I was very excited for this movie and it certainly didn't let me down. It's even better than the previous one, which I really liked. Sam Raimi continues to blow me away. I just really love his directing style. Tobey Maguire did a great job as did Alfred Molina and James Franco. This film used some great material from the comics. We got an in-depth look at Peter Parker. It wasn't just mindless action. It also did a great job of setting up the third film. Of course, there was also the Bruce Campbell cameo, which was great. The movie was actually pretty long but it never skipped a beat. I'll definitely see it again.

Testing has begun on the church website. I only had three volunteers, so if anyone else is interested in helping, please email me.

Never mind that Dracula and Frankenstein are old favorites of mine and how I was incredibly incensed when the hideously adapted (into love stories) "Bram Stoker's" Dracula and "Mary Shelley's" Frankenstein were released into theatres. Never mind that Van Helsing was one of my favorite characters from a "monster" novel.

And never mind that the rose window in Notre Dame was crushed, or that Mr. Hyde was more like Quasimoto, or that the makers of this movie had an affinity for bad teeth, or that wooden carriages can explode, or that everyone in this movie is dirty except for Kate Beckinsale, or that this is yet another movie in which werewolves break out of clothes and then magically get them back when they turn into humans, or the myriad coinicdental/conveniant occurrences in this movie.

Never mind any of that.

This movie was meant to be one thing: entertaining.

The action is almost nonstop, lots of humor, it doesn't take itself too seriously, it's creative, it throws every old fiction monster into one pot, and somehow, through all of this, it works. It's got everything, including vampires, werewolves, an exquisite ball, Frankenstein's castle, Dracula's lair, cliffs, broken bridges that must be jumped over, fun weapons, a secret Roman league, memory loss, a funny sidekick, tons of shattered windows, elaborate costumes, and expensive sets. Even the one-liners don't seem tooo cheesy. A couple of hokey moments happen (see: the brides), but overall, I was thoroughly surprised to find that I enjoyed myself.

Who knew?!

p.s. Dollar theatre was okay this time. Josh went with us, and we all got a kick out of the family behind us, who seemed surprised to find that this movie was full of monsters.

One of the missions for Team TMBG is to create graphics to promote the band and their new album, Spine. What do you think? I could win a t-shirt. Click here to get this in icon size.

5/5


I saw Spider-Man 2 at a midnight screening last night (this morning?). It was every bit as good as I anticipated. It follows Blade II and X2 in the tradition of Marvel comic book movie sequels that are better than the first installment. It's easy to see why this trend has developed. With the first movie in a series laying the necessary groundwork, the sequel can mostly skip exposition and dive straight into a complex, involved story (which Spider-Man does beautifully). The story perfectly captures the everyday hero of Peter Parker struggling to balance the life of a superhero with career, school, and personal relationships. For much of the film, the super-villain plot thread is overshadowed by the more intriguing character developments, as in the comic books.


Aside from the story, the movie is skillfully directed by Sam Raimi, who leaves much more of his personal thumbprint on this film than in the first. While allowing the personal drama of the characters to shine, he doesn't shy away from corny humor and horror elements of his earlier films. He even throws in a cameo from Bruce Campbell and an entire scene done in the style of Evil Dead.


These bonuses and lots of comic book inside jokes make the movie a delight for all geeks, and the quality of story makes it appealing for even those who have never picked up a comic book before. Go see it.

I should have known John/Chad was a Pflaum. The taking it too far thing should have been a dead giveaway.

Here's a couple of cool tidbits I found today:

Just the other day I told Grace and Jon that I would love to see Mike Judge direct another movie. The guy hasn't done anything since Office Space besides King of the Hill. Well, I was overjoyed at the news that he is currently at work on a new film, and it's nothing like Office Space. Should be interesting.

