Lakers played great again tonight. And you know what - Kobe wasn't even selfish. Karl Malone is again a monster and every time I watch him play I get happier about the acquisition. The Lakers defeated the Pacers (who held the top record in the NBA until tonight) and soundly whupped them. In fact, in their last five games, the Lakers have won by an average of 20 points!

The LakeShow has again become the only show in town!
- posted by Chris @ 11:19 PM

 

Today was a productive day. I went for a ride this morning and took my laptop with in my backback to do some writing and riding. Okay, not at the same time, but I took a ride about ten miles down the trail and kicked back to write a while. It was a good ride and I got some good writing in on my book, "It's Impossible NOT to Make Money." I have a deadline fast approaching and have been slacking lately in the writing department.

And then the coolest thing happened....

I go off the trail a little ways and I am sitting alone under a tree near a clearing when two deer walk out and start eating clover in the field. I sat there watching and they came closer until they were just 50 feet away. The larger of the two looked up directly at me several times but as I was downwind of it, I guess he didn't recognize me as trouble. It was surreal as I am watching these deer eat and off in the distance I can hear the bikers and hikers roll by on the trail. Needless to say, the book took a turn toward introspection and I sorta got off the subject of making money. Oh well, it was good stuff - even if it doesn't make it into this book.

After that I went back and did some work around the house before heading back out to Barnes and Noble - again with the laptop. I did some research that I have been needing to do for quite some time and the bookstore is a great place to do it. I double checked some quotes and found some excerpts I have been needing from some other books.
- posted by Chris @ 5:34 PM

 


I watched The Core the other day. Quick synopsis: The earth's core has stopped spinning. This spinning created the electromagnetic field that protects us from being fried by the sun's rays. Our team of intrepid heroes must take a cutting edge (pun intended) ship to the center of the earth, set off some nukes and jump-start the planet.

Okay, part of going to the movies often is the suspension of disbelief. In this film it is critical. You MUST believe that this is all possible. You MUST believe in the metal called "unobtainium." You MUST believe that not only does it not melt when travelling trouble through magma, but that it gets stronger as more pressure is applied to it. You MUST believe that "intronauts" can wear a simple space suit and walk around inside the earth's sub-mantle. You MUST believe that you can maintain radio contact with 'mission control' despite being under miles of molten lava and metal. Oh yeah, and you should probably also believe that a great navigator can land a space shuttle in the world-famous canals of Los Angeles, dodging bridges all the way.

If you can do all that, you will like this film. It is a cheap ripoff of every "gotta save the world" movie ever made. It is Armageddon in the opposite direction. It is a very ordinary film, but the acting and affects make it watchable. Kudos really goes to nobody for anything in this film, but in the end it is bearable once you throw all common sense out of your head.

Stanley Tucci is always a fun actor to watch - his Conrad Zimsky character was fun albeit somewhat plastic.

RATING 5 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 11:00 AM

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Things I am thankful for:

* The good people in my life
* The incredible opportunities available in this country
* The incredible abilities that we as humans ALL have

many more, but most of them come from one of those three...
- posted by Chris @ 9:53 AM

 

Survey Savvy is a very cool site I found while surfing one night. It is pretty simple - you go online - fill out demographic information about yourself - and wait. If your demographics match what they are looking for to take a survey, they send you an email asking you to take it. THEN YOU GET PAID!!!

I just got my first check from them for $26.00 - not a fortune, but not bad for answering a few questions either! Oh yeah, and since this data is used for marketing, YOU have a say in what is important. Your answers help shape how companies market. Your likes and dislikes are what directs new products and services.

Check it out - costs nothing - you get paid when you fill out a survey - pretty easy stuff!
- posted by Chris @ 11:06 PM

 


Well, it is time for a Los Angeles Lakers blog. It is halftime of the Lakers - Wizards game which the Lakers lead by 22. I have only seen a couple games this season and thought it would be a good time to give a summary of how I think things have progressed with the addition of Karl "the Mailman" Malone and Gary "the Glove" Payton.

