Eh…

What a week last week. It started Monday, which was a busy work day. Went home and then to class. Class was more of the same. We did out presentation. My part wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. My partner did well. I was happy about that. Came home and went to bed.

 

Tuesday I came into work late as I only worked a half day. It was another stressful day. When me and Rach came home we watched AI and Hell's Kitchen. My Mom came to talk to Rachel and it was annoying as all they do is rag on me. I guess I just don't understand the whole concept.

 

Wednesday I decided to cut out caffeine. It was a rough day and I went home early with a headache. I took a small nap and then went out. I got GT5 Prologue and preordered Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3. It is good. I am still not a racing game fan. I will give it more time. That night me and Rach went out to Broadway. It was cheap and good. I enjoyed it.

 

Thursday I had a day off. I went to the Gym and spent time at home. I had class at 4:15. I accidently cat napped from 3-3:35 and didn't leave 'til 3:40. Oh, and there was traffic. I didn't get to class until 4:35. That sucked. I turned in my paper and then listened to her complain about the papers. One of her big complaints was something I did with my paper. I hate that class. Most people enjoy it but I find it to be extremely stupid. I hate intro classes. I need a B in that class so I have to keep up working hard. I need an A in my other class. It is still possible as I have a 95% at the time of me writing this.

 

Friday I went to the gym and worked on school stuff. At three I went up to school. It was empty and creepy. I talked to my counselor. She was a few minutes late. I also met with my other type counselor and she got me set up to get an emergency permit to teach. It was nice. I went to Rach's. We had a quiet night. We did go to Santiago's and both of us got sick. I forgot my movie for us to watch so that sucked too. We played a lot of Wii though so that was cool

 

Saturday I had work. It was like a cleaning day and the whole house was closed. They did the porch. It looks nice. So does the painting. There wasn't much for me and Rach to do so we took an hour break and then went home. That night I stayed at home. Bob worked and Rachel said she invited me but I had a ton to do. I got most of it done. I finished my project and then burnt a ton of DVDs. I also cleaned up some and relaxed.

 

Sunday I skipped out on church. I finished a paper I had to write and also finished my mini-portfolio that I had started the day before. I still have a personal philosophy to write for another class. Yet another dumbass assignment from my intro class. That afternoon I watched the Cubs game and began watching Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. It is very good so far. I went over to Rachel's next. We had fun and went for a walk. After that we watched a Cubs special and the Rock of Love reunion. That show is dumbass. That night I went home and wanted to finish the movie I had started. My Mom had taken it to watch and must have held down the power button while getting it out of the Playstation as everything was reset to its defaults. I didn't want to wake her so I began watching Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. It sucks so far but could be a lot worse. I like how it takes place right after AVP. That is kinda cool. Plus seeing Aliens in settings like a small town is kinda cool too.

 

The Playoffs started, he are my predictions from before the whole thing started…

Boston vs. Atlanta (Boston in 5)-I don't predict a four game sweep but Atlanta could be dangerous. They are a team on the rise with a core of Childress, J-Smoove, Horford as well as stars Bibby and Johnson. The Celtics are too good though and should roll through with little trouble.

Cleveland vs. Washington (Washington in 7)-This series is becoming a lot like Miami and New York in the late 90's. I simply think Washington is too good this time with Arenas coming back.

Detroit vs. Philadelphia (Detroit in 6)-I like the 76ers and they should scare the Pistons, but I still like Detroit. They have a super talented team and should pull out ahead.

Orlando vs. Toronto (Orlando in five)-Bosh vs. Howard should be a show. It is a shame that Toronto's season is collapsing so quickly. Orlando shouldn't have too much trouble.

Los Angeles (L) vs. Denver (Los Angeles in seven)-Denver should push LA to the limits as LA is without Bynum for at least this series. Still, it is time for Bryant/Gasol to shine.

Utah vs. Houston (Utah in five)-Utah is an amazing team and should dispatch a fading Houston in five.

New Orleans vs. Dallas (Dallas in seven)-I am not thrilled with Dallas, but I like them more than New Orleans, who do not have a bench.

San Antonio vs. Phoenix (San Antonio in seven)-A lot of people do not like this series but how can you not, it would be rough and will come down to the wire.

 

2^nd Round

Boston over Washington in five. Boston is too much and Washington is wore out from their Cavs series.