In even bigger news, J.K. Rowling revealed the title of the sixth Harry Potter book. It's going to be called Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. According to Rowling there are many clues about the plot of the next two books in The Chamber of Secrets. Maybe I should read that one again. I hope this means that Rowling is nearing completion of the book.

That's all I got for now. I made it back here just fine. I didn't have the most comfortable plane ride, but that's what you get for flying on the cheap. I'll write more tomorrow.

I have yet another Gmail invite.

Update: I gave it away. Check back later for more invites.

Get it here. And yes Luis, we know you love Opera.

Click here

If you are at all interested in technology, you'll like this magazine. No shipping, handling, hidden fees, or catches.. Completely free!

Update: You can take this gift as a new subscription or as a renewal, so even if you already get it (like I do) you can add another year.

When I was a kid, my family was watching Fahrenheit 451 on tv. All I can remember from that moment on was a woman who burned with her books. It scared me and kept me from watching or reading anything Fahrenheit 451 for several years. In fact, I just gave in and read the book this past weekend.

For those who live under a rock, this is a book in which a futuristic society burns all books. A "fireman" is no longer a protector against fires, but a firestarter. One of the firemen, Montag, manages to steal a few books from the homes he sets fire to, and starts to read them. His life begins to change as he discovers the history behind books and why they are burned, and as his relationship with his wife is teetering on the edge of either death or divorce, since her entire life revolves around the interactive TV walls of her living room.

Something really grabbed me when I read this book. Maybe it's the fact that I had been reading so many short Grimm's Fairytales (I'm only 250 out of 600 pages in) that it felt good to get into depth with a character again, or maybe because it raised so many still-relevant points about society and literature. Whatever it was, this book made me want to pick up a million books, to let them offend me, to let them teach me, or challenge me.

I'll have to admit that this is the first book I've read by an author who's still alive. I always thought it was funny that one Buchanan in the English Dept always made it a policy to never read dead authors. I was always his opposite. Not that this book is very recent, but it made me laugh to think about. I think a lot of modern authors write a lot without necessarily saying anything. At first, this book irritated me because it had that similie-filled wordiness that drives me crazy, but once it got rolling, I got involved and enjoyed his writing style.

Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected and look forward to reading more of Bradbury's work.

Meredith is gone all day on Saturday and I am putting out the feelers for a LAN Party.

If anyone is interested, let me know. (Hundie JO)

Luis, maybe we can schedule a Noldorin Gunbound Fest.

As I return to the main blog, this is what happened.

A Men's Breakfast, A High School All-Star Game, A Barbecue, A Few Crying Babies, A Trip To The Zoo, and A Pup Named Palestine.

SMILES.BRENDOMAN.COM

Wow. I think I did a lot this weekend. Well atleast for me. It all kicked off on Saturday. Saturday morning all started off with a Men's Breakfast at my church. Let me tell you the food was really good and the speaker is one of my all time favorite story tellers. He is an elder at my church and he is an older guy who has done so much in his life that he can tell about a million stories in the one story he tells, and still have people say "I thought you were going to tell this story, not that one." Anyways he has one of the greatest grandpa type voices ever. So the Men's breakfast was great.

Next, after some cleaning up at the house, we got a puppy. That is right at my house we have a puppy now. As a child, me and my two older brothers have always wanted a dog, but the answer was always "NO". There were several reasons, like not a big enough back yard, not a fenced back yard, mom is allergic, but for some reason now with a small back yard, we can get a dog. Its name is Palestine by the way, and it is half golden lab, and half sneaky neighbor dog that wasn't fixed.

Saturday Night, I went to a high school football all-star game. I expected a lot out of it, and really didn't get anything. I was a little dissappointed. The final score was 9 to 6 South over North.

