14 posts tagged “feature”
Yesterday was a busy day at the Trade Show. After a busy night out with the FriendFeeders, I was looking forward to a relaxed day and to spread the word about Blellow and get us some traffic.
We received a lot of positive responses and around 5pm TechCrunch posted a glowing review of our site:
To paraphrase Cracker, what the world needs now is another web-based Interactive micro-content production community like I need a hole in the head. But strangely enough, I think the world needs Blellow
Since the article was posted we received over 1000 new users joining up to the site and a lot of great feedback and positive comments. Our heads were spinning and we were excited to get featured on such an influential blog.
After the show closed I decided to take a night off from the festivities and give my liver a chance to recover, so I headed back to my cousin’s house in Round Rock and enjoyed the night sitting on my duff and watching TV. I actually managed to stay off the computer for a whole hour before I broke down and borrowed they laptop to check the new user numbers. Around 11pm we broke 2000 users!
Today is the last day of the Trade Show with the Mashable Mash Bash tonight at 9:30pm, where Blellow is a sponsor. It’s going to be a very late night for me, as we also have to tear down the booth and pack everything back up. Tomorrow I’m going to try to sit in some of the seminars before making the trek back to San Antonio.
Related posts:
- Sharp’s 3-D Monitor — No Glasses Required!
- You’ve Got A Dead Dell, Dude
- SxSWi Day 2: Attempted Karaoke
Day two in Austin was the first full day of the South by Southwest Interactive Trade Show, and I stood on my feet and talked for 6 hours straight!
We got a really good response to the site and everyone seemed to enjoy what we were trying to do. I’ve never talked to so many strangers (and new friends) in my life, and I enjoyed it quite a bit!
After the Trade Show closed, I went over to the Mexican Cultural Arts Center for the SxSW Opening Ceremony and had a few drinks and mingle a bit. Around 9pm I decided to head over to the Karaoke event on 4th and Navasota to meet up with Erin Koteki Vest, Mark Krynsky, Marco, Aaron Brazell and Derrick for our unofficial FriendFeed meetup.
We watched the Karaoke contest and cheered on Aaron as he performed Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and rocked the house, then headed over to Ego’s via Bike Rickshaw for more karaoke, but unfortunately we showed up after they had already cut the sign up for singing. I met back up with my friend Henry and Dustin Rowles with the Pajiba crew as well and watched Henry sing Adele’s “Syrup and Honey.”
I big the fine folks from FriendFeed farewell and goodnight, and shared a cab with Henry back to the Convention Center. I barely made my way to the Blellow rent house due to my iPod dying (which had the map to get there and the keycode for the door) but somehow managed to squeeze another 30 seconds out of the battery long enough to memorize the address.
Another fine night in Austin with another two days ahead of me. This has been a great experience so far and I’m looking forward to seeing what the last two days have in store.
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Today was my very first day at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Most of the afternoon was spent working with Blellow setting up the booth and trying to get a SxSXi badge, all of which happened within hours of each other.
Unfortunately my boss was feeling under the weather, so they all retired to the rent house leaving me alone to terrorize the streets of Austin. I just happened to run into my friend Henry (or Smokin, as he’s known on this very blog) while he was going up the escalator to pick up his badge, so I was able to hook up with him later on. I got a chance to meet the fine folks at Pajiba, Dustin Rowles, Frank, and Seth, all of who are not only great people, and ended up buying me many drinks later in the night (more on this later).
After hanging out at the convention center, (and meeting Derrick from FriendFeed), I decided to break outside my shell and mingle a bit in the growing number of tech and film enthusiasts in Austin.
I started the night by walking about 10-12 blocks down to the Belmont for the Techset meets the Ratpack party. I arrived a little early, so I killed time at the bar and had a lovely discussion with a representative of uStream.com.
Once the party started it got pretty wild fast. As I was standing in the midst of the crowd talking to two interesting guys from Vancouver, Canada, lo and behold Jeffery Tambor (George Sr. From Arrested Devlepment) makes his way through the crowd.
