brendoman.com

Archives for: July 2008

Red Ring of Death'd

So as most of you guys know there was an earthquake in the area the other day. My Xbox 360 was a casualty. It fell off the top of my TV and was working fine at first but then I got the dreaded three flashing rings. Thankfully Microsoft extended the wa… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/31/08| 09:58:11 am| I Love Video Games| 2 comments »


Spike After the Fall #1 (4 Issue Series) by Brian Lynch more »
posted by brendoman | 07/30/08| 02:49:24 pm| Media| Leave a comment »


Wondermark: Beards of our Forefathers by David Malki more »
posted by brendoman | 07/30/08| 02:48:30 pm| Media| Leave a comment »


Half Blood Prince Teaser!!

[youtube]sBGbKCm_pQQ[/youtube] Looks pretty darn sweet. more »
posted by brendoman | 07/30/08| 09:20:25 am| Movies, Books| Leave a comment »


Give Up

Give Up more »
posted by dan | 07/30/08| 06:33:56 am| Music| Leave a comment »


Tim Kaine

The DC speculators are convinced the Tim Kaine will be Obama's VP. Civil rights lawyer, law professor, new to high office (not a beltway insider). Sounds like a good fit. He's also pro-life, a Catholic and spent a year as a Christian missionary. That… more »
posted by dan | 07/29/08| 10:23:44 pm| culture/news| 3 comments »


Finally...

After many attempts, I finally met Wil Wheaton at Comic-Con. He's one of the reasons this blog exists, a talented actor, and an amazing writer. If you haven't checked out The Happiest Days of Our Lives yet, I highly recommend it. I read the whole thin… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/29/08| 07:50:50 pm| Fun| 2 comments »


The Dark Knight (2008)

As is pretty well-known, I was mostly interested in seeing The Dark Knight because everyone else was talking about it. I did go back and re-watch Batman Begins this weekend, to remind myself of why I only liked it a little and not a lot. The good news… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/29/08| 03:19:45 pm| movies, 2008| Leave a comment »


Nickelodeon Rewind Returns on iTunes

Nickelodeon Puts Backcatalog on iTunes - AppScout Nickelodeon today announced plans to sell a slew of new shows through Apple's iTunes video store. The children's network is making available a number of Nick Rewind "classics," including Rocko's Modern Li… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/29/08| 02:53:37 pm| TeeVee| 2 comments »


Still Standing

Just a couple of weeks ago at our office birthday lunch, we were talking about earthquakes and how we haven't had one in a while. There are several people in our office who have never experienced one. Well now they know what it's like! I guess I'm… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/29/08| 02:13:07 pm| etc.| 1 comment »


Dr. Horrible on Hulu!!

Hulu - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog If you missed the first release window of Joss Whedon's amazing Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog you can now catch it in its entirety on Hulu. They also have individual episodes available. They announced a fourth ep… more »


Stray Dog Has a Home!

I only had two bites when I advertised on the university email system, but thankfully, one of them was reaaaallly interested in Stray Dog. She didn't care that he is older and has a few issues. I'm really glad that we were able to help this poor, frien… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/29/08| 08:00:26 am| update, pets| Leave a comment »


Religious Autobiography

Part 1: Growing up in a fundamentalist church (1980-1998) Part 2: Switching to a slightly less legalistic fundamentalist church (1998-2002) Part 3: My time as a youth minister (2002-2004) Part 4: Leaving the faith (2004-2007) more »
posted by dan | 07/28/08| 10:31:18 pm| faith/skepticism| Leave a comment »


Best. Batman. Ever.

Obviously I loved The Dark Knight. I knew I would: everything I saw leading up to the release promised that it would be even better than Batman Begins. So while it's no surprise that I and just about everybody else in America loved it, I would still li… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/28/08| 07:53:12 pm| Movies and TV, Comics| 1 comment »


Reunion Weekend

Hey everyone, Hope you all had a good weekend. We definitely did! It started off with an unlikely movie offering - Son of Rambow at the cheap theater! I almost took a long drive and paid regular rates to see this movie. Now I'm glad I didn't, b… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/28/08| 02:25:53 pm| monday| Leave a comment »


Back to Reality

Comic-Con 2008 was pretty epic. While I didn't get to go to as many panels as I had wanted to, I had a ton of fun and I got to meet a bunch of cool folks. If you missed it, the play by play is on my Twitter feed. I'll most likely upload pics tonight b… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/28/08| 10:17:05 am| I'm a Big Geek, Comics| Leave a comment »


Still Growing!