Sunday was another good day for me. It started off with me working in the Nursery at church. I got to teach them the lesson, and a bunch of other stuff. It was kind of interesting though. We had three visitors in the nursery, and more kids than normal anyways, so we had to split up the kids. Then the only kids that we had a problem with in the nursery were the older kids. The two kids were the oldest two kids we have. The girl who was giving us problems I ended up holding, and I heard her say two things all day. The first thing I heard her say was, "I want Daddy." I figure that is typical because kids tend to want their parents when they are scared. After holding her a while, and she calmed down a little, but not enough, I tried to find a toy she liked. I handed her this Cookie Monster toy, and I asked her if she wanted the cookie monster, and she said "Cookie Monster." I held her for a little while longer, and then set her down, and she never let go of the cookie monster toy, until dad came and picked her up. I Thought it was pretty neat.

Sunday night the college group at my church had a Barbecue. It was good. Someone brought Cheesecake. It was delicious.

Tomorrow, I will be going to the zoo with the Elementary at the church. It shall be great fun. This is also the event that I planned, I hope it goes well. There may be pictures, but no guarentees.

Man, this week has gone by really fast. I would just like to thank Roland and Becky for letting me stay with them. It's been fun.

On Friday we saw Dodgeball. I thought it was fun. If you're looking to laugh a lot and be entertained, you'll be pleased with this movie. If you're looking for a think piece or solid filmmaking or something like that, you aren't going to find it. That should be a given, but after reading reviews of this movie you would think people were expecting this to be Citizen Kane or something. There were lots of quotable lines, lots of great cameos (including William Farking Shatner), and Ben Stiller was hilarious. So yeah, I enjoyed it.

On Saturday we went to The Texas Roadhouse to eat. It was really stinking good. Yesterday I got to see Roland tear it up on bass at church. The guy did a great job. After that we just hung around the house. I watched Some Kind of Wonderful on TV. I hadn't seen it in awhile since I seem to have misplaced my VHS copy and I haven't gotten around to buying the DVD. In case you didn't know, it's one of my favorite movies. So that's what has been going on. Tomorrow morning I'm flying back to Missouri. I'm looking forward to visiting Danny and Sara and going to the They Might Be Giants concert next month. My schedule is actually pretty packed. I'm also going to NYR with Danny and kids from Adrian the week before I leave for my training. Gringo is paying a visit sometime in July as well. So yeah, I definitely won't be bored during my last month here.

What a weekend! Fun times, definitely.

On Friday night, Judi and I went to see Yo play with his band. They were playing with a couple of other bands. The show was at a little whole in the wall that some guy in the other band found, Fitzgerald's in HB. Now, if you look up a place online, and it calls itself a "pub" and a "sportsbar," wouldn't you expect a somewhat decent array of ... food.. and sports stuff? This place is tiny. One TV on, playing Fox Sports Network. No food. Bah. I had to walk over to Taco Bell, which was the only other place around. Booooooo!

Anyway, Yo's girlfriend is moving out, which means we can be friends again, more than just by email. We can actually call each other and hang out, like we used to. His ultimate plan is to have me play keyboards for him in the studio he's set up in his house. Then he wants to play live shows, and I've just been informed that I'll be performing at those. Booooo! All in all, it was a good night - especially when Yo said, "You've been working out, haven't you?" Yes! Someone can finally SEE the difference. It's been about 10 pounds since mid-May.

Saturday, I worked out in the a.m., went to bed for 5 hours, did laundry at my parents, and got ready for Nate and Lindsay's wedding. Lo and behold, as I'm driving down Imperial, the clutch goes down and never comes up! I coasted down the block and into residential zone. Called my mom, had her pick me up, dropped her off, and borrowed the car to go to the wedding. I get there 5 minutes before it begins, look over, and see my in-laws. Could have carpooled! Doh! I see Kristen too, which is another could have carpooled moment. Oh well. The wedding was great. Two people who deserve all the happiness in the world. The reception had a great atmostphere, with white lights everywhere. Good cake too. :)

Sunday was a cleaning day after church. Man, my house had gone to pot. It is now happy again. We went to the Fullerton Trainstation to hang out and watch trains. I swear, there are so many roaches in that area. I'm going to come with roach killer next time.