The conversation I had with him was something like this:
Jeffery: “Wow, this is pretty wild, huh?”
Me: “Yeah no kidding! I’m a huge fan of yours, I’m so happy to meet you!” (shakes hand)
Jeffery: “Thanks! I like your hat.”
Me: (Flabbergasted and speechless)
Erica O’Grady introduced me to Hugh McLoud, aka Gaping Void of “Cartoons on the back of business cards.” He even drew me a special card that said “Fuck You, I’m at SxSW 2009!” I was pleased to get a custom card form him, as I’ve been following his work for several years now and was quite a fan.
After much searching and Twitter DM’ing, I finally tracked down my FriendFeed friend Mark Krynsky, and we decided to head down to Emo’s for the “Pastries and Pasties” Burlesque show, only to turn away at the $15 cover charge at the door. We ended up at the Rio Grande a few blocks away and met back up with my friend Henry. After a few drinks the restaurant was closing, so as Mark left to Chugging Monkey to track down Kevin Rose, I left with Henry and the Pajiba crew for many more beers and some interesting discussion of the movie Bridges of Madison County.
Tomorrow is day two, and if it’s at all like today then I have nothing but good conversation and meeting a lot of wonderful and exciting new people to look forward to. So far this has been the start of the best week of my life.
If you would like to connect with me at SxSW Interactive, I’ll be in the Blellow booth for most of the weekend, and after hours terrorizing the streets of Austin. Link up with me through Twitter!
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Today’s full of win is dedicated to XZibit from MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” and inspired by the random, and quite hilarious internet meme featuring him putting things inside other things. The show itself is beyond ridiculous, but luckily the final episode above wrapped up everything nicely.
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- Red vs. Blue: Out of Mind (part 5)
- Bobby Brown On Fox Sketch Show
Due to my shameless pandering and drawing three guys in tights, the FFundercats featured me as a guest on the latest episode of their podcast, #12! I come in about halfway through and end up completely embarrassing myself, and almost created an epic battle royale on FriendFeed. I would have preferred that the battle played out more like “West Side Story” than “Beyond Thunderdome”, but it’s blown over already. I’m such a troublemaker.
Related posts:
- Full of Win #2: FFundercats
- Red Vs Blue Episode 7: Check Out The Treads On That Chick
- MSN Messenger 6 BETA Download
Today’s strip references the FFundercats, which is is a Podcast by Josh Haley, Johnny Worthington, and Mark Wilson about FriendFeed. I’m always amused by the shows, and recently started tuning in during the live broadcast on uStream.
Anyway, my the first strip of Full of Win only gathered a little attention, so I thought by involving FriendFeed and the FFundercats directly I could shamelessly pander for Likes and Comments. Let’s see if it works.
Edit: It worked!
Related posts:
Loving Food is about as basic a love as it comes. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Bowls of cereal at midnight. Snickers bars out of the candy machine. Perfectly grilled filet mignon’s on the charcoal grill. The Rooti Tooti Fresh and Fruity at IHOP.
Sorry, I had a point in there somewhere, but it was lost as soon as I typed “Rooti Tootie.” While I do love food overall, for me its not only about what I am consuming, but the environment I am in, and especially the company I dine with.
The most optimal conditions for the perfect meal usually involve being surrounded by my friends and/or family and enjoying dinner over good conversation. Sometimes it’s the occasion that makes the meal memorable, like Thanksgiving, and other times it’s just a late night meeting for coffee and milkshakes at Denny’s (or House of Pies, or IHOP, or Waffle House.)
Since listing my favorite foods would not only be boring and would make me very hungry, instead I will make the rest of you hungry by showing you pictures of some of my recent favorite meals.
For anyone not lucky enough to live in Texas, this is what we call BBQ. This is not meat with BBQ sauce poured on it. This is true Texas BBQ.
