the ponies, and leave the riding cowboys, mounted police and 18th century train robbers), I give her my favorite thoughts on the horse riding experience, which she hates because she never wants to think of a horse as glue.

Hanging with Murdoch (not the A-Team member)

It's been a while since I've been to a live show, and so luckily in the next few weeks I'll be hitting up a few new ones. First up is tonight's concert featuring Alexi Murdoch. I first heard him when he dominated the Away We Go movie soundtrack. The music was perfect for that movie and I ended up getting hooked on his stuff. It's good acoustic music to have on in the background when working or when people are hanging out.

Game On: Week of Oct. 14

My recent column reviewing NBA 2K12 and X-Men: Destiny. Thanks to the Ventura County Star for publishing.

Blog Action Day 2011: Three Things You Can Do

Continuing the theme for Blog Action Day, here are five easy things you can do (believe me, it's not even 10 a.m. and I've already done them, so no excuses) to take part.

1. Sign and share this petition: Take immediate action against the famine by signing this petition and asking world leaders to ensure people do not go hungry. Then, share the petition with people you know. If are connected to the Twitter, use the hashtag #BAD11.



2. Watch and Share “The F Word” Video: As is typical, celebrities have been solicited to take up the fight as well. If there were no crises, I'm not sure what Bono would spend his time doing, but hey, at least he cares. Besides, this is an excuse for me to drop a different kind of F-bomb.



3. Check out this graphic: This “Fight the Famine” interactive chart illustrates the countries that are leading relief efforts in Africa and those that are lagging behind. Canada, Germany and the UK have fulfilled their aid commitments, while France and Italy still have work to do.

Blog Action Day 2011: Save the Children

First post of Blog Action day 2011 (Food) is a video from Save the Children. It’s got some surprising facts about hunger and the end of the quiz asks you to take action to keep Congress from slashing the aid budget while famine ravages East Africa.

Blog Action Day 2011

This year's Blog Action Day snuck up on me. Normally they send out a series of emails to promote the day months and weeks in advance so that bloggers like myself can prep some content. This year, I got one Friday telling me it was today. Not sure if I maybe missed some emails earlier, but I was bummed to not get the chance to fuller prepare you for the information onslaught.

In any case, I will attempt my best here to give you a few posts and pass along some info because I have always enjoyed being part of Blog Action Day, the one day a year when bloggers try to organize around a singular topic to educate the masses. In previous years the topics have been near and dear to my heart (poverty, climate change, water), and now this year the topic is food.

I thought it was more specific like the lack of available food or starvation and such, but the organizers are running the gamut from farmed foods to fast food to hunger to whatever you can think of (even just blogging about your favorite food). Kinda weird, but I'm going to take the more serious route because while I like to write about idiots and Friday funnies and comedy and video games, I also like to throw out some serious stuff now and then. So prepare yourself for some food-related posts and I encourage you to repost or share as you wish, or ignore it at your own peril. Just remember that it's good to think deep every now and then.

Friday Funnies

I know you've put up with my goofy obsession with movie bloopers, and while you may not enjoy them all, you have to take a moment and check this one out. And if you can't see the amazing movie screwup here, then you are blind and have no sense of humor. Because how this happened and no one was fired is stunning.

What I've Read: Born Standing Up

This was the third book that I read on my Hawaiian vacation, and it was a pleasant and quick read. I've always enjoyed Martin's early work and think he's been unfortunately forgotten in the discussion of great American comics. It's certainly because the roles he's taken in the last decade or so have not resulted in anything of grand notoriety, but it's wrong to just instantly dismiss him.

The autobiography traces his early life more than his post-70s success. A lot of time is spent on his childhood (not surprising, it wasn't always the best especially concerning his father), and then on his strides in making magic and comedy his obsession. I've been curious to see what his early magic/comedy/music shows must have been like, but there are not a lot of video or audio of it out there.

He's also got a recurring theme of failed relationships with females, both of his own doing (hey, it was the '60s and '70s) and also a matter of his travel schedule being absurd by modern standards. I'm still amazed at how performers can ride on a bus for 300+ days out of the year and do shows night after night at varying cities and audiences where you never know what you're going to get from the crowd. There is definitely an amount of bravery it takes to put yourself out there for an hour or 90 minutes, and Martin does a wonderful job giving describing that sense of utter fear and excitement.

He doesn't discuss his wild success with much detail at all, and it's a decision I wish he hadn't made. As someone who only got to see King Tut and The Jerk and other Martin classics long after they were released, I wanted to hear more about that time period and how that all happened, but you can tell from reading that he's too humble or embarrassed or whatever to discuss his fame. I've even appreciated his short stories that have been turned into movies, like Shop Girl which is surprisingly rewatchable. So there's a lot of material from the past 20+ years that he never touches upon and that is disappointing, but the overall book is great and it's a super-fast read that I think appreciators of comedy will enjoy.

Game On: Week of Oct. 7

My recent column, reviewing FIFA Soccer 12 and Rage. Thanks to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, ABC Action News and North Jersery Papers for publishing.

Friday Funnies

Kelly already showed this off, but after making the wife and others cry with laughter I just have to make sure the other six of you reading this blog share in the goodness. These fine folks have done some other videos as well, featuring Obama and some music videos. Most of them aren't as good, but the one they released this week with Michelle Bachmann is pretty darn good as well.