Here is a fun site that collects quotes from negative film reviews. Some of them are pretty funny.

(via linkfilter)

I got my issue of Books & Culture today, and in it I read an interesting article entitled, "Hopeful Pessimism." In it, the author contrasts modern liberals with the civil rights activists of the 1960s, focusing on issues of faith. One point the author makes is that modern liberals' call for the separation of church and state is radically different from the faith-based convictions of Martin Luther King and his contemporaries. Their desire for racial equality was closely connected to their beliefs.

Read more »

In some of the first authentically good news to come out of Iraq in a long time, our government handed over official sovereignty today, two days early. I heard it on the radio just a little bit ago. At last, the Iraqi people can begin to enjoy some measure of freedom. Granted, they will not be allowed to have total control of their government yet, and they will likely have to suffer the presence of foreign armies for years to come, but at least this is a step.

Yes, I went to see this movie on purpose. Shut up. It was early on a Friday, I had a dollar to spend, and wanted to see... anything except Scooby Doo 2, Johnson Family Vacation, or New York Minute. :)

Actually, I have a soft spot for animated features, and I also have a soft spot for criticizing the downward trajectory of Disney's animated features. Thus, filled with doubt as swarms of children stood in line around me, I made my way to the theatre, where I proceded to give little 11-year-olds the evil eye every timet they stared at me. I think it freaked them out.

Everything was going fine for once, at the dollar theatre. I knew it was too good to be true. A quiet audience with no mishaps? Impossible! About 20 minutes in, two fat ladies bumble in, one of them walking straight into me.. when she ran into me, she said she was sorry, and then proceded to sit on the chair next to me. I tried to be quick, but it was too late. My popcorn, which had been sitting on that chair, was smooshed. I gave her some attitude. Then she sat down with her friend and they verbalized all of their internal thoughts until I stared at them for a good amount of time, and they shut up. What morons.

Oh yes, the movie. The movie is filled with background songs, kind of like Shrek. No characters actually singing songs, with the exception of the villain. The background songs are horrendous. The voice of Roseanne as the main cow is a bit weird to get used to. All I could do at first was think about the humor of how she provides the voice for the fattest cow in town. Besides the odd feeling of hearing Renee Zelwegger's and Judi Dench's voices come from cows, the humor itself is horrible. Remember when Disney used simple humor, situational stuff? Well, that's all gone, and Zelwegger's cow is a hippy who rambles on about creating a "wholistic" solution to a problem and "bad energy." I'm trying to remember other bad humor, but to be honest, most of the movie has already left my memory. Sad, really.

It was mildly entertaining, with cute characters such as the pigs, chicks, and goats. A yodelling villain, however, isn't very impressive. I didn't laugh out loud once, but some of the scenes were lively, and enough to keep me amused. The animation reminded me a little bit more of older Disney, which was refreshing. But overall, the movie never really picked up. Oh well. I guess that's what I was expecting.

Please welcome Doug and his blog, Dark River to the brendoman.com crew. Doug is a friend of Danny, who says he's a really cool guy. Since I believe anything Danny tells me, I figured Doug was brendoman.com material. Welcome aboard Doug!

I would like to welcome an old friend to the world of blogging and to the Brendoman.com family. Doug's blog is at darkriver.brendoman.com. He also has a site on uky.edu, where he is a graduate student. My favorite memory with Doug is sitting in line for tickets to Fellowship of the Ring in Kirksville. The first showing didn't even sell out, so there wasn't much use in waiting outside the theater all day, but it sure was fun. Be sure to check out his new blog and leave a comment.

Yahoo! News - Lakers' O'Neal Reiterates Wish for Trade

The demise of the Lakers continues!