Here's a picture of Steph from yesterday evening. Her shirt says, "I can grow people." Monday is supposed to be the day.... We'll let you know! more »
posted by peter | 07/26/08| 09:10:21 pm| Misc| 1 comment »


Mongol (2008)

Mongol is the story of the formative years of Genghis Khan. Temudjin is his name as a child, and this movie begins by showing us Temudjin at age nine, when he needs to choose a wife. It continues all the way until he starts to become powerful. The mov… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/24/08| 04:20:12 pm| movies, 2008| Leave a comment »


Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott more »
posted by Kyle | 07/24/08| 08:24:18 am| Books| Leave a comment »


Iron monger

Iron monger Originally uploaded by brendoman At marvel booth Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T more »
posted by brendoman | 07/23/08| 08:21:24 pm| Anything Else| Leave a comment »


Comic-Con 2008: Friday Plans

My Friday plans are pretty simple. I'm going to get up pretty early, pack up my bags since we're switching hotels that day, take the shuttle to the convention center, check my bags, and camp out in the Hall H line. I'll then spend the rest of my day th… more »


Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

We saw Hellboy II last weekend. I wanted to see it, but had my doubts about it because the trailer seemed to show that the movie was more about visuals than it was about substance. In a way, I think my assessment was right, although the movie was bette… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/22/08| 04:40:00 pm| movies, 2008| Leave a comment »


Bang-Up Weekend

So, I feel like I've been up to everything and nothing over the past few days! On my short Friday, I picked up some cash and food and met up with my sister, and we drove out to the Westpark 8 again, to see Mongol. That's right. Everybody's going cra… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/22/08| 02:58:20 pm| monday| Leave a comment »


Gravatars Added!

Thanks to Danny's help, I added Gravatar support to the comments. All you have to do to have your own avatar show up is sign up at Gravatar's site and make sure you use whatever email you used to sign up there to comment here. more »
posted by brendoman | 07/21/08| 02:43:30 pm| Site News| 4 comments »


New Poll: Best Batman Movie

It appears that The Dark Knight has taken over the world, having pulled in $158 million for the opening weekend. Dang. In honor of this I made a new poll asking what you think is the best live action Batman movie. As far as The Dark Knight goes, wha… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/21/08| 11:26:15 am| Movies, Site News, Comics| 4 comments »


Modern Guilt

I bought Beck's latest album last week and have been listening to it repeatedly, trying to develop a firm opinion of it. I don't have much time, but I wanted to at least write a few words about what I think. It's really pretty good. I love the produ… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/21/08| 09:22:47 am| Music| Leave a comment »


Hello, Dolly!

So, it seems the first big storm of the season is heading towards the Gulf of Mexico. At the moment, it is called Tropical Storm Dolly, but they are saying there's a chance it could be Hurricane Dolly by tomorrow. The path seems to be taking it to sout… more »
posted by kelly | 07/21/08| 07:19:44 am| old LiveJournal posts| 3 comments »


Gravatars

I just added support for Gravatars in the comments of this site. What that means is that you can go to gravatar.com, sign up for a free account, upload your picture, and then the picture will appear next to your comments on this site and any others that… more »
posted by dan | 07/20/08| 05:47:23 pm| computer/tech, b2evolution| 4 comments »


On second thought...

I have a few more thoughts on Watchmen, and then I promise I'm going to quite blogging about it for a while. After watching the trailer a couple more times I've decided I'm not ready to discount the movie yet. I do think the tone of the trailer is co… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/19/08| 08:06:12 pm| Movies and TV, Comics| Leave a comment »


Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut more »
posted by Kyle | 07/19/08| 10:49:34 am| Books| Leave a comment »


Light and fluffy Alan Moore interview

Entertainment Weekly has a Q & A with Mr. Moore. It's a pretty fluffy piece with stuff Moore has said elsewhere, but it's nice to see they're including his dissenting opinion in the midst of their Watchmen movie promotion. I laughed when I read t… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/18/08| 06:17:54 pm| Movies and TV, Comics| Leave a comment »


OMG PT 2 - Watchmen Trailer!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to see this trailer on the IMAX screen tomorrow night. edit: In the time between when I watched the teaser and when I posted the video, it got taken down. If anyone finds a good link, post it in the comments. It will be in front of The Dar… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/17/08| 03:24:11 pm| Movies| 5 comments »


Wanted (2008)

Being a fan of Night Watch (not to be confused with this terrible movie) and Day Watch, once I found out that director Timur Bekmambetov was in charge of Wanted, I was sold. And, perhaps, Scotsman James McAvoy had a teeny bit to do with my wanting to se… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/17/08| 03:20:27 pm| movies, 2008| Leave a comment »