The meal above was what myself, my girlfriend and many friends enjoyed during a weekend in April. The meal included BBQ Chicken, steaks, potatoes, and grilled peppers. We gathered at my friend’s MonaLisa and Crystal’s house and enjoyed the food and many laughs.
This was taken in 2005 during a trip to Lake Buchanan, Texas. We came into town for breakfast at The Bluebonnet Cafe, and when Jinny ordered a cinnamon roll and told us to “just wait,” I had no idea what to expect.
What came out was the giant cinnamon pastry drowning in icing almost the size of my head. I had just a bite and it was almost too much to handle. Breakfast was wonderful, but it wouldn’t have been half a delicious if it hadn’t been with such great company which is what memory will always truly standout.
Behold, the Lindy’s cake. Lindy’s is a bakery in Houston that receives its recipes from Heaven, and bakes just a little bit of it into all of their cakes. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying them a few times, as they are a favorite of the McCormicks.
I apologize in advance to Becky and Henry, but this is the best way to describe what it is like to enjoy a Lindy’s cake:
Now that I’ve shared a few of my favorite food moments, I’m going to go eat everything in my fridge.
No, it has not been four months since I last posted. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Moving on…
Continuing with the series of “10 Things I Love” we reach the next item on the list, something that without which you would not be reading these very words:
THE INTERWEBS.
Yes, as lame as it sounds, I love the Internet. It’s completely changed my life and managed to make things both more efficient AND take away hours of free time at the same time.
Where did it all begin? Where did this fascination of wanting to be online and interacting with complete strangers come from?
Follow me as we take a short detour to my teenage years.
My first exposure to the open publicity of the Internet was before it was even widely available outside of college campuses. I was an avid user of Dial-Up chat boards, back in the days of the BBS - Bulletin Board System. For those who have no idea what that is, it was basically either a single person or a small company who allowed people to call into their computers via the phone lines. Once connected, it was a small site that had message boards or text games.
The larger systems had multiple phone lines so that you could chat with other users, and the chat boards were born. In Houston we had a few that I would regularly call and stay online with until the wee hours of the summer mornings. Off the top of my head the ones I visited most were: Houston After Dark, Houston Teen Beat (once we were all kicked off HAD), and later on Colors of Chat. There was also Matchmaker, but it was not only expensive but also was a haven for the dark side of the scene (there always is one).
Once dial-up Internet hit the world, and I’m not talking about America On-Line, I had a whole new world to explore. At the time there wasn’t much but E-Mail, Usenet, and IRC, but then Netscape Navigator debuted and gave us the World Wide Web and it was a whole new game.
Over the years I’ve found new obsessions birthed by the Internet: Napster, Blogs (since 2002!), YouTube, MySpace / Facebook, Social Networking, MMORPG’s, and much much more.
Here’s a few of the things that I primarily do because the internet allows me to better than ever before, and the tools I use:
Balance My Bank Account & Pay Bills
Online Banking? Whatever. I need more than just my bank balance. I need to be able to enter in manual transactions, see how I’m doing on my budget, set saving goals, and reoccurring transactions. And I also need this available wherever I am going.
Enter Yodlee Moneycenter and Mint, both really good applications that are taking online banking to the next level. I’ve been testing Mint for about eight months now and it’s pretty great in its beta stages, but lately I’ve been gravitating over to Yodlee simply because it offers much more.
Mint and Yodlee both allow you to set budgets, see your spending habits, and set budget/account alerts, but Yodlee allows you to import not only your bank account but also Loans, Electricity and Utility bills, and even reward systems like the Best Buy Reward Center.
If you have doubts about security, then fear not: Yodlee is the major engine behind almost all of the bank’s online banking. The security to login is almost annoying but understood; this is my money we’re dealing with.
Keep My Life in Order
Remember the Milk
I am a complete scatterbrain. If I don’t write something down, typically I’ve forgotten it by the time it’s crossed my — ooh look, a bunny!