Detroit over Orlando in six. Tough series but Detroit pulls it out.

Utah over LA in six. Bynum is a question mark and Utah is too good to pass up.

San Antonio over Dallas in six. San Antonio could be gearing up for another run as they dispatch the Spurs.

 

Conference Finals

Boston over Detroit in six. I just can not pick Detroit here. Teams split the first four games before Boston pulls away.

Utah over San Anonio in seven. Should be a tough series. Utah has too many weapons in Williams, Boozer, Okur, Kirilenko, Korver, Milsaap, Brewer, etc.

 

NBA Finals

Boston over Utah in six. Utah wins two of the three at home before losing in Boston. The Celts are named NBA champs.

Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead

**1/4 out of *****

 

Last week I watched Land of the Dead. It is a movie I have wanted to see for quite a while. It stars basically a bunch of unknowns and Dennis Hopper. It is the forth of five Dead movies directed by George A. Romero. It is also the one that takes place the furthest in the future. The movie basically follows this premise, years after Night of the Living, Diary of the, Dawn of the, and Land of the Dead, humans are now living in Pittsburgh. Why Pittsburgh? Because it is surrounded by water on all its sides and protected by barriers where there isn't water. In this city, almost all live in poverty except for a rich few who live in the skyscraper called Fiddler's Green. It is the hope of all the poor in the city to someday be able to live in this perfect city within a building. Dembo leads a team in a vehicle he made called Dead Reckoning to neighboring towns to collect medicine and food. He is noble but kind of a loner. His second in command is Cholo, played by Leguizamo. Cholo likes to collect alcohol and cigars to sell within the city for high profit. Dembo is brought out of retirement to take down Cholo, who steals the Dead Reckoning and threatens to blow up the Fiddler's Green, when Kaufman (Hopper's character), who runs the city, won't allow him to buy a place there despite him having enough cash. Oh, and zombies are starting to think and act on their own and are about to invade the city, but that is more of a subplot than anything.

 

 

I like the movie but it isn't fantastic. I felt like the Cholo/Dembo storyline could have been developed. I felt like Hopper was fantastic but was barely in the movie. I felt like everything was forced and gory just to be gory. You know, to get a rise out of the audience. Also, the movie had the "hooker with a heart of gold character". That is the character whom, despite being a prostitute or otherwise unsavory woman, becomes a hero by the end of the story and displays values you wouldn't assume she has. All of Romero's zombie movies have the main battle be between two human elements rather than humans vs. zombies. This movie makes this more evident than any of the other zombie movies. Does it work? Yeah. Could it have been better? Probably. Also, I liked the whole, zombies acting more human element. That hasn't been done before. Overall, there are better zombie movies out there but this one is worth watching if you like gore and a simple, easy movie.

We Own the Night

We Own the Night

*** ¾ out of *****

 

A few nights ago, I talked to Bob and he said this movie was really filthy. I became curious as the whole premise, while violent, didn't lend to the movie being particularly "filthy". And indeed, the first actual scene of the movie is quite graphic and is deserving of an R rating all by itself. From that point forward though, the movie really doesn't go back there and actually tells quite a good story. Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg are terrific and Eva Mendes is stunning as usual. In fact, it sometimes takes away from the scenes she is in. She really is the only actress out there right now I would characterize in such a way. Robert Duvall is good in the movie as always but I found his character bordering on one-dimensional. Every line he has is critical of Phoenix's character. I think that if the movie were to lack in one area, it would be the dialogue. A lot of it seems simplistic. It also seems like the ending was rushed. I liked the character arc of Phoenix's character but found that the movie took an hour and a half to get somewhere and another 20 minutes to show what he did when he got there. I bet there was about 20 minutes of deleted scenes somewhere that they left out. It also seemed like Wahlberg and Duvall didn't have a lot of scenes. The movie centered around Phoenix A LOT more than I thought it would. Overall though, the movie was a great story. The scenes that were supposed to be tense were tense, there were twists, which I love, and the music and cinematography were fantastic. I would have liked to have seen this movie up for some awards and fear that in a few months it will be completely forgotten, but it really is worth watching.

Test

My Word is acting kinda lame so I was going to make a test blog post. Oh well, Ill type some stuff. I saw four movies this weekend, Enchanted, The Confederate States of America, 21, and I Am Legend.