Watchmen trailer out

Here it is (sigh). The more I see of this film the more disappointed I prepare myself to be. From the looks of this footage, Zack Snyder has turned the most complex and sophisticated superhero story in the history of comic books into a glitzy CGI-fes… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/17/08| 02:35:15 pm| Movies and TV, Comics| 2 comments »


Happy Birthday Disneyland!

mental_floss Blog » The Quick 10: 10 Random Facts About Disneyland "The Happiest Place on Earth" is 53 today. I'm sure it's no where near as crowded as it was during my first week of working there on the 50th anniversary. As much as I sometimes dislik… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/17/08| 02:05:14 pm| Disneyland| Leave a comment »


OMG

[youtube]5wNmDQ5RWd4[/youtube] There's going to be a panel at Comic-Con with Dan Akroyd and Ernie Hudson. It's during another panel I really want to go to, but I might just skip that. more »


"Uneventful" Week

Wow, I thought I'd be up to almost nothing this week, but actually, I've only been home long enough to sleep and watch the premiere of Project Runway. Monday at work, we all went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant to celebrate some birthdays. That ni… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/17/08| 09:31:07 am| etc.| 1 comment »


Seinfeld - Season 6 more »
posted by brendoman | 07/17/08| 09:08:42 am| Media| Leave a comment »


The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien more »
posted by brendoman | 07/17/08| 09:07:02 am| Media| Leave a comment »


Most Random Dream Ever

I had a dream last night that Eric wrestled a pudgy, older Ultimate Warrior. Seriously, I have no idea where that came from. Last night I saw Hellboy 2 with Curtis. It was all kinds of awesome. If you haven't seen it yet, go. Guillermo Del Toro is m… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/17/08| 09:04:05 am| Movies, Random| Leave a comment »


The Bible Unearthed

The Bible Unearthed is a 90-minute documentary that aired on the History Channel. The sound gets a little out of sync on this YouTube video, but I haven't been able to find a better version. If you can't stand it, check your TV listings or just read th… more »
posted by dan | 07/16/08| 07:38:16 pm| faith/skepticism| 6 comments »


WALL-E (2008)

I wasn't all that interested in WALL-E based on the trailers I saw, but I knew one thing: the movie was being made by Pixar. That alone is enough to get me to the theater, although I admit it's taken me a while to learn that lesson. I think the only mi… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/16/08| 03:32:34 pm| movies, 2008| 3 comments »


Plainview 89

Plain View #89 - June 89, 2008 end of summer school upcoming trip treadmill ipod bourne flicks no country for old men crash silly summer shows will - church & the devil Tumblr subscribe to this podcast! more »
posted by matt | 07/15/08| 08:46:44 pm| media, church, kids, podcast, education| Leave a comment »


Calendar

I just realized how freaking busy I'm going to be the next few months. 7/23-27: Comic-Con 8/6-10: Road trip to Tomfest with Phil 8/15-17: Catalina (maybe) 8/22: Crazy 4 Cult 2 9/20: Beck, MGMT, & Spoon at Hollywood Bowl 9/26-27: 10 Year Reunion… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/15/08| 12:15:25 pm| Anything Else| 5 comments »


When I'll Buy a Wii

I've said it before and now I can re-affirm it: I'll buy a Wii whenever Animal Crossing is released. According to this it will be released at the end of this year. I was hopelessly addicted to the DS version of Animal Crossing and now I'm plunging int… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/15/08| 11:05:07 am| I Love Video Games| Leave a comment »


Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust by Sigur Rós more »
posted by Kyle | 07/15/08| 10:26:15 am| Music| Leave a comment »


FFXIII coming to XBOX360 as well

So one of the reasons why I bought a PS3 a month ago wasn't just for MGS4, but also because I am a big Final Fantasy fan. VI (or III, whatever) was the first RPG that I played and loved, and I still go back to it to replay it. So since Square Enix had… more »
posted by Luis | 07/14/08| 04:19:44 pm| I Love Video Games| 1 comment »


Super Weekend

Hi all, I'm hoping to get in a few posts this week, to review movies I've seen in the theaters recently, and those that I've been catching via Netflix, Roku, and other miscellaneous sources. For now, it's a weekend in review, as always! I had a pret… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/14/08| 03:07:50 pm| update| Leave a comment »


Modern Guilt by Beck more »
posted by Kyle | 07/14/08| 01:07:28 pm| Music| Leave a comment »