Uh.. nevermind. The moral of the story is, I need something to help me. Not just remember things like my friends and families birthdays, but also things like thinking I need ketchup, only to discover the two other bottles in the pantry upon return from the grocery store.
Enter Remember The Milk. This simple task service allows you to make any list you wish, whether its just a simple grocery list (with priorities), birthdays, bill payment due dates, or simply adding upcoming events.
While opening Notepad and writing a list is easy enough, RTM allows interfacing through several methods: through a plugin for Firefox/gMail/Google Apps, text messaging services, Twitter direct messages, and even a Google Talk account.
Find Old Friends
Facebook/MySpace
I check my E-Mail about ten million times a day, and probably check Facebook and MySpace about half that. When I joined MySpace I was suddenly being contacted with people I hadn’t spoken to in 5-10 years, sometimes more. The list only grew once Facebook opened up for more than just college students.
It’s been a little easier and less time-consuming with great tools like Digsby, which allow me to update my status and check on friend updates without making me go to the websites. Facebook I don’t mind so much, but MySpace — new design or not — looks like ass, so I avoid it as much as possible these days.
Watch TV
Hulu / Windows Media Center / iTunes Store
Remember the days when if you happened to miss an episode of your favorite show, you had to wait until summer to watch the rerun? I do, and it was terrible. Luckily there were a lot more non-linear shows around back then, but it was still a hassle to deal with.
With the internet, if I miss a show I can pop on one of the network websites and watch it the next day, sometimes hours after the original broadcast. Miss an episode of LOST? Pop on ABC.com and watch it in HD. Want to take it with me? Go on iTunes and download the episode for $1.99 and I can watch it on my iPod anywhere.
Not only does this apply to new shows, but older shows are finding new life on the internet. Recently several networks joined together and created hulu, which catalogs both new and old series ranging from fan (and personal) favorite Arrested Development to classic television like Buck Rogers.
Also available on Windows Vista and Windows Media Center Edition is the Media Center application from Microsoft. The Vista version has direct links to several online providers of television and film content, as well as full-length movies.
Play Video Games
World of Warcraft / Halo 2
As I spoke about in the first “10 Things I Love” list, I do so love video games. Even more than playing them by myself, I love to play them with friends even more. The social aspect of playing games always makes them that much more fun, whether you are fighting against each other, or helping to achieve a shared goal.
MMORPG’s are the ultimate in shared experience games. I’ve made several friends among those in my World of Warcraft guild, many of which live hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away.
Video game consoles have also benefited from online multiplay. Halo is a fun game, sure, but it’s so much more fun when you can play with four of your friends online from the comfort of their own couch, and you don’t even have to share the screen with your opponents. It’s even brought the “trash talk” element to the console with voice chat.
Discover New Music
Last.fm
Music, which is going to be the feature of its own “10 Things” article, is something else that is very important to me. There is hardly a time in the day where I don’t have music playing, either in concentration or just simply background noise.
I’m pretty good about discovering new artists and new songs on my own, but there have been times when I’ve used the aid of one of my favorite social networks, Last.fm. What started out as Audioscrobbler, a tool for sending your music listening statistics to show how much you listen to what, eventually became Last.fm, a full social network for people who love music and want more of it.
It started with recommendations. A click on the artist profile you are listening to shows you “Similar artists” based on the listening habits of other users who listen to the same band or song. Then came the playlists and user radio, which played back streaming songs picked right out of your own tracks and other artists like them. Last.fm’s latest allows paid subscribers access to full-length tracks and videos by several recording artists out there.
I’ve so firmly immersed my life with the Internet it’s difficult to imagine a world where it doesn’t exist. The one thing I haven’t decided on though, is if my life would be more or less productive. While I’ve been good about listing productive services (not counting Facebook/Myspace) I use, I also spend an equal amount of time on sites like Fark, Twitter, and my Google Reader RSS feeds.