In college I used Napster, yes the first Napster, the one that got shut down by the RIAA. I had about 1.5 GB of music, but two years ago I decided to try and be more legal and I deleted my mp3 folder (confession: I kept a mix tape I had made from my Napster tunes and I kept the 2-cd back-up I had made. I've used the former, but not the latter.) So I've never installed Kazaa or dealt with all the spyware and RIAA suits that could go along with it. (confession II: I did use BitTorrent to download a tv episode that escaped our Tivo's grasp.) But now I'm considering getting back into the p2p game.

I think two things are pushing me toward this decision. 1) I read Free Culture. I don't think copyright law is anything like it should be. I know that when technology changes, copyright protections need to adjust. The record and movie industries have always tried to limit the power of technology with the law, but so far they've always backed down eventually. The MPAA was all up in arms about the VCR, saying it would ruin Hollywood, but it hasn't. Maybe they're blowing this filesharing thing out of proportion, too. 2) The other thing that has me interested in strapping on my eye-patch is Shareza, a new p2p client. I've heard about it on TechTV. It uses the filesharing networks of BitTorrent, Gnutella and edonkey as well as the Shareza network.

There's a link on the Shareza website that says "100% legal", but click the link and read the fine print: "Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, publicly perform or display works without the copyright owner's consent, may be in violation of the law." But is downloading a show from Shareza any different than recording a show with my Tivo? I don't know what I'll do. Any advice?

Update: It turns out that Shareza has a monthly charge of $2, so I probably won't be getting that.

Update 2: I had the wrong name. It's Shareaza, not Shareza. What a difference an 'a' can make. Shareaza is free and open source.

Amazon.com: Books: Just A Geek

You can pre-order Wil Wheaton's new book, Just A Geek at the link above. The 304 page book will be released on August 31st. Here is the description from the page:

Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture "Stand By Me", and growing up on television as Wesley Cusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek.

In this, his newest book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family.

The stories in Just a Geek include:

- Wil's plunge from teen star to struggling actor
- Discovering the joys of HTML, blogging, Linux, and web design
- The struggle between Wesley Crusher, Starfleet ensign, and Wil Wheaton, author and blogger
- Gut-wrenching reactions to the 9-11 disaster
- Moving tales of Wil's relationships with his wife, step-children, and extended family
- The transition from a B-list actor to an A-list author

Wil Wheaton--celebrity, blogger, and geek--writes for the geek in all of us. Engaging, witty, and pleasantly self-deprecating, Just a Geek will surprise you and make you laugh.

The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > Despite an Act of Leniency, China Has Its Eye on the Web

Looks like I'll have to watch what I say about politics and the like when I'm in China. According to the article there are over 30,000 active internet police officers. I really don't think I have a lot to worry about, but I'll definitely be careful.

I was at the library with Sara and Emma a couple of days ago and I decided it was time for a sci-fi fix. I picked up a book of stories by one of my favorites sci-fi authors, Robert Heinlein. The book is called The Past Through Tomorrow. I just finished a story called "The Roads Must Roll," which was written in 1940. In it he describes a futuristic one-person vehicle that should sound familiar to us today:

A tumblebug does not give a man dignity, since it is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a singe wheel. . . . It can go through an opening the width of a man's shoulders, is easily controlled, and will stand patiently upright, waiting, should it's rider dismount (Heinlein 52).

Does that sound anything like this?

When I began reading this book, I was concerned it would have a mostly anti-religion or anti-Christian tone. As the story has delved deeper into the mind of the narrator, however, I have realized that is far from the case. It's true that for much of the first half of the book, the only form of religion is the oppressive, mandatory form used by the establishment, that doesn't allow women to even read the Bible for themselves (although there is a brief reference to a battle with Baptists, suggesting the existence of other Christian groups).

In chapter 27, the narrator and Ofglen observe the automated prayer machines, and Ofglen asks, "Do you think God listens to these machines?" The narrator simply answers, "No." It is nearly as refreshing for me as a reader to see this small bit of freethinking Christianity as it is for the characters to take part in such a dangerous rebellion. It is a little taste of the true spirit of Christianity that still exists below the surface of this world.

