TL/DR; — Even older, even fatter, longer goatee.
Last year, Yeni and I crossed some items off her bucket list; most importantly visiting Castle Neuschwanstein and making it to Europe. I was able to attend a Kamailio World which exceeded all of by greatest expectations (I’ve already blocked out 2018).
I recently filled out one of these circulating lists, asking me to mark each movie on the list I had seen. Apparently if you had seen more than 85 films, “you had no life.” Out of 243 on the list, I had seen… (wait for it)… 167 (or just shy of 2x no life).
I love movies. I am the guy that buys a dvd rather than rent. I’ve taken my collection and put it into a database so I can find movies more easily and to help prevent me from buying duplicates (which has sadly happened). Although, this probably falls more into the “Fred is a geek” category than “Fred loves movies.” (Hopefully the Harley counters it)
Anyway, the title here reflects something I’ve spent way too much time contemplating. When you ask most of my friends who their favorite actor is, the most common answer is either Al Pacino or Robert De Niro. Me? I have a hard time answering with just one. I’d most likely give a list of my top three — Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, and Al Pacino.
I’ve said it before — I love movies. I simply love movies. Sure, not all movies receive my love; horror films and I never got along (except I did like Scream). And sadly, my sister and I have our movie senses switched as I like a good chick flick and she likes the scary ones. But as usual, I digress…
Back in 2002, when I was first posting rants online, I posted a little mini-rant about seeing movies in the theater (the site’s been through so many changes since then that I reposted back in 2007). When I was a kid, and even through high school, seeing movies in the theater brought great joy — even the bad ones. The bad ones? Yes Virginia, even seeing a bad movie in the theater was once a fun thing to do (I remember very well a loud, applauding standing ovation given to the movie Warlock when it ended; wow that was a bad movie). Anyway, I don’t know if it’s getting older, or adding commercials, or even changes in culture, but at this point, I’d much rather wait a few months, pop the film into the DVD, and watch it at home.
Maybe it’s because since 2002 I’ve had big wide-screen TV’s… or maybe it’s because in 2003 I bought that Bose system I always wanted… but nonetheless, if I could choose between watching a film at the house on my couch or going to see one in the theaters, 9 times out of 10 I’ll choose the house. Now I have made exceptions… I absolutely wanted to see the Star Wars films on the big, big screen… and Spider-man… and well most comic book films.
Which brings us back (thank God) to the point of this post… the movies I’ve seen in 2008.
Out of all the films that came out in 2008 (here’s the highest grossing 400 of them), I only saw a whopping four (4) of them. How sad is that? I’ve only seen 4 of the movies that came out in 2008. And out of those four, I saw only one of them in the theater (Iron Man).
There were many more I’d like to have seen (and still would) such as Hancock, Indiana Jones, Dark Knight, WALL-E, Quantum of Solace, etc. But as of this post, these are the four I’ve seen, along with my patent pending 10 word or less review:
Yesterday, we woke up at 5am and headed through the snow to take me to the airport. Even after spending 5 hours on the tarmac (and being de-iced from a de-icer named Fred), I still have to say I love American Airlines.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not like flying. I hate almost everything about it… From taking off your shoes to the airline reps behind the counter (has anyone ever had a positive experience with a gate agent??), from flight attendants to busy crowds, flying today for me is a last option. I’d much rather drive than fly on any given day, and, if time isn’t a factor (like Thanksgiving), it’s exactly what I do. I remember once being excited about flying and loving going to Airports, flying in airplanes, and just traveling by air. Loved it. Much like my hair, those days are gone.
But, I digress. So, if I have to fly, I like American Airlines. Let’s put it this way. When I’ve missed connecting flights from other airlines, getting a new flight was a hassle. Hassle and drama, drama, drama. With American, by the time I got off the plane, they had already reserved me a seat on one flight and put me on standby for another. (I ended up getting the standby 🙂 ).
Anyway, I made it to San Francisco and had a great dinner with my sister, Scott, my parents, Tovah, David, and Scott’s mother and father. We were celebrating Scott’s graduation from college and was a great reason to see so many people that I love.
On plan for today? Dim Sum with the family and then throwing a duck into the ocean in remembrance of Forrest (today’s the 2nd anniversary). Also, it’s the first anniversary of Shadow’s passing.
See also:
You have to love technology today. My Blackberry can take video, pictures, and play MP3’s. Plus, unlike my iPhone, my calls don’t drop. Granted I’ve only had the phone 2 days, but I’m very impressed so far.
This video is taken from my Blackberry while taxiing out to the runway at Detroit’s DTW airport. Sadly, we didn’t take off for another 3 hours.
New Star Trek trailer posted today. I’m starting to get excited about this movie.
The WB network is relaunching online. While many people may not care, knowing that Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be viewed online is quite exciting for me. In fact, I’m just sitting here saying Woo Hoo.
We all know that I’m quite a fan of the Buffy show and this is good news for people looking to not work on their computers. The WB apparently is relaunching as an online-only network. Neat idea.
Anyway, I signed up for the beta program… so who knows? Maybe Anya will be coming to my desktop in the near future.
If you know me at all, you know I love movies. I mean, I REALLY love movies. But that aside, I no longer enjoy going to the movies. Maybe it’s me getting older… maybe it’s because I love my big-mama tv… or maybe it’s because I’m just a grumpy stubborn man, but it’s rare for me to want to go to the movies rather than see it at the house.
To get me out of the house and paying 11 bucks for a movie… it has to be a movie that excites me (like Iron Man, but let’s talk about that later). I mean after-all, for just 3 bucks more than a ticket price, I can sit in the comfort of my own home, have the ability to pause (rewind, etc), and more importantly – not deal with people.
I truly cannot remember the last time I was at a movie when someone didn’t use their cellphone. Ugh. But at least I know it’s a common problem, because now after some of the movie commercials, you get those director PSAs reminding you to shut off your cellphone. Normally, I always see Sydney Pollack… but today I saw Martin Scorsese’s version (I truly love Scorsese).
So, Patrick and I have been making these chats on voip, called (or as Patrick would say Interestingly enough called) VoipTechChat. We’ve even made a website for it called… wait for it… VoipTechChat.com.
We enjoy it. We talk on regular voip “lines” and record the chat on a regular off the shelf PC I picked up at Wal-mart.
Anyway, we post the chats on the site in mp3 format, or you can even pick it up on iTunes. 🙂
Wanna hear the latest chat? Check it out here. This week is mostly movie talk, very little voip.
It’s that time of year in Gainesville… the time where the gators play the gators in the ultimate fight over alumni donations. 😉
But, the great thing about Orange and Blue weekend, is that usually a good ol’ friendly alumni comes to town. This year, it was The Egan’s who graced our lovely town with their beautiful baby Grace.
Had a great time smelling the flowers, eating a burger at Cafe Gardens, and hanging out with great friends.
The rest of the weekend I spent catching up on films I never saw in the theater; which means I can scratch Dan in Real Life, The Dewey Cox Story, and No Reservations off my list.
My favorite of them? Clearly the chick flick was going to win.
For more pictures of the weekend, check out my photos at Picasa: