Japanese Snack Fetish

This is the first image that appeared after I searched for 'dorito' in google:
Why is it that Japanese versions of products always have better packaging? Although I'm not sure a full foot crotch massage is appealing to a mass market. I suppose America just isn't ready for a full dose of Japanese awesomeness. We'll have to be content with Nintendo and Jacki Chan. (I don't really care if Jacki Chan is indeed Japanese or not. He might as well be.)

My Fair Brady

I found myself watching an entire football game tonight, which is something I never do! Especially when I don't even have people over to watch it with. The New England Patriots solidified their perfect season (16-0) with a win over the New York Giants. Three cheers for Tom Brady!!!

Enough of sports.

I've added two lists to the sidebars of this blog. One is a listing of all the blogs I visit on a regular basis. And by regular I mean 3-5 times daily. The other is a list of my favorite things at this moment in time. Enjoy!

Potpurri

And now its time for my random blog of the month (or longer).

First, whats going on with me:

Job: Going great. In Sept, I got a nice raise and bonus check and got the best yearly review amongst all the staff. I still look forward to going to work each day (mostly) and it looks as though I'll be finishing up some more online trainings next month. So that means more money, which I always am glad for. The annual holiday show, which I was in charge of again this year, went really well. My kids performed 'Winter Wonderland' and 'We're All In This Together' from High School Musical. It was great fun.

Singing: Also going great! My church gig is sweet. We just performed Saint-Saens' Christmas Oratorio in which I sang all the tenor solos. I've also been teaching music to the little kids during the first half of the service every other week. And after the new year, I may be taking on the position of leading the children's choir as well.

This fall I did three and a half Gilbert and Sullivan productions. First was Trial by Jury with me as the Defendant and The Best of G&S (which counts as the 1/2), in which I had several parts. Second was Utopia, Ltd. where I played Native #5 (The Abusive Husband) in the chorus. And then for West Chester's Old Fashioned Christmas I reprised my role as Edwin the Defendant for another production of Trial by Jury (with a different company). All three shows went swimmingly and were great fun! But I came close to overdosing on oom-pah accompaniments and silly word plays. So this spring I'm taking a hiatus from Gilbert and Sullivan. But shall start again inthe summer, when I return to Buxton to do Pirates of Penzance. Hopefully with a lead!

So, my singing career is slowly growing, and I'm actually getting paid to do some things!!! Go me!

Health: Last week I helped my friends Manny and Marisa move out of their West Chester apartment and into their newly purchased Downingtown abode. Well, started to help anyway. On my second trip I missed the step off the front door and went tumbling down in true Humpty-Dumpty fashion. My stumble resulted in a badly sprained left ankle. This week mostly consisted of a 5lb bag of ice, heating pad, ankle brace, a lot of time in bed and a bottle of Advil. Today, I am doing much better, but still have a lot of healing to do.

Thats enough for now. Hopefully I will remember to post more tomorrow.

Life, with directors commentary

Seeing that I am far too sporadic with my blogging, I feel its time to change focus. Some posts may be more in depth, but for the most part I will simply provide commentary on an assortment of life's happenings. (mostly movies, tv, music, and othe rpop culture)
So, with that. . .here we go.

Im happy The Simpsons changed their opening sequence to reflect the happenings of the movie. I'm also equally happy the rest of the episode completely ignored it.

The Family Guy Star Wars episode was great. I hope they make more.

Bowling is a lot of fun. We should go more often.

'Across the Universe' was excellent. The lead guy is a lot like Ewan McGreggor, which is definately a good thing. The more Ewans, the better.

Autumn should be all year long. Its clearly the best of the seasons. Vivaldi would agree.

How much different would the world be if people didn't wear matching shoes?

Im excited about the upcoming tv season. Here is what I shall be watching:
Curb Your Enthusiasm, Tell Me You Love Me, The Wire, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Gossip Girl, Friday Night Lights, The Office, ER, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Weeds, Heroes, Prison Break, Project Runway, Smallville, Family Guy, Simpsons, and prolly some others.