Read more »

The church web site I'm designing will launch on July 11. If anyone is interested in helping me test it, please email me. I'll be sending out an email in a couple of days with the instructions. Thanks in advance.

The Burning Edge: Firefox 0.9.1 is coming

For those of you who are having some problems with the latest release of Firefox, a bugfix release is coming soon. Alternatives to IE are getting a lot of press right now because of all the vulnerabilities being found in IE. For me, I like the built in pop up blocking and the tabbed browsing. I'll stop there since I think we've said just about everything you can say about IE alternatives.

Slashdot | 429,000 Do-Not-Call Complaints

Looks like the Do-Not-Call list isn't 100% effective. I think it will take some time. When you think about it, 492,000 complaints out of 62 million registered numbers really isn't that bad. The way to make the list more effective is reporting abuse. I'm sure there are many more complaints but people just haven't taken the time to officially file them.

They Might Be Giants is my favorite band. I recently joined the TMBG Street Team to help promote the band (and hopefully get some free loot.) If you share my love for this quirky combo, then you might want to join, too. Just follow the clicky-click road.

In 2000, Michael Chabon won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It is a story about two cousins in the 1940s to 1950s who create a popular supherhero character, The Escapist. The characters and events of the novel are fictional, but they are based on the true people and events in the early history of comic books. Now, Chabon has teamed up with some of the best writers and artists in today's comics to create The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist.

Read more »

The department of homeland security has issued a warning about a new way that Microsoft products have been exploited. I saw this first on Leo Laporte's blog. This one looks pretty serious, so update your anti-virus software. It looks like Firefox users won't have to worry about it since it is an IE security hole. If you still use IE, this would be a great time to switch.

http://www.tourbus.com/bizarre.htm

I think 96% of the crazy people I have ever seen have been at Wal-Mart.

Mike Ferguson (Danny's younger brother, home from college in Florida for a few weeks). I asked him to guest-blog because a. I'm exhausted and b.he's really funny. (As you read his post, remember we live in Adrian, MO population 1800 and a fun factor of 0.) Send me your top 5s and you may be next.

Top five things cool for high schoolers that I wouldn't be caught dead doing

5. Going to see a movie in Harrisonville-- Unless you're dropping by
Movie Gallery because you just got done eating at the Branding Iron,
you have no business doing anything movie-related in Harrisonville.
High-schoolers, you'll be shocked when you see your first movie
theater that has stadium style seating, digital sound, and less white
trash.

4. "Roadtrips"-- Notice the quotation marks. This refers to
roadtrips that entail driving around Bates County. College students
know that real road trips mean that you go somewhere, normally several
states away. Real roadtrips usually take more than 45 minutes and
don't take place on a single weeknight after eating dinner with your
family. And you will definitely learn that roadtripping to Merwin
and Amsterdam is a complete waste of time, gas, and brain cells.

3. Any Camp that Takes Place on a College Campus-- I remember the
days of going to different camps, music camps, basketball camps, etc,
where for a week we lived in college dormitories. It was so cool. We
had our own squeaky bed and tiny closet, and a sink, right there in
the freakin room! But after spending a few semesters in said dorm
rooms, they lose their luster. This is mostly caused by a thin layer
of FUNK growing on everything, including the 4 foot pile of laundry
that you aren't going to wash. And don't get me started on roomates.
In other words, enjoy your room at home while it lasts.

2. Driving around town-- I used to do this all of the time. It was
SUPER cool before I got my license, and moderately cool after. But
now just seems silly. Whether it was cruising the strip (what's the
strip) or flipping the U or going around the horseshoe or cruising
Sonic in Butler, it all was cool for a while, but lately just seems
retarted. The retartedness of this activity goes off the scales when
you are in a 4 x 4 and listening to loud rap music. Ok, it doesn't
matter what you're driving, it always makes you stupider.

