Get Lost!

One of the best shows on television returns tonight. That's right, Lost is back. We get two hours of weirdness. Three if you count the recap special which I have on as background noise.

If you don't remember what's happened the past four seasons you can also read this recap: http://jgoat.blogspot.com/2009/01/lost-023-refresher-updated.html.

I'm No Gamer

The past few days I've been playing some video games. Not many just a few. Let me start by saying that while I have been known to play until my brain turns to jelly and my thumbs go numb I am not what you call a video game expert.

I own a Wii and only 3 games, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero World Tour and Wii Sports. Sadly I don't play as much as I like. I get distracted by other things. Plus I've beaten both Guitar Heroes and well those and the Wii sports are more fun to play with other people. Also as I get older I have to be in the mood to play. I'll get in a video game mood and play for about a week. After that I'm through.

This weekend I got the chance to play some games at my friend, Trey's house. He bought a used PS2 and has numerous games. Plus he has four controllers which means good times. Saturday I played Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Trey, his wife and their nephew. That was a lot of fun. I've been wanting to play that game for a long time now. It was cool that we got to each be a different hero with different abilities. Plus it has all sort of cool things right from the comics, that makes it even that much more fun for a geek like me. Sunday I went back over and played some Tekken Tag and Twisted Metal. Both were fun. I realized video games are more fun when you play with others. Usually people that are about as good as you are better. I've played with people who are experts and well the fun runs out quickly.

Last night at another friends house I played some Grand Theft Auto 4 which is fun and then I played Conan the Barbarian. I believe GTA was on PS3 and Conan was for Xbox 360. Conan isn't a great game but it's fun. It's pretty simple. All you do is hack people up and save half naked women. What's not to like? Also my friend was playing some rock music in the background that went well with the action. In particular Here I Go Again by White Snake and Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas are great Conan songs if you know anything about Conan.

Today I haven't done much. I rented Iron Man for my Wii. It's pretty cool and easy which is good for me. I'll probably play some more after I finish this post. There wasn't much of a point except to talk about my experience with video games.

Hump day

It's been a while since I last posted. I don't want to drop the ball on this thing like I did last time. I just haven't felt like blogging.

The past few weeks have really crept by. This week has gone by much quicker. At the Legislature we're at the end of a depressing special session (budget cuts). The committee I work for had a meeting today. It went surprisingly well. I'm always tired after committee meetings though. I think it's because I'm sitting around Senators who do whatever they want and the audience is mostly lobbyist who also do what they want so I have to be alert for an hour or two. Then I have to go back to my office and report out all of the details of the meeting, mostly data entry type stuff but it requires detail. Even after doing this for almost three years it's still exhausting.

After work I met my parents at Outback. It had been a while since I've been there. The last few times I've been it hadn't been great but tonight was good. Must've been because I was tired and hungry. I also had a Foster's beer for the first time. It was pretty good. Similar to a Miller or a Bud.

The rest of my week has been going ok. I've seen three good movies three days in a row. Sunday I watched Almost Famous. It had been a while since I've seen it. It's still one of my all time favorite movies. Monday I saw Slumdog Millionaire. That is a terrific film. It has such a great story to it. Last night I saw Gran Torino. That was excellent was well. It probably was one of my favorite Clint Eastwood films.

Good Eating

My dinner was a success. Everything was delicious. The potato salad was a big surprise. The pesto worked perfectly on the steak. It looks like I might have a new go to dish.

There's a First Time for Everything

Tonight I did something I've never done. I prepared a few things for tomorrow night's dinner. Instead of trying to do it all at once tomorrow I went ahead and took care of a few things.

First I made homemade pesto in my new food processor. That was actually fun. Then I got some potatoes boiling for a blue cheese potato salad I've been wanting to try. While the potatoes were cooking I cut up a sirloin steak and seasoned it with salt, pepper and the pesto. I plan to skewer the cubes I cut up and grill it tomorrow. I then mixed all of the ingredients for the potato salad and put it in the fridge to cool. All the flavors should come together overnight and give it a good taste, hopefully. Oh and before that I went to the store and bought all the ingredients I didn't already have at home. Tomorrow I also plan to cook some asparagus in my new grilling skillet.



Not sure if I'll do this again or not. I was pretty tired when I started around 9 p.m. and I'm more tired now.

The World is Yours

Last night I watched the film Scarface. It was my second time seeing the film all the way through. The firs time was when I bought it in 2003. This is a film that has always been hyped up to me. As with the first viewing, I still feel the movie is overrated.

Unless something else comes along, The Godfather part 1 will always be the gangster film which I measure all other gangster films. Scarface has it's moments but it is no Godfather. Now I don't think it was ever intended to be the next Godfather, maybe it was. I didn't get that vibe.

The film to me is over the top in just about everything. As a result it is extremely dated. All of the music and clothing scream 80s. That's not a bad thing but it takes away from giving the film a timeless feel.

