Yes Indeed It's Fun Time...

So it’s hard to keep yourself sane while you are looking for a job. Somedays I do a good job, others not so much. So what I thought I’d do is give you all a list of all the things that I’m having fun with right now. After all, talking about the fun stuff is much better than just venting about the annoying things, and you want to be one of the kool kids right?

Music
Underwear Goes Inside The Pants – Lazyboy.
This is a truly unique spoken word/electronic/humor song that I just can’t seem to get enough of.
Memorable Line:
Do you know what the number one health risk in America is?
Obesity. They say we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic.
An epidemic like it is polio. Like we'll be telling our grand kids about it one day. The Great Obesity Epidemic of 2004.
"How'd you get through it grandpa?"
"Oh, it was horrible Johnny, there was cheesecake and pork chops everywhere."

Movies To See This Spring
The Upside of Anger
This movie doesn’t come out until March but I saw it about a year ago. This is just a great film. Kevin Costner plays a retired baseball player living in suburban Detroit and he ends up getting involved with the Joan Allen after her husband leaves her. Just a sweet movie. By far the best advanced screening that I have seen. Of course it doesn’t really have much competition from “The Girl Next Door”, “Anchorman” or “First Daughter”.

Honorable Mention
In Her Shoes
This was probably the second best screening I’ve been to. Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette are good in this film, but it is Shirley MacLaine that really steals the show.

Movie I’m Watching Now
Hellboy
Whether you are a fan of comic book movies or not, this is just a great flick. It is everything that superhero movies should be, which in turn makes it everything that Catwoman and Elektra were not. You can tell that the director was a genuine fan of the comic and this passion translates into a story that is well crafted and respectful of Hellboy comic lore. Of course I only know this from people that I have talked to about the series. I was never into Hellboy as it came out after I stopped collecting comics. Oddly enough, that was about the same time I started dating regularly, coincidence? Nahhh.
Plus, Ron Perlman is just brilliant as the title character. Some may remember him from the Beauty and the Beast television show back in the 80’s but I don’t have that clear a memory of that. I was WAY to preoccupied worrying about whether GI Joe was going to beat Cobra at that time.

Television
American Dad
Now I am a HUGE fan of cartoons. I just can’t get enough of them. This is the new series from the creator of Family Guy so needless to say, I am SOOOOOO excited.

Internet
awfulplasticsurgery.com
I am not usually a celebrity whore, but this site is just too much. I really don’t understand the whole plastic surgery phenomena. I understand that the stars live and die by their image, but the success rate on this stuff is so low. Most of the people that have work done end up looking even worse than they ever would without it, and then have to have even more to compensate. Be who you are, age gracefully and move on with life.

Blah

Well this was the first weekend without football… I know that the Super Bowl is next weekend but there was no football today dammit! I’ve always had this bitter sweet feeling about the Super Bowl. It is the culmination of an entire year of football, but it also means that there is no football until next August. Sadness.
Saw “Sideways” today. I understand why it is nominated for an Academy
Award, it totally seems like a movie the critics would love. Kind of a slow pace, but great dialogue and outstanding performances by everybody. I do wonder how many sad bastard roles there are for Paul Giamatti. Between this and “American Splendor” he pretty much has the market cornered.
I really have to start updating this thing at night because I swear that I make less and less sense with each hour that passes.
More to come…
nite

J.O.B. Squad

Good evening all!
Well it is yet another fun filled evening here in Anaheim Hills. Not much going on around here… I’ve switched from studying like a fiend to the Oh so fun job search. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather search for jobs than study, especially for anything to do with multiple choice, but it is still a sucky experience. So in honor of job crappyness, here’s a list of other things that just urk the hell out of me…

-- People who say “I’ll call you back in two minutes” and then call you the next day.

-- People who hate movies/music before they even see or hear it.

-- Unnecessary sequels. Did we really need a prequel to “Dumb and Dummer” or a sequel to “XXX”. It almost makes me what to cry knowing that there is an upcoming sequel to “Big Mamma’s House”.

-- ANYBODY who says “Talk to the hand”.

-- Whiny Millionaires… Pretty much all parties involved in the NHL lockout. The players are bitching because they want to make 20 mil instead of 10 and I just know that even if they get what they want, the owners are going to jack up the ticket prices.

-- Whiny Supermodels… nuff said.

-- Movies that make computer hacking seem more exciting than it actually is.

-- Pretty much every legal show ever… do you know how quickly the people from “The Practice” would have been disbarred.