1. Talking about How Ready You are to Leave-- It's the same song you
get from every high schooler. "I'm so sick of high school and I can't
wait to leave." Most of the time it's true, and college is a lot more
fun than high school. But talking about how miserable you are, though
at the time seems cool, is only cool to you and your buddies.
Remember, it was cool to me when I did it, but looking back I wish I
would have shut up.

Thank you, Mike, for being brave enough to share your high school exploits and the lameness therein. Prepare for the comments to flow!

The DVD Rewinder

I wish I had thought of that.

Users fume over Yahoo-Trillian scuffle (CNET News.com)

I don't have many Yahoo IM contacts, but I do use GAIM, so this is kind of a pain. Trillian apparently has a patch already to get around this. I'm not sure what GAIM will do. I guess it's Yahoo's network, so they can do whatever they want with it, but there will always be ways around their controls. If people want to use a thrid party client or block ads, they'll find a way to do it.

Erika and I saw The Terminal last night, and we both loved it. It is about a man (Tom Hanks) who is caught in limbo in a New York airport because his country underwent a coup and officially ceased to exist while he was flying to the US. The man's Visa is no longer valid, and he cannot return to his country.

This interesting premise begins very well, as the man who can barely speak English and has no money attempts to survive in the International lobby of the airport. This portion of the story bears a stark resemblance to Cast Away, showing that a crowded New York airport can be just as lonely and frightening as a deserted island.

Hanks' character doesn't stay alone for long, though. His gentle charm endears him to a small circle of airport workers, and the man even begins to find an odd niche in the surreal community of the airport. The movie taken on an increasingly sweet and romantic quality throughout, up to an unrealistic resolution, but the story is fresh and original enough to please even a cynical moviegoer like myself. Overall, I give it a three.

Click here for a full description of the ratings scale I use.

The Onion A.V. Club | Feature

Check out this article for the dirt on some of the lesser known celebrity blogs. If you want a laugh, check out Fred Durst's. Billy Corgan's is kind of interesting. His latest post includes a message to former Pumpkin's guitarist James Iha.

So last night we went to the dollar theatre to watch Hellboy again. I'd have to say that I enjoyed it even more sober, which surprised me.

The one thing about this movie experience was ... this guy in front of us, to the right. He thought he was damn smart and decided to let everyone hear his intelligent commentary on the movie.

Thus, as Hellboy has his first onscreen encounter with Liz, this guy says aloud to his friends, "HUH HUH... SHE'S HELLBITCH! A-HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH!" His laugh is kind of like goofy mixed with a real person's laugh. It's horrid.

Other such comments continued throughout the whole movie. One of my favorite moments of brilliance was when Hellboy followed Liz and Myers on their "date." The guy said, "HUH HUH... STALKER! A-HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH!"

I started mimicking him throughout the movie, although I don't think he heard me over his own laughter. And this wasn't some dopey teenager, or even an annoying college kid. This guy was like 35 years old.

I just don't get it.

If you're thinking about building a new PC, this might be a good start. I'm considering getting one myself. What do you think, is it a good deal?

Quake II AbSIRD is a modification of the standard Quake II rendering engine so that it can create SIRDS instead of normal 3D environments. This means that you can play Quake II just as you normally would (single player, network play, most mods, etc) except all the 3d objects and characters will jump out at you with the full 3D power of SIRDS.

Check out the screenshots on that page. This is a very cool idea. I don't have Quake II, but I downloaded PDAbSIRD, this author's program for making MagicEye/SIRD drawings on my Pocket PC.

For all you stalkers or nice people who might want to send me a letter or package, here is my address in China. I won't actually be there until August 28th, but they are holding anything sent to me until then so feel free to do so.

DELETED....