You may or may not be aware that Shaq is out with an injury right now and has been for about a week. The Lakers have played exceptional ball in his absence - and the new guys are GREAT pickups. Karl looks to be having more fun than he has had in years and is playing great. I am super impressed with Payton... I have never been a big fan of his, but I guess its kinda like when Deion Sanders joined the Cowboys... he sorta grew on me then.

Payton is playing like a madman. He runs down the court faster than anyone - in fact, him and Malone are the first two down the court each time and they are the senior citizens. I can't remember seeing this intensely tenacious 'D' on any player before - the Glove is the real deal.

Kobe Bryant is being his usual ball-hog self. He doesn't hustle on defense and he rarely works to help other players get their shots. All he seems to care about is getting his numbers. Talk about your spoiled brat. If I were the GM, I would send him packing - trade him away for some other superstar that isn't so selfish.

Hopefully, Shaq will get back in the lineup soon and Kobe will start to play team ball. (I blame their playoff loss last season entirely on Kobe's selfishness.)

This year's team is a TON of fun to watch with the big starters and a ton of good backups.
- posted by Chris @ 10:34 PM

 


Basic is 'basically' a below-average movie. It attempts to be mysterious and twisty with its multiple retelling of the story from various viewpoints as participants in a training exercise tell the story of murdered Rangers. John Travolta went from brilliant to sub-par sometimes in the same scene. Connie Nielson did a terrible job with an American accent. The Danish actress did an okay job acting, but the on-again-off-again accent was really hard to follow. Oh yeah and taking Roselyn Sanchez and putting her in camo and making her act tough was a total miscast. (Remember her from a few posts earlier - Boat Trip... Ok, I will refresh your memory with a picture)



Here she is in Basic..



In the end, all the intrigue and twists were a build up to a lame resolution. The writing was the only thing about the movie that was 'basic.' James Vanderbilt could have gotten away with the script had he left it 'basic' - instead he tried to write above his skill level and was exposed.

Weak - weak - weak... oh yeah, and to all you wannabe filmmakers... PLEASE STOP USING THE DAY OF THE DEAD FESTIVAL IN YOUR FILMS!! It is way overdone!

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 4:17 PM

 


Well, Pennie told me to watch "Average Joe" because she says it is a good show and there was going to be an interesting twist. I had never seen an episode before and Pennie gave me the skinny - average looking guys are in a reality show and the target of their affections is a hot blonde. The twist this go round is that after she narrowed it down to three 'average joes' they brought in three cover-boy types to see how that dynamic would play out.

It is actually pretty well done. She kicked two of the six out and I am happy to say that I picked the ones ahead of time. It was the two that I thought needed to be booted... some Rico Suave crybaby and the nerdy whiner, John.

I thought it was funny as hell that she thought one of the pretty boys was gay... she then backtracked and asked if he was bi... haha

John was the only name I heard so I don't know the rest, but let me put my vote in for the 'average joe' that looks sorta like Joey from Friends, only chunky and with tiny beady little eyes set real close together. Oh wait, I just looked it up on the website and his name is Adam.
- posted by Chris @ 1:03 AM

 


I discovered a great series on the Sundance channel called DOCDay. All day on Mondays they play documentaries. We are talking a film buff nirvana - well, if you like documentaries anyway. As I love 'real' stories, the documentary is probably my favorite type of film. I saw some decent ones today.

Westray was a documentary about the May 9, 1992, explosion in a Nova Scotia coalmine. This film takes a poetic approach to the tragedy as they tell the story from the viewpoints of three coal miners and three widows. It is a very moving film of corporate irresponsibility and small town working families. A damn good job by director, Paul Cowan.

RATING 8 out of 10

----------------------------
Sex in a Cold Climate was another disturbing documentary that exposed how more than 100 years, young Irish women deemed guilty of sexual impropriety were condemned by their church to the Magdalene Asylums, brutal institutions where the teenagers were forced to toil in laundries. This remarkable documentary presents first-hand testimony from four women emotionally scarred by their treatment in the asylums between 1940 and 1960. It is another example of great storytelling about another shocking and sordid episode in the history of the Catholic Church.