-- The fact that networks cancel great shows like “Sports Night”, “Action” and “Family Guy” and yet continue to give timeslots to “The Simple Life”, “Wife Swap” and “Committed” (I know I said that I liked the pilot earlier, but wow, was I wrong)

-- People with spell perfectly.

-- People who make lists of things that annoy them :)

Nite…

Afterglow

Well the honeymoon is almost over… I’m almost done basking in the afterglow of my bar passage. I cannot even express how good it feels to have this gigantic monkey off of my back. This whole bar exam thing has just hung over me for the past year and a bit and it was sort of unreal for the first couple of days. It wasn’t until Sunday that I think it really sunk in that I no longer have to study for the bar exam. The best part about this entire thing is that I DON’T HAVE TO DO ANY MORE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS!!!
So after celebrating probably too much, I have settled into what will probably be my routine for the foreseeable future… I started looking for a job. Now there is significantly less pressure on me now that I am licensed, but looking for a job is anything but fun.
OK, so back to more pressing things… TV and movies of course :)
I’m watching Las Vegas that I TiVo’d from last week. Good stuff!!! The whole “he said, she said” sexual assault thing is a great subject matter, if anything for the legal nightmare that it poses. If anybody is interested in a movie that deals with this subject on a really interesting way, check out Body Shots. I have to thank Pete for introducing me to that one. Speaking of Pete, he called me this evening to break some really sad news to me… He told me that he had officially given up on WWE RAW and was going to watch Las Vegas and Medium instead. The sad thing is, I can’t really blame him. When you produce crap week after week you risk alienating even the most loyal of fans. Which reminds me, just finished reading “The Death of WCW”. Great book! Makes me sad to remember back in the mid 90’s when there was so much good wrestling on TV. However, from 1999-2000 the death was really a mercy killing, never before had I watched such bad TV. At any rate, if you have any interest in wrestling at all it’s a great read.
Saw “Assault of Prescient 13” yesterday. Great popcorn movie. One you can just turn off your brain and just let it flow over you. This is certainly not a movie that will change your life or anything, but if you are looking for guns and blood then this is just the ticket.
Talked to my friend Melissa this evening and got her to log onto my blog for the first time. She wondered if I was worried that all my friends would just read my blog and then not feel the need to call me to see what is going on. I think posts like this illustrate what a moot point that is… I never really say anything constructive in my posts. I just sort of ramble and talk about random things that don’t really seem to go together at all. The sad thing is, it’s not that far off from listening to me talk in person, I sort of bounce between thoughts rather randomly all the time. But you all love me so no worries!
Well I’ll close with my fav statement of the day. It comes from an E mail I got from my friend Anne, “the best place to celebrate passing the Michigan bar, is at a Michigan bar”. I could not agree more and I look forward to celebrating all over again when I get back to Michigan.

I PASSED!!!! I really can't believe it but I passed the friggin bar exam!! It has been a long hard road, but it's now over. The best part is, no more multiple choice questions! 

Back Again

Hey all!
Well it has been a couple of days since I have last updated and I know you all have been really depressed… and by you all I mean my Dad and Mod who are the only people who visit regularly… HA!
The reason I haven’t said much is that I really haven’t had much positive to say so I decided not to say anything at all… Thumper from “Bambi” was a wise little wabbit.
I did have a really good time on Saturday night. I went out to Universal Citywalk down in Hollywood with some friends. We had dinner at the Saddleback Ranch which is a cool little redneck bar down there. What is really funny is that all of the hostess and waitresses are dressed like rednecks (cut off T-shirts, trucker hats) and yet the clientele is dressed to the nines just like you would find at any other Hollywood club. We got great seats right in front of the mechanical bull (trivia note, if you remember when the girls from Sex in the City went to LA, they went to the Saddleback Ranch to ride the bull) so that was good fun watching people bring out their inner cowboy. What is it, you have to stay on the bull for 8 seconds? I don’t remember really, but I think there was a movie with Luke Perry about that… not that I like Luke Perry or anything…. Ummm… anyways… What made the evening was that our waitress kept buying us shots!! We go three rounds of free shots! Now I know I’m damn cute, but I haven’t ever had a waitress buy me a bunch of shots before. Well after that we went and saw “In Good Company”. Great movie!!! Was a little “happy” by the time we got to the theater but still was a good film.
So since then I really haven’t done much. Spent today studying at UCI. Beautiful campus. It has been in the high 70s, low 80s for the past couple of days so I took full advantage of it and explored a bit of the campus and just generally enjoyed the sun. Now I know everybody in Michigan and Canada will kill me, but I have really felt like it’s spring for the past couple of days. Those two and a bit weeks of winter have been a bitch:)
I think my biggest problem as of late has been that I have stopped “doing”. I’ve never been much of a talker, more of a doer and as of late all I have been doing is talking about doing stuff and really haven’t done anything. One of the reasons I don’t really talk about what I am doing is that I don’t want to talk about it if I fail. The best example of this was that my parents didn’t even know I wanted to go to law school until I came home one weekend and told them that I was taking the LSAT. Then I never really told them when I applied schools, I just phoned them up when I found out I got into MSU.
My point is… I have to stop just thinking about doing things and moving on with my life and really start doing. I’m not sure how yet… but I am certainly not going to sit around waiting for things to happen anymore.
Well that’s all for the evening… nite