I saw this after I watched Saved!. I really enjoyed it. I would actually put it way up there on my favorite Sci-Fi flicks. I liked the story a lot and I thought Vin Diesel did a great job. That is saying a lot since I strongly dislike most of his movies. I think I enjoyed this movie more because I watched Pitch Black the night before in my friend Mike's huge home theater. I thought the action was great. There were a couple of things that didn't make a lot of sense, but overall the plot was pretty good. It was a fun movie and I'd definitely see it again. I do agree with Jeri that Judi Dench seemed very out of place in the movie. If you're looking for a good summer flick, you should definitely check this out.

I saw Saved! when I was in San Diego and I've been a little lazy about saying a few words about it. First off, I really liked the movie. I thought it was funny and I thought the performances were great all around. I especially liked Macauley Caulkin and Patrick Fugit. The thing about this movie is that while it was very satirical, it was also pretty darn accurate. That accuracy just kind of bummed me out. I wish the level headed Christian (Patrick Fugit) had more screen time, but that's how it seems to be in reality. The wackos and the phonies get all the press and attention. That's true with just about anything I suppose. I didn't consider the film blasphemous or evil or anything like that. I've encountered just about every character depicted in the movie, both at the Christian high school I went to for two years and the Bible College that I graduated from. I'd definitely recommend this movie.

I think this is injust.

I realized that I really have no sense of time. Well at least long term. I can't think in terms of months and weeks. It is horrible. I just realized that after tomorrow, I only have two weeks of work until I go to camp. Then I get back from camp, and have VBS right away, then I have a week where I am the only one in the children's department at my church. Then I have surgery on my shoulder on August 3rd, but I get that whole week off, except Monday. Then the next week is the last week of my internship, then the next week I have off, then I go back to school. I guess that is still like seven weeks, but where did the time go, it seems like yesterday I was just starting.

In other words, I am really looking forward to camp, and work getting crazy. I just can't wait. These are the times that I live for.

Today is the three-year anniversary of my marriage to Erika, and I would like to take a moment to boast about what a wonderful woman the Lord has given me.

Erika is one of the most generous and self-sacrificing women I know. She volunteers to help people every chance she gets, whether it's painting the church building, cleaning the house of friends who have moved away, or meeting with a friend to weekly prepare dinner for her large family. Erika is a constant reminder to me of the importance of selfless Christian servitude.

She is also strongly and actively committed to her faith. At any given time, she is involved in multiple bible study and accountability groups, and can always be seen reading a book for improving her relationship with the Lord. Her consistency in personal devotions is an example I struggle to follow.

Erika is also an extremely intelligent person, and is constantly at work to improve herself. Right now she is taking a class on psychopharmacology not because it will give her a pay increase or provide her with a valuable new certification, but just because she believes the knowledge she gains will help her to be a more effective counselor. She models the value of life-long learning.

I feel right in shamelessly boasting about my wife because I don't think that these attributes have anything to do with my influence. They arise because of her God-given strength of character, and I want everyone else to know what a wonderful person she is.

Thanks for three great years, honey, and many more to come.

Fair and balanced reporting, Onion style.

I am progressing through this book a little more slowly than I planned. I'm sorry if all of you who are reading with it are already far ahead of me. I have been sick the last few days, and when I'm sick I don't feel much like reading. I'm over halfway through the book now, and it's starting to get much more interesting.

Read more »

I made it to Roland and Becky's just fine. The only thing that happened of interest was that my flight got canceled and I was moved to another flight. I've been plagued by some bad luck traveling on this trip. My train from San Diego to Fullerton broke down and the one hour train ride turned into four hours. Other than all that, everything is fine.

So yeah, it's kind of hot here, but I don't mind that. I'll try and get around to doing those movie reviews I was supposed to do last week. I hope everyone is doing well. I'm out of Gmail invites for right now, so stop bugging me about that.

I have sixe more Gmail invites. First come, first served. personman2@gmail.com

Ok, I have 6 more Gmail invites. First come, first served. personman2@gmail.com