Friday Funnies

Here's another instance of movies gone wrong, but this time it's not by accident like previous editions where a slip-up or something found it's way into a film by accident.

In the case of The Lion King, it appears the animators knew exactly what they were doing. Watch and you'll see what I mean.


Cheeky little bastards, aren't they? This isn't the first time this has happened with Disney, as those animated movies have a long history of putting not-so-subtle sexual references into their movies.

Trailer Love

I'm showing off two trailers today that are geared toward the wife but for two wholly different reasons.

First up is the trailer for One for the Money. The wife reads these Janet Evananonconcnnovovnivich books like I read UK recruiting news, which is scary since it means I probably have a problem that needs professional help. I've never read any of these novels, but apparently it's all about this woman who has trouble deciding between two d-bags and caring for her alcoholic mother while fighting crime and getting her car blown up more often than our dogs take a crap. I just roll my eyes at the thought of these things, but she got hooked on them from my mother (damn you woman!) and now the wife is converting every female she knows into Stephanie Plum fan.

When the wife gives me the crazy eyes every time I see a trailer for a new comic book movie, I just relax and remember the love she has for this Plum character and how every woman in this nation has craved these novels to be made into moves. Well it's happened and the result is delicious gawd-awfulness.



This movie looks like a steaming pile of grade-A shit. And I know this not only because I know a thing or two about movies, but also because the wife and my mother have screamed bloody murder about Heigl being a insulting choice for this role (she spent about 11 minutes learning that Jersey accent) and complained bitterly about nearly every scene shown in that trailer. Not sure I'll see the wife angrier than if Michelle Bachmann became her adoptive mother or chocolate cake suddenly became a banned substance. Either way, it's pretty hilarious how much she hates what this movie has become.

On the complete flip side is the trailer for War Horse. Some no-name director named Spielberg put this one together, and not only do I have the feeling that I'll be seeing this movie with the wife more than once, but that this movie could single-handedly crush the wife's all-time crying record set by the movie Up. The trailer alone may set her back a few dollars in Kleenex. The woman loves a horse (and who doesn't?), so what can I say? Be brave, my dear wife, be brave.

Game On: Week of Sept. 30

My recent column reviewing Resistance 3 and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Thanks to the Seattle Times and ABC Action News for publishing.

Idiot of the Day

Yes, I think the lottery is stupid and wasteful thing. The odds are so stacked against you in the hopes of winning that I'd rather have people save that money or do something, anything more useful than just handing it over at the counter of some shitty corner store. But instead I walk past the door of the bodega outside my office building and there are always 20 people wrapped around the aisles waiting to hopelessly believe that their two dollars is going to make them a millionaire.

Take this idiot, for instance. It's one thing to play the lottery. It's another thing to be buying scratch-off lottery tickets from a vending machine at 5 in the morning at BWI. I snapped this guy while waiting for my flight to Hawaii a couple weeks ago. He bought one, scratched it off, lost (shocker), walked over to the nearby trash can and tossed it, walked back and started all over again. After the fourth or fifth instance of this I just wanted to shake him into higher consciousness or walk over to the bar and buy myself a drink.

Cobblings from My Memories

I'm reluctant to give up comfortable T-shirts. It's rare to find a shirt that fits you just right and is super comfortable at the same time. It's even better when, as you retire shirts from the public, the truly good ones live a long afterlife as shirts to do yard work in, generally be lazy in or just sleep in.

So it's with sadness that I have to send this shirt to the cotton grave. It's been a good one, but holes are starting to form and it's just time to say goodbye, which is a concept I wish Steven Tyler could grasp, but alas he must continue to make music that barely appeals to deaf dogs, let alone music consumers.

This shirt does hold a special place for me, which is why it's hard to give it up. This was one of my going-away gifts when I interned at the St. Pete Times back in 1999. The reporters and copy desk folks pretty much hung out at two bars on regular basis, either The Garden (my personal favorite, where the bartender Bill always had two screwdrivers waiting for me at 1 a.m. after my shift was over) or The Press Box over in Tampa where all the media types hung out.

So getting a T-shirt from The Press Box was a nice gesture considering I was just an intern (and one of 15 at that), yet somehow they took to me and I made friendships that still last to this day with the likes of Donna, Ecton, Todd, Gerry, Liz and many more. I was lucky enough to have done so well at the internship that they left me a standing offer to come back full-time once I graduated, which I quickly accepted. So this shirt has history behind it and reminds me of many great times, making it a bummer to give up.

Thankfully I still have my other keepsake the staff gave me, a priceless Mugato doll. One Saturday morning Todd, Ecton and I spent three hours editing stories and talking about Star Trek and debating who the greatest comedic alien they ever threw into an episode (we settled on Mugato and the Gorn as the best ones). This is what happens when you work the night shift on Friday night (until 1 a.m.) and then have be back into the office for the Saturday morning shift (7:30 a.m.) and everyone's feeling a little punchy.

So in the end I must part with this shirt. But I do know it will live on, since I found a company that will accept unwanted or tattered shirts and recycle them. So somewhere that Press Box shirt will be still out there, which is cool.