Dr. Horrible Premieres Tomorrow!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon's latest project starring Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris, premieres tomorrow. The first episode will be available for free for a limited time with the second and third episodes premiering on July 17th… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/14/08| 09:30:31 am| Movies, I'm a Big Geek| Leave a comment »


My Hops

Just wanted to share one of the pleasures of this summer. Most mornings I walk out to the back yard and check out the crops, finishing in my hops corner. I don't know if it's the relatively cool and damp summer we've been having, the fact that my hops… more »
posted by matt | 07/11/08| 10:41:12 pm| brewing| Leave a comment »


Plainview 72

The missing podcast has been found! Plain View #72 - June 22, 2007 summer school Hapkido demonstration The Beatitudes Last King of Scotland Last Comic Standing The triplets Adult Adoptee List Maly New beer go here for sh… more »
posted by matt | 07/11/08| 08:02:34 pm| media, church, kids, podcast| Leave a comment »


Happy 7/11 Day!

In case you didn't know, today is Slurpee day. You can get a free 7.11 ounce Slurpee at participating 7-11 stores. As some of you might now, I'm quite fond of this tasty nectar of the gods. I've definitely cut back over the years but when I was in hig… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/11/08| 10:36:16 am| In the News| 2 comments »


The Ill-Tempered Klavier

Everyone should go now to the Rabbit Room and purchase Ben Shive's album. It is incredibly stupendous, and you will agree or you will be dead by October. more »
posted by peter | 07/10/08| 10:42:11 pm| Misc| 1 comment »


Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut more »
posted by Kyle | 07/10/08| 07:11:58 pm| Books| Leave a comment »


Gettin' the Led out

Today, for the first time ever, I paid money for a music download. I've resisted until now because I still see downloading music from iTunes as paying too much money for an inferior product. For $10 you get music that is lower quality than a CD and c… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/10/08| 05:53:36 pm| Home and personal, Music| 2 comments »


I almost forgot...

I was going to set a reminder to post this on June 12th but I got caught up with the move and other things. June 12th 1998 was a big day for me for two reasons. First, it marked the release of Can't Hardly Wait, which in my opinion is the ultimate 90's… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/09/08| 04:38:52 pm| Movies, Thoughts and Ideas| 7 comments »


AVG is OK

Grisoft modifies its free AVG product after complaints | Defense in Depth - computer security, hacking, crime, viruses - CNET News.com In a statement on Saturday, Grisoft said "We have actively listened to the Webmasters who have brought this to our att… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/09/08| 01:57:57 pm| Anything Else| Leave a comment »


Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series more »
posted by Kyle | 07/09/08| 01:33:52 pm| Video| Leave a comment »


The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season more »
posted by Kyle | 07/09/08| 01:33:03 pm| Music| Leave a comment »


My Nerdy Thought

First nerdy thought I had today was this, "what I wouldn't do for some splash damage right now." The second is like it. "I think my fish have a fungus." more »
posted by smiles | 07/08/08| 04:59:07 pm| Stuff Happening| 4 comments »


Comic-Con Thursday Schedule is Up!

Comic-Con 2008 :: Programming for Thursday, July 24 OMG decisions, decisions. I'm thinking this will be my tentative schedule, if I can make it in the respective halls. I sense some camping in my future. Thankfully I'll have my DS, iPod, and a book… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/08/08| 11:58:21 am| Movies| Leave a comment »


Vote for Ming!

New York-Penn League: AboutFor those of you who don't know, Ming Chen is the webmaster and tech guru for Kevin Smith and a good friend of mine. He is currently in the running for a logo contest for the New York-Penn Class A league. His logo is option o… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/08/08| 10:39:15 am| Sports, Kevin Smith| 2 comments »


Guillermo Del Toro is My Hero

Interview: Guillermo Del ToroI was just finishing my house and when I mean my house, I mean my house. I'm doing a man cave of epic proportions. My collection of crap was getting so big that my wife said, "Dude, you or us." I said let's move the things o… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/08/08| 09:50:11 am| Movies| Leave a comment »


Prison Overcrowding Crisis

NPR: San Quentin's Gym Becomes One Massive Cell The link above will take you to a story about California's San Quentin prison, which embodies the problem of prison overcrowding in just about every state in America. I highly recommend listening to it.… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/08/08| 09:50:09 am| News| Leave a comment »


The Terrible Twos

Boy, I'd heard the twos would be bad, but I never imagined it would be this bad. Daniel is just impossible to reason with. When we're picking up the house, it is very important to him that everything be put away neatly and in its right place. And if… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/07/08| 06:25:29 pm| Home and personal| 1 comment »