RATING 8 out of 10

----------------------------
Abused and Catholic was another jab and the Papacy. Maybe they are getting all the jabs because their is such a long history of abuse and coverup perpetrated by the Catholic Church. It begins with the furor in Boston surrounding pedophilia, the Church and Cardinal Law. It is a very important subject, but I feel the filmmaker, Mark Dowd, a gay former priesthood student, spent more time trying to prove his point that "hey, its not just the gays that are diddling kids" (I paraphased) than the more important matter of the Catholic Church's history of abuse of power and strongarm tactics to cover up 'transgressions.'

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 8:57 PM

 
Added blog dated 11-22-03 Kemah waterfront with Pennie!

P.S. Sorry about Ohio State, Pennie.
- posted by Chris @ 11:43 PM

 


Well, I watched the film S1mOne today. It was one of those films that had a really interesting premise and was on my "to watch" list. Well, it came out at a very busy time for me and then I heard one or two bad reviews from friends, so I never got around to it. It was playing Starz while I was working today so I went ahead and checked it out.

The premise is pretty good, an actress walks out of a film, the director finds a way to create a computer-generated star and dupes the world with Simone. As she becomes more and more of a superstar icon, he finds himself weaving lie upon lie until she is controlling his life. It was panned pretty badly by critics, but I think a lot of that is just their way of sucking up to the spoiled stars - the premise is a good one and it makes several valid points about the cult of personality and how overrated stars are as human beings.

I liked the film. It got a little goofy and simple at times, but overall was a really good film.

RATING 7 out of 10

Oh yeah, and on the Cowboys - Panthers game. Another fine performance by the defense (even though they gave up a bunch in the second half.) The Panthers scored two TDs on totally blown pass-interference calls in the end zone.

Quincy was his normal sucky self, but they get the win despite him...

RATING 3 dunce caps
mostly stupid all day
- posted by Chris @ 10:58 PM

 

Pennie and I spent the day in Kemah on the waterfront. I had never been and I couldn't think of anyone I would rather go with. The way the trip started off, we were joking around that we were doomed. It seemed like every three or four miles some idiot driver would pull off a bonehead move that put our lives in danger. We avoided all the stupidity and made our way to Kemah.

This is us shortly after arriving. I am getting pretty decent at holding the camera in front of us and pointing back while shooting.



On the website, I saw the ad for "The Beast." It is billed as, "...an incredible 20 minute thrill ride on Galveston Bay while cruising up to 50 mph and listening to some of your favorite tunes!" and just had to ride it. What they failed to mention was that if you sit at the very front of one of these long boats when the bay is extremely choppy due to high winds - it is "...a 20 minute, spine-crushing, slamfest cruising way too fast on that choppy of water and listening to some tunes that might be memorable if you weren't being beaten to a pulp!"



It was all going well until we started slamming into the chop - then it became a struggle to protect my already injured back from the disability-inducing ride. Out of respect to Pennie, I won't show the pictures I took of her - she didn't look any happier than me here.



After the HORRIBLE boat ride, we went and rode the Pharoah's Revenge or Poobah's Curse or something like that. (basically one of those that swings you pendulum-style back and forth. It has just enough pause at the top to give you that weightless-lose-your-stomach feeling. It was GREAT!! You know why? Because it didn't pound the crap out of us!



After that, we had a nice meal at Landry's and took in several of the live entertainment venues. The tunes were really good. The night was perfect temperature. I have some video of a fire-juggler that I will add later.

It was a really fun day despite the fact that the Beast won the fight. :)

- posted by Chris @ 11:15 PM

 


I saw the film American Buffalo on IFC - it was one I have wanted to see, but never got around to it. I had time to kill while a wedding video was rendering so I turned it on.

It was a very good movie. Much like Glengarry Glen Ross, this David Mamet piece is a showcase of great writing and character development. Few writers can stick you in such a limited number of locations and not only keep your interest, but build drama throughout. Dennis Franz and Dustin Hoffman showcased their skills as actors in this strong character-driven movie. It was a great example of the a writing dominated film and the actors and director merely doing the bidding of said writer.

A fine film that you should see when you have time to sit down and pay attention.