Jake "The Baked"

Anybody who saw the movie "Beyond the Matt" will be throughly unsurprised, but Jake "The Snake" Roberts was arrested AGAIN on a drug charge. Way to go Jake!  

Pan and Scam

So the massive amounts of TV watching continues and it is through this that I have noticed one really odd thing… WHY THE HELL ARE SOME TV SHOWS IN LETTERBOX????
Now don’t get me started on the merits on letterbox when it comes to viewing feature films on TV. Ok… I’ll rant a little… first off, Pan and Scan (viewing in full screen) is the devil. Not only are you missing a third of the movie (approximately 1/6th on each side) but you are also modifying the art of its creator. The director filmed the work to be viewed in the proper aspect ratio and by cropping the picture on each side you are missing the visuals that the director had intended. This also leads to “unnatural” camera movements (adding camera movements not in the original film cut) in order to include all of the elements of that particular scene.
OK, so back to my original gripe… why are television shows being broadcast in widescreen? The original aspect ratio for the programs IS that of the television. These programs were never intended for theatrical release. It is possible that they are formatting these programs for widescreen televisions, but that seems a little presumptuous considering the small percentage of households that actually have wide screen televisions. The only reason I can think of is that they are trying to be trendy in their ‘widescreen-ness”. Sadness, but thoroughly unsurprising considering the media’s tenancy to jump on whatever bandwagon is popular at the moment. I figure that it is only a matter of time before Fox News is brought to you in widescreen…

And now the news… it finally stopped raining today, well, sort of. It only sprinkled a little bit. It’s sad that I am excited for a day where it only rains slightly.
Watched “The Butterfly Affect” last night. Was pleasantly surprised by it. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, in fact it was better. Time travel/time alteration is something that has always fascinated me. In fact, my friend Bryan and I have had many a long conversations about what method of time travel is more realistic in film. You see there are two distinct schools of thought when it comes to the subject in film.
First, you have the “Terminator” view. This is where you can travel backwards in time and alter the future even if it could ultimately affect your own existence.
Conversely, under the “Back to the Future” view the time traveler directly and instantaneously feels the affects of any changes in the time timeline and could actually undo his own existence. The big question is, can you unmake something that is already there?? How could Fry (from Futurerama) logistically have gone back in time and actually become his own grandfather!?!?!? And more importantly, ewe!
Well I’m off… nite.

So who is in charge of building the Ark?

So it has been raining here in Orange County for three days straight and it is really, really depressing. I know, I have spent most of my life in Southwestern Ontario and this weather is nothing new for the mid west, but this is BLOODY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!!!! It’s not supposed to be like this here! Granted, there is no snow, for which I am eternally grateful, but I could certainly use some sunshine in the near future. I is a really good thing we are up on top of the hill here and all the water is running down as they are having flash floods all over.
Come to think of it… the past year has produced some really odd events…
--There has been more rain in SoCal than there has been in 50 years,
--The Pistons won the NBA Championship,
--The Red Sox won the World Series.
--The Chargers got into the playoffs, granted they lost in the first round but still
(Just a little note… any of you hear the Chargers theme song? “San Diego, Super Chargers…” I think all football teams should have theme songs that were written in the 70s)

These things just don’t happen… No need to worry too much though, now if the Tigers actually started winning, I would start looking for the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

So I’m watching Desperate Housewives right now… It seems to be guilty pleasure #468 for me. I’m usually not a sucker for these one hour television dramas, but this season I have fallen pray to two of them. Desperate Housewives and Lost. It’s a good think I have no life right now, otherwise how would I find time to watch all this TV… HA!