Peaceful Warrior

While Im usually not a big fan of inspiring sports movies, I do have one to reccomend. Its called "Peaceful Warrior" and is the story of a college gymnast with olympic aspirations. Its based on Dan Millman's novel 'Way of the Peaceful Warrior' which is a work of autobiographical fiction. Autobiographical fiction is similar to historical fiction, where a true story is embelished and dramatized. Most times the fictionalization will be the thoughts and motives of historical figures (Braveheart) or a tragic romance (Titanic). 'Peaceful Warrior' is slightly different. Thoughts and motives are known because the story is autobiographical and there is no real romantic subplot to drag down the story. Instead, Millman's fictionalization comes by way of the mentor character (played surprisingly well by Nick Nolte). This character, named Socrates, is given almost deity-like powers of strength, intuition and wisdom. While I do not know if this character is based on an actual person or just a device to explain Millman's internal struggle, and even though its fairly unoriginal and cliche', it works fairly well.

I was attracted to this movie mainly by the director. He is known mainly for the horror movie "Jeepers Creepers" and its sequal. I was curious to see how a suspense/horror director would handle a sports drama. After watching the film and being quite impressed, I found out that this director (Victor Salva) wrote and directed 'Powder'(1995), which I remember being a little odd but very good.

As much as I liked the film, it did have a few moments that weren't the best. I think the overall casting could have been better. While Scott Mecholwicz (of 'Eurotrip' fame) did a pretty good job as the lead, I think they could have found someone who better looked the part. Also Nick Nolte seemed to try too hard to be the wise father figure. He spouts off a few too many one line philosophies for my taste. There is also a Gollum/Smeagol moment that I could do without.

Overall it was a really good movie. Typical inspirational sports plot, but very interesting directorial choices. The cinematography during the practice and competition sequences is particularly exceptional. I definately reccomend this movie, even if you aren't a fan of the sports genre.

Rufus Wainwright, Nickel Creek & Fiona Apple

I spent the last two evening at the Mann Center in Philly seeing two exceptional concerts.



On Friday I saw Rufus Wainwright. He played his entire new album with some olde favorites here and there. As always, he put on an excellent show. Its been a while since I've seen him with a band. It was nice to hear the songs live with the full force of his arrangements, especially with the addition of a small horn section (saxes/flute, trumpet, french horn). For the second set, Rufus delighted the audience by donning his now trademark lederhosen. For his encore he changed outfits again, this time coming out in a bathrobe, which was shed after a few songs to reveal him in drag. And as cliche as it is, the only word that truly describes the night is "fabulous".



Yesterday I went and saw Nickel Creek and Fiona Apple. Im sure everyone has heard of Fiona Apple, but perhaps not Nickel Creek. This must change. They are incredible. A typical double billing would have each band doing a set and then maybe combining for a handful of songs at the end. This show was a bit different. Nickel Creek started out on their own for a little bit, but once Fiona came out they stuck around and played as her band. It was really great to see these very different artists working together. Fiona's songs lended very nicely to the bluegrass instrumentation. The only instruments played were fiddle, guitar, upright bass and mandolin. No drums, no electric guitars, no keyboards. It was excellent. Truly a unique concert experience.
(I also only paid $20 for my tickets and had better seats than my friends who paid full price, which is always a good thing)

Unaffordable Health Care Causes Murder

Because I have a sick sense of humor, I find this story hilarious:

From MSNBC.com

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man threw his seriously ill wife four stories to her death because he could no longer afford to pay for her medical care, prosecutors said in charging him with second-degree murder.
According to court documents filed Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, Stanley Reimer walked his wife to the balcony of their apartment and kissed her before throwing her over.

The body of Criste Reimer, 47, was found Tuesday night outside the apartment building, near the upscale Country Club Plaza shopping district.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20297388/

This guy thought health care was expensive, wait until he gets the funeral bill. Hopefully this will be included in the special features of the 'Sicko' dvd.