Independence Weekend

Hi all, Just a quick long weekend in review! I had a lot of intense data entry work Monday-Wednesday at work, so I took off an extra day on Thursday to give myself an extra long weekend. I spent Wednesday night and all day Thursday and Friday at m… more »
posted by Jeri | 07/07/08| 03:21:42 pm| monday| Leave a comment »


7th of July

I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. Mine was pretty sweet. I did a whole lot of relaxing. I also put together my desk and finished unpacking my room. I should probably take some pictures since I know you all are DYING to know what it looks lik… more »


An album for every year I've been alive

I saw this over at the AV Club. I had some trouble with the first half of this list. As some people know, I was pop-culturally unaware during all of the 1980s and didn't start listening to secular music until ninth grade. This has left me with not o… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/07/08| 01:32:38 pm| Music| 1 comment »


bzZZz....... bZzZZ....... bZZzz.......

hola. it has been a while. how you doin brendo? what's been going on? what video games have you been playing? what kind of martial arts have you been practising? will you be in the san diego metro area any time soon? i was looking at upcoming concerts… more »
posted by eric | 2008-07-06| 21:58:23| Eric's Insights| 16 comments »


AVG Bad?

Slashdot | AVG Fakes User Agent, Floods the Internet I've been a big fan of the free AVG Anti-Virus since I was introduced to it when I first started at Central. It sounds like that love might be running out though. Apparently the new safe search feat… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/03/08| 11:33:26 am| Anything Else| 2 comments »


New Digg Recommendation Engine is Great

Digg - News It's still in beta and I don't know if it's available yet for everyone, but I just started using the new Digg recommendation engine. If it's available for you, you should be able to get to it via the link. I think it's really great so far.… more »


Old Poem

Leida recently emailed me to ask for a poem that I wrote back in college about Africa. A bunch of my friends went there on a mission trip, and I was swept up by their stories and wrote a poem about my own experience of Africa through their words and memo… more »
posted by peter | 07/02/08| 11:22:22 pm| Misc| 1 comment »


Religious Autobiography 2004-2007

Part 3 of this series is here: Religious Autobiography 1998-2002. After quitting my job at the church, I kept my promise to become less involved. I went to Sunday morning services, but that was it. No Sunday school, no Bible studies and no volunteeri… more »
posted by dan | 07/02/08| 03:31:31 pm| family/personal, faith/skepticism| 12 comments »


Out of the Office

They're actually having me do work (and out of the office) lately, so sorry, no posts! I'm not sure if I'll be on much in the next couple of weeks, but I'll try. more »
posted by Jeri | 07/02/08| 03:25:39 pm| etc.| Leave a comment »


Reporter Tries Out Waterboarding Firsthand

Believe Me, It's Torture: Politics & Power: vanityfair.comBut it's been well said that cowards die many times before their deaths, and it was difficult for me to completely forget the clause in the contract of indemnification that I had signed. This… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/02/08| 11:35:59 am| In the News| Leave a comment »


From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans

From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin, Alfred A. Moss Jr. more »
posted by dan | 07/02/08| 09:27:35 am| Books| Leave a comment »


Joy of Cooking

Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker more »
posted by dan | 07/02/08| 09:26:33 am| Books| Leave a comment »


Religious Autobiography 2002-2004

Part 2 of this series is here: Religious Autobiography 1998-2002 As expected, the church in Adrian offered me a job after I graduated. We moved to Adrian, bought a house and I became the associate minister at Adrian Christian Church. My duties inclu… more »
posted by dan | 07/01/08| 07:46:05 pm| family/personal, faith/skepticism| 3 comments »


The California Cell Phone Driving Law Is Silly

So there's a new law that went into effect today in California. If you are caught on your cell phone while driving without using a hands free device you will be fined. I'm guessing the motivation behind this is that drivers are distracted by holding a… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/01/08| 09:48:33 am| Rants and Raves| 5 comments »


Anticlimactic Twilight Zone Episodes

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Anticlimactic Twilight Zone Episodes. Ah, McSweeney's. You are awesome. Where Is Everybody? A man emerges from his office to find the hallways mysteriously devoid of co-workers. He wanders the silent, empty building loo… more »
posted by brendoman | 07/01/08| 09:14:42 am| TeeVee, Funny Stuff| 1 comment »


Bush escalates covert ops in Iran

This may be the most important news you'll hear this year. Despite the failures in Iraq, America's over-extended military, and overwhelming public opposition, George W. Bush is intent on beginning a war with Iran. This isn't speculation. It's alre… more »
posted by Kyle | 07/01/08| 07:52:43 am| Politics, News| 2 comments »