This was a slow weekend here in Blog-town. Not only did I not update it, but I only had 3 visitors all weekend!!! So where are you people!?!?!?! I’m not going to have to start mass emailing you all again now am I.

Well that’s all for this evening… “good night and have a pleasant tomorrow”

Picture Me Rolling

Howdy!
Well today started out with a bang. At around 6:30 PST I was rudely awoken by an earthquake!!! This was my first real quake since I've been in SoCal (I sort of felt one last year, sort of... I was really, really sick and on alot of medication so I really I just thought it was just me). It wasn't a very big one but it did feel like a truck hit our house. Here's a site about California earthquakes just in case you are curious.
So after the earthquake the day just got better. I got a call from my sister and they have finally set a date for her surgery. It's the day after I write the Michigan Bar Exam!!! At least it's not during the exam, but still... You ever wonder if somebody is actually trying to see how much they can push before you break. I do have to say that my sister is just amazing though. She knew that it conflicted with my exam and she was really concerned for me! She is the one having heart surgery and she was feeling sorry for my stupid conflict. In her words, "of course I will feel sorry for you. I get to be knocked out, you are the one who has to live through it". My sister, the strongest person I've ever known... but shushhh... don't tell her :)
Well I'm outta here... nite...

Just a Quickie

Hey all...
Well I've been feeling kinda crappy today so just a small post this evening. Think it's a combination of crappy weather and lots of stress. I can't even express how much I don't want to study right now, not a good thing to have right now.
Random Thought -- Watching "Futurerama" right now. Bender is going through cooking training and they are playing the song from the All Valley Karate Championship in the "Karate Kid". "You're the best, around... Nothing ever going to bring you down..." *sigh* It's sad how happy a good Karate Kid reference can make me:)
So today was the first day where it didn't rain in almost two weeks... Still bloody cold but at least the sun came out for a while.
So I discovered this evening that I have offically joined the internet community. You can now find this page by doing an MSN or Yahoo! search. I'm still not on Google yet but hopefully soon. You ever Google yourself? (mind out of the gutter) I was hoping to unlock some secret about myself that even I didn't know... or even better... a secret stalker site dedicated to me. No such luck. Just a quote from when I was interviewed for the "State News" and a pic of me at a law school function. Yep, it's official... I'm boring.
Well I'm off to bed... good night and remember "Sweep the Leg".

Ramble On...

Here are a few random thoughts…

--Wow, was the Orange bowl a disappointment. Not that I’m a huge Oklahoma fan or anything, but for some reason I really hate USC. I think it’s because they remind me of the University of Michigan.

--Is anybody else as psyched about the new episode of “Lost” that is on tomorrow. So are they dead? Abducted by aliens? Part of a government plot? This isn't just a simple plane crash, right?

--“changes” by 2Pac has to be one of the most overlooked songs. I know I had forgotten about it until I heard it in the trailer for that new Samuel L. Jackson basketball movie, but I listened to it this evening and wow. It’s amazing when a performer uses their platform to really SAY something. I can’t even remember the last time a song on the radio actually said something. In the immortal words of Chuck D “the radio, the suckas never play me”.

--Speaking of Public Enemy, what the hell is with Flava Flav’s new reality show. I admit that the only time I broke my self imposed boycott of Reality TV was to watch him on the Surreal Life. What can I say, but Flava is awesome (Yeah, Boyeee). Sadness. I never thought I’d see the day when a member of PE would publicly whore themselves out like this. Then again, it’s not like it was Chuck D… then the world would officially be over. In a related note, I highly recommend checking out “Burn Hollywood, Burn” at your local Blockbuster/Hollywood Video if you get a chance. Chuck D and Coolio play the “Brothers, Brothers”. Great stuff.

--So I checked out the legal disclaimer on Blockbuster.com for information on their “Death of Late Fees” (yes, ever the lawyer). It’s actually an interesting concept. No they don’t charge you late fees, but if it is over seven days late they charge it off to your account so basically you just bought it (minus the rental fee of course). However, if you return in within thirty days, they will credit your account back. It’s an interesting concept, but I really wonder what it will do the availability of new releases. So basically, what you need to do now is go to Blockbuster on Tuesday, rent whatever just came out that you think you might want to watch on the weekend and then just keep it until then. I’m also curious as to what Hollywood Video will to in response.