RATING 8 out of 10

Bend It Like Beckham was a fun little film - as I don't find soccer all that interesting, the deck was stacked against it from the start. It is an English film though - I always like English films because I enjoy the dialects. They are like a poor-man's period piece. This one was entertaining - at times it seemed more like just a good television show, but it did manage to keep you interested in what was happening. And having Keira Knightley run around for over an hour in a sports bra didn't encourage me to turn the show off either.



An entertaining diversion...

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 11:31 AM

 


While waiting for my brother Tim to swing by on his way from Louisiana back to Victoria, I sat up late doing some work and watched Boat Trip. I was expecting a real lame flick as the previews didn't look too good and it vanished from the theaters almost as soon as it arrived.

I was pleasantly surprised to find an entertaining little film. Okay, it wasn't Oscar material, heck it wasn't even his poor-in-law Cletus material. It was a cute little film. Yeah, the Swedish Suntan Team didn't hurt. (with Victoria Silvstedt as the horny hottie) Yeah Roselyn Sanchez didn't hurt either.



Cuba Gooding Jr. did a really good job and Horatio Sanz was great. It was a formula film - but it is a fun formula so who gives a flip? The sidebar lesson of how gays are just normal people was a bit preachy and uneccesary, but the film was good in spite of the pink pulpit.

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 1:05 AM

 


I just finished - okay, 'started' the movie, Hollywood Homicide. It was so putrid I couldn't finish it. We are talking a low point for Harrison Ford. His acting was not even enough to save the film as he seriously looked like he was simply clocking in to get a check. Josh Hartnett cannot be blamed as he is not experienced enough to spot a stinker when he sees one. Or maybe he is savvy enough to know that he was the 'man-boy of the moment' and decided to cash in quickly too. Of course, I haven't seen anything decent out of him since Black Hawk Down.

Regardless of who is to blame - the movie is poop on a stick.

Oh wait, I DO know who is to blame - Ron Shelton... writer and director. He brought us such other crappy films as Bad Boys II (see July 22 blog) and Play it to the Bone. He should have stopped with Bull Durham.

RATING 3 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 9:31 PM

 


I saw the movie Wrong Turn while burning copies of the video CD "A Taste of Personal Mastery" that I produced for Brian Klemmer. It was decent for a slasher film. The performances by Desmond Harrison and Eliza Dushku were pretty good. The real star of the show is Stan Winston. No, he didn't acti in the film. He is the makeup artist behind such greats as the Terminator robots, the alien from the Alien series, the Edward Scissorhands character and many others. Winston not only provided some great makeup effects for the bad guys, but produced the film as well.



Overall, it is a cool little gore film if you are in the mood for that.

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 6:31 PM

 


Pennie and I took in a movie Saturday night and chose Mystic River. I was skeptical of Mystic River after all the early Oscar hype but I have to say I am impressed. I am also biased against ultra-liberal Tim Robbins, but one cannot argue with his skills as an actor. In fact, the trio of excellent performances by Robbins, Sean Penn (Oscar worthy) and Kevin Bacon would have made this a great watch even if the story were lacking. The fact of the matter is that the story was great too. The novel by Dennis Lehane made the transistion to film well.



One might be tempted to overlook some of the smaller roles in the film with all this talent eating up the screentime, but you cannot miss a near-perfect performance by Marcia Gay Harden. (yet another gold statue?)

Clint Eastwood directed the film and all I can say is that he gets better as a director with each outing. (heck, make it three of the little guys - four if you throw in the Best Film)

RATING 9 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 7:55 PM

 
Okay, let me play catch-up a little bit here... let's start with movies...



I have seen a few movies since the last movie blog (nearly a month ago.) I will begin with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.



Okay, I have to preface this by saying that I have always been a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger fan. It is tough to rate a movie like this objectively because part of the appeal of a third sequel is so that fans of the series can see more of the same. That means more of the same explosions, more of the same Arnold in leather and sunglasses and unfortunately, more of the same one-line corny comebacks. That being said, it will be graded on the "sequel scale" and get the benefit of the doubt - ignoring the fact that as a stand-alone movie it would rate several stars lower.

This one did have a few updates. Most noticable was Kristanna Loken as the T-X robot (or Terminatrix) sent back to kill John Connor and all his future rebel leaders. Nick Stahl was surprisingly good in the role of John Connor and Claire Danes as Kate Brewster delivered the best acting of the movie.