The acting is very over the top. Pacino overacts in every scene. Of course that is the essence of Tony Montana. He's an extreme person. Some scenes it works but others just feel silly. The best scenes to me were when Tony had a blank, glazed over look on his face. Those moments show the character is out of his element. He's either trying to process his situation or he's just not thinking about anything.

To me it's best to watch this movie as a time capsule. That is, view it as a slice of an extreme and extravagant lifestyle from a time period that has since passed. It's also a good study in greed and what it is capable of. That is what I believe has given this film a cult status. People seem to be fascinated by greed and this lifestyle of extravagance. And I suppose to some extent the story of an immigrant who achieves success by force has it's appeal as well.

While the film has it's moments and is by no means a bad movie, it doesn't work for me. The film has a long running time that just drags at times. It also feels choppy in progression. As I mentioned the flashiness of everything is distracting. I also feel some elements could have been explored more. Halfway through the film Tony sees a blimp that says "The World is Yours". This is after he takes over crime boss Frank's empire. It obviously has an impact on Tony. We see it again at the end of the film when Tony meets his fate. I think if we had seen that phrase in some form or fashion at the beginning of the film it would have given Tony a more clear goal we could follow. This showing up in the middle kind of felt like it came out of nowhere. This guy started with nothing and worked his way up. I think "the World is Yours" could have been a nice touch at the beginning of the film and then again in the middle after he's at full power then again at the end.

It will probably be a few more years before I see it again. Maybe my views on it will change or maybe not.

Productive Day

I went to bed last night around 1 a.m. This morning I woke up at 7:30 a.m. on my day off and ran errands.

First I went to get an oil change. I really do not like doing that. I'm always afraid that there'll be something wrong with the car. And as most of you know getting cars fixed can be expensive. My car is still new, I've only had it a little over a year now. Fortunately there were no problems. I then went to my next stop.

Which was getting my tires rotated and balanced. I go to a different spot for this because I get free rotations and balancing, for life! That took a while but they had free coffee.

Finally, I got my car washed. That was it for the car. I then went to the store to get stuff for dinner and some band aides, because I don't have any. I had knocked a chunk of skin out of my pinkie the other day and since then I keep hitting it on stuff. The band aides protect it, a little bit.

I went to the comic shop today. Always a good time. Today I picked up; Avengers the Initiative, Secret Invasion Requiem, Green Lantern, Wolverine, Justice Society America, and a new series call Incognito (look for a write up for that series very soon).

The rest of the day was good. I took a nap. Went to the dry cleaner. Cooked dinner. Drank Tequila. Went to Barnes & Noble. Rented a game for the Wii, Spider-man: Web of Shadows.

I've spent the last few hours playing the game. It's ok. I like flicking the web remote and suddenly I'm swinging on spider webs. Very cool. It's probably one of the better Spider-man games I've played. It made me wish I was still getting the Spider-man comic. I dropped it over the Summer because I wasn't enjoying it, but apparently it's gotten better.

Another bit of news, I got through the career mode on Guitar Hero World Tour today! It's a fun game. The new multi player function makes for some good times. However this time around the developers went for quantity over quality. We have more features, more songs and more instruments. But the song selection is weak. There some good songs but they aren't necessarily fun to play. Some are too easy and other's are too hard. Still it's a quality game. I think Guitar Hero 3 is still the best of the series.

I have a bit of a dilemma. Well not really. I got a message via myspace from a friend who I went to elementary and middle school with. But I haven't seen in 10 years or maybe longer. I had found him on myspace 2 years ago and corresponded some. But that last time was two years ago. His message wished me a happy new year and said to look him up the next time I'm in Pensacola (my former home town). I said I would. I don't get back much because none of my family lives there any more.

Here's the dilemma. I'd like to see this guy and he still sees some of the people I went to elementary and middle school with. All of whom I haven't seen in 10 years. It'd be great. He didn't invite me per say to come this weekend. But I'm half tempted to drive over tomorrow, just for the night and see what happens. My brother has been going out with his girlfriend the past few nights and has plans with her again for tomorrow. the rest of my friends all already doing stuff and usually don't call me anyways. I tend to be the initiator for everything. I have to be out of the house tomorrow night anyways because my bro's gf is coming over for dinner. So why not do a road trip? I really don't know if it'd be worth it but then again I don't have anything better to do.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a happy new year. I just got finished hosting a party. It was a different group than who I'm used to hanging out with. There was plenty of booze and food to go around. All in all it was a good time.

Not much else happened today. I guess I mean yesterday since it's already 2 a.m. here! I got off work early. I cleaned the house up and finally watched the Big Lebowski. It was as great as I remembered. I always catch something new everytime I see it. Also it's one you can leave one and casually watch and enjoy pretty much any scene.

I hope everyone has a happy and prosperous 2009. I plan to keep blogging this time around. So add me to your blog role!

Also I decided I liked the look of my old blog so I went back to it.