--OK so I’m watching NWA/TNA right now. Wow does it suck. Jeff Jarrett will never be main event material. Kevin Nash couldn’t possibly look any slower and looks like he could break at any moment, Scott Hall is dressing like a gay cowboy for some reason, I can’t believe that DDP gave up a lucrative insurance settlement to come work for these people and don’t even get me started on the ridiculous booking of the promotion. One final thought… if you are a wrestler and you are getting so old and out of shape that you feel the need to now wear a shirt when you wrestle, it’s probably time to hang it up… yes I’m talking to you Scott Hall, Jake Roberts and Randy Savage (OH YEAH!).

--Anybody watch that new show “Committed” that was on tonight? I thought it was good, I just don’t know where it will go from here. I mean a guy lives in her closet... that is so "Real Genius". So I really liked the pilot, but then again, I’m the one who thought that the pilot for “Ferris Beuller, the series” had potential. Bottom line, I’m an idiot.

Studying Sux

So this is going to be my home for the next 6 weeks. Ick, ick, ick, and ick again. I can't believe I'm studying for this friggin bar exam!!! If you notice the 5 books stacked up at the end of the table, that represents what I have to get through over the next few weeks. Now I know you wish you were me.

The REAL SnOwC

OK so if you look closely you can see the hail on the patio. Yes... HAIL!!! I can't believe that it hailed in Southern California!!! It didn't last long, but it sure was annoying. It has actually rained most every day since boxing day (that's the day after Christmas for all you non-Canadians). If I wanted weather like this I would have stayed in Michigan!!!

BOOM!

I had ment to put up some fireworks pics for new years... So I'm a little late:) This is a great shot my Dad got from the fireworks at DisneyLand. Ooooo.... AHhhhhhhh

Holiday Hangover

This is my least favorite time of year. I am suffering from Holiday Hangover Syndrom. I love everything about leading up to Christmas, but once it’s over I can’t help but be a little sad that I have to wait until next year to do it again. That, and having grown up in Southwestern Ontario, January and February are the WORST months!!!! Nothing but gray, wet and no sun what-so-ever. It’s actually a toss up, which is a worse month, January or February. At least Feb is shorter. Now things are a little different out here in the OC, but the hangover feeling is still the same. I just get to annoyed at DisneyLand.

OK, enough griping. I saw the Incredibles again today. Still a great movie!! I’ve never minded seeing a movie in the theater more than once. My personal record for number of times seeing a movie in the theater is four. I saw both the Shawshank Redemption and Batman Returns four times each. Now the Batman thing is a little embarrassing but Shawshank remains to this day one of my fav movies of all time. I cannot watch that movie without feeling good about myself by the end. Of course this only includes first run movies as I think I’ve seen the Shining in the theater 6 or 7 times as it was a Halloween tradition. No matter how many times I saw that thing, it still scared the crap out of me when those damn twins appeared in the hallway. I stand by the fact that children are the scariest thing in horror movies. From the Shining to Children of the Corn to Godsend… kids are scary.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well it's finally 2005... crazy huh. This is a really strange year for me as it marks a number of things that happened 10 years ago. This June I will have graduated from High School 10 years ago. This August, I was a freshman at the University of Guelph 10 years ago. I shouldn't have clear memories of things that happened 10 years ago! I'm getting old :(
As a testament to how old I am getting, I did pretty much nothing on New Years Eve and that was actually my plan. I've done the whole bar thing on New Years and it's OK but it's mostly overpriced, overcrowded and overrated. I get a cool invite to VIP at the Viper Room down in Hollywood, but Johnny wasn't going to be there so why bother:) So basically my friend Maria just came over and we watched a very bad movie ("Win a Date With Tad Hamilton") and then just hung out and waited for midnight. It's not so much what you do, it's the company you keep, and I had a great time just hanging out with a friend. The past few years I have spent New Years at DisneyLand but it was just too bloody cold and rainy this year.
OK... confession time... as I am typing this I'm watching EuroTrip and it is friggin funny! I'm not proud to admit that I'm laughing at this schlep, but what can I say... I like me some crappy movies.
OK... well I hope that you all had a great new years eve and that 2005 is better than 2004!!!

Gir, Why is there bacon in my soap!!!

GIR!!! My sister got the BEST toy for me for Christmas. It's GIR from Invader Zim!!! Gir is my absolute fav and the wisdom that he imparts on all of is is just incredable. Who could forget "Hi floor. Make me a sammich!" or the classic "Your head smells like a puppy".

Bunny, Bunny, Bunny

Here's a pic for Mod. We have a bit of a bunny problem here. They REALLY like my Mom's flower but Mod would be really unhappy if we did anything to them so I just give them a frowning of a lifetime.