I was expecting it to suck really bad, and it probably rated so high because it was better than expected. Sure, there was a huge leap of faith required on nearly every scene as you had to suspend reality and logic to appreciate what the filmmakers were doing. Don't even get me started on the armor-plated coffin. The only real unforgivable part was a HUGE continuity error... not storyline - it changes too much to even try to poke holes... but when the three heroes are in the masoleum and Claire Danes has a gun pointed at Arnold, there is a POV shot from Danes pointing the gun at him in which Arnold is standing at an angle with his right foot and shoulder behind and both left limbs toward Danes - cut to a shot of her holding the gun - cut back to the same shot showing Arnold. He has the opposite leg and shoulder back! When you have this size of a budget - shouldn't someone WATCH the frickin' movie and check for such obvious errors?

Oh and a side note: Remember, I said I really like Arnold... get the DVD - listen to the actor's commentary and see if you aren't left with the impression that all those allegations of sexual harassment just might be true. He spends more time talking about the T-X robot's re-sizable boobies than the film itself.

RATING 6 out of 10

Next up is the television series 24. I watched the complete Season One over the course of a week or so while doing video editing. In 24, Keifer Sutherland plays CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) agent Jack Bauer. Bauer is the best agent (why make a movie about an average agent) ever and is assigned to protect a presidential candidate from of an upcoming assassination attempt. Keifer has really grown up as an actor and is more than comfortable playing the action hero. His range is almost a detriment to the show as we have been trained to expect such a small range from our action heros.


Dennis Haysbert does an excellent job as presidential-candidate David Palmer. While it won't pop immediately to mind, you will slap your forehead and say "oh yeah" when I tell you that he played Pedro Cerrano in the Major League movies. That alone is a testament to the skills of Haysbert. A believable presidential candidate and a voodoo-practicing baseball slugger couldn't be more different - but both are delivered in completely believable fashion.

There were a lot of really good acting jobs. Sarah Clarke did wonderful as Nina Myers. Xander Berkeley may be getting a bit typecast, but it is only because he does the role of the jerk so well. Even Dennis Hopper (uncredited) as the evil Victor Drazen was very good.

As a television show that takes the concept of stretching one day into 24-one-hour episodes it delivers amazingly. It slips a bit when you watch it like I do - back-to-back-to.... I mean - 23 cliffhangers in one day is both a little hard on the nerves and a little hard to believe. I would imagine though that watching one a week, it goes down much easier. I highly recommend this first season.

RATING 8 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 8:18 AM

 
Added blog dated 10-25-03 Renaissance Festival with friends!
- posted by Chris @ 9:46 PM

 


Well Drayton McLain has proven again that he has NO interest in fielding a winning team in Houston. His entire interests lie in profit margins alone. We can now add superstar closer, Billy Wagner to the list of excellent players that the team has sent packing once they reach the high dollar level.

BOYCOTT THE ASTROS! I for one will never attend another game at Minute Maid Park unless it is free. Good thing he conned the city into paying for that stadium under the guise of putting together a "first class organization and winning team." He got exactly what he wanted and the people of Houston bent over and took it. You would think that the public would wake up and put a stop to this nonsense. Drayton has a beautiful stadium and a cash cow baseball club because he sends away anyone who wants money and we drive over potholes, send our kids to dangerous schools and do nothing as they continue to tax us into poverty.
- posted by Chris @ 2:04 PM

 
Wow, another week has gone by between blogs - I feel like such a bum - haha. A couple quick thoughts - I promise, I will go back in fill in the gaps one of these days when I have some time.


First off - the Cowboys.... possibly the worst 6-2 team in history. The season is a complete success because we beat the Redskins so I won't rag on them too much... but I MUST do the Quincy report card...

He is consistant if nothing else... sure, not all the interceptions were his fault - but there was enough bad play attributable to him to garner his second straight rating of...

RATING 3 dunce caps
mostly stupid all day


In the good news department... I went with Pennie to pick up her new ride....

(looking good!)

It is a very clean, used Nissan 240 SX. The price is was right and it seems to be a solid car.

- posted by Chris @ 11:16 PM