 

Enchanted wasn't my cup of tea and was kinda boring. I wasn't impressed. It was loud and the acting was bad and it was way too goofy. I guess it was kinda the normal Disney princess cartoon but with real life people. Rating 4/10.

 

The CSA movie was interesting but not nearly as good as I thought it would be. I didn't believe a large amount of the info they were giving out and it seemed a little contrived and "out there" Rating 5/10.

 

21 was good but kinda forgettable. I don't think it will be a movie I will remember six months from now. I will give it credit for having some twists. The acting was pretty good and it did have its moments. Overall, it was enjoyable. 7/10.

 

I Am Legend was good too. The movie is very dark and depressing. It moved fast and looked great. I am not a really big Will Smith fan but he was fantastic in this movie. 8/10.

 

 

Ok done…

Opening Day

Opening Day is here and I couldn't me more excited. The Cubs have a fantastic team which goes very deep. I have held off on doing a post with my predictions, but I'll do a short post with such info in it now…

 

AL East: Boston Red Sox

AL Central: Detroit Tigers

AL West: Seattle Mariners

AL Wild Card: New York Yankees

NL East: New York Mets

NL Central: CHIcago Cubs

NL West: Colorado Rockies

NL Wild Card: Arizona Diamondbacks

 

1^st Round:

Tigers over Yankees

Red Sox over Mariners

Diamondbacks over Mets

Cubs over Rockies

 

2^nd Round

Tigers over Red Sox

Diamondbacks over Cubs

 

World Series

Tigers over Diamondbacks

 

AL MVp

Miguel Cabrera

 

NL MVP

Matt Holiday

 

AL Rookie of the Year

Joba Chamberlain

 

Nl Rookie of the Year

Geovanny Soto

 

AL Cy Young

Eric Bedard

 

NL Cy Young

Johan Santana

 

AL Manager of the Year

Jim Leyland

 

Nl Manager of the Year

Clint Hurdle

BASEBALL SEASON IS ALMOST HERE!

I am on my labtop at work again. I just found how to publish blog entries with your Microsoft Word. That is cool. Baseball is almost here and I am excited.

 

 

I'd give my picks but I am tired to writing that shit out.

 

 

I got a PSP and the game Manhunt 2. The game looks neat and the system is 150x better than the previous one. That one broke. There are a lot more games I would like to get such as Rainbow Six Vegas and MLB 08.

 

Me and Rach saw 21 last night. Good movie.

 

I got nothing else to add. I need to do my homework and when I get home, I would like to organize some stuff. I am thinking about putting my 360 on ebay but I am not sure if I should.

NBA Fever...

NBA playoffs are starting soon. I am really looking forward to them. I wish the first round was still five games. Seven is too much. There are virtually no upsets. I know with seven games instead of five, you have more of a chance of the true better team winning, but cmon, this is the playoffs and maybe I don't want the better team winning. Maybe I would like the Hornets to pull out that first round win over Golden St. which, if they play, regardless of the Hornets being a higher seed, they will almost certainly lose to Golden St.

Speaking of Golden St. it is a shame Chris Webber had to retire. I can't remember a more conflicted figure in NBA history. The guy never won an NBA title, never won a NCAA title, never won an MVP (although he probably should have), he never even made the NBA finals. He was always in trouble for something it seemed like. When he was a free agent, he begrudingly resigned with the only team and city that wanted him. I just don't know where he fits in to the whole scheme to things. I have always considered myself a Webber fan but to me, he really failed as an NBA player.

I have been looking at PSP's recently. Best Buy offered me a $50 rebate for the Xbox 360 HDDVD I picked up years back. I'll take it, although, I know it is like the tax rebate. They give everyone who got one at their stores 50 bucks, and then that person spends 150 at the store. It is good business and easy money. At least it isnt like Sharper Image. That place now refuses to take any of the gift cards they have sold due to the fact they are losing business. Hey, guess what, you are losing business because of shit like this. That is so rude to do to your customers. Here is a piece of Jake advice, everything Sharper Image sells is crap. That is right, crap. There is nothing in their store that I can't find a similar version of at a Best Buy for cheaper and at higher quality. I am sorry, but I will not buy an upconvert DVD player from you for $199 from a company I do not know when a Sony 5-disc one at Best Buy is 129. When recessions hit, it becomes Darwin economics, survival of the fittest and sorry Sharper Image and other stores along the same lines, but that means you are shit out of luck.