Regardless of productivity or not, the Internet continues to shape and change the way I do ordinary tasks. I don’t want to be part of a world that isn’t connected.
Everyone loves movies, but most people don’t love them as much as I do. The whole experience, be it at an overpriced mega-movie theater, or sitting comfortably in your own home theater, is something that I’ve enjoyed since I was a little boy and could actually follow along with the plot.
I really get into movies, especially really good movies. I laugh, gasp, get scared, jump in my seat, shout at the TV, tear up at emotional scenes, and get excited at plot advancements. I’ve been known to exclaim “Oh shit!” loudly in the theater (embarrassing my mom during The Two Towers, hehe), and get so freaked out by Cloverfield that when the movie went all silent for a moment, all you could hear was me breathing hard.
I try not to be a movie snob when it comes to most films, but I have my limits. Ridiculous comedies (like most Adam Sandler films), Musicals, and blatant “chick flicks” (like Sisterhood of the Traveling Terms of Endearment or whatever) I mostly avoid. I can tolerate musicals sometimes, but it depends highly on the content. For instance Little Shop of Horrors is awesome, as is Chicago. The Sound of Music and Mulan Rouge, not so much.
Rather than discussing the entire history of my movie watching experience (a la the last article), I thought instead I’d list a few of my all-time favorite movies and why I enjoy them so much. Looking forward to hearing feedback about some of these in the comments.
Pulp Fiction (1995)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Plot: The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption. (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Pretty much everyone, but especially Samuel L. Jackson.
Why I Love This Film: When it was released, I had never seen a film anything quite like it. The fast-paced dialog, the disjointed time-jumping storyline, and the phenominal performances by everyone in the cast.
Scenes I Love: Mia & Vincent’s first meeting, the “foot rub” conversation between Jules and Vincent, and Harvey Keitel’s entire appearance.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Cohen
Plot: Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey”, set in the deep south during the 1930’s. In it, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: George Clooney (”My Hair!”), John Torturro, Holly Hunter, and especially John Goodman
Why I Love This Film: I have a deep love for Greek Mythology, so when I discovered that this is a “modern day retelling” of Homer’s “The Odyssey” (as if Mark Twain had written it) I was all over this film. I spent the entire first three viewings picking out all the similarities in the original and the movie: The blind prophet at the beginning, the “sirens” by the river (although in the book, Ulysses was tied to the mast of his ship with wax stuck in his ears to avoid hearing the singing while his men jumped to their watery death), John Goodman’s “Cyclops”, the “suitors”, and of course the great flood at the end.
Scenes I Love: “He’s been turned into a…. horrrrrrrrrny toooooad”, “Damn! We’re in a tight spot!”, “Those boys desecrated a burning cross!”.. I could go on and on.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Directed by: Irvin Kershner (Yes, George Lucas did NOT direct the best Star Wars movie ever made! His college professor did!)
Plot: While Luke takes advanced Jedi training from Yoda, his friends are relentlessly pursued by Darth Vader as part of his plan to capture Luke. (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Carrie Fisher. Mark Hamil was only now starting to get less annoying than his previous whiny version of Luke. He wont become a badass (albeit an emo badass) until Jedi.
Why I Love This Film: When I got my very first home video machine (read: BETAMAX), this was the only movie I owned. I had of course seen all the films before then, but I was almost a teenager when I owned the BETA so I took a fine appreciation for the film and it is still today my absolute favorite Star Wars film out of any of them. It was so dark and brooding compared to the first film; Luke finds out the biggest enemy in the galaxy is his father, loses his arm, his friend gets frozen in carbonite and shipped off to a giant green slug on Tatooine, and the C3P0 is all but destroyed. There was no happy ending to this film.
Scenes I Love: “Laugh it up, fuzzball.” Chewbacca reassembling C3P0 (and putting his head on backwards, much to his dismay), Leia to Han: “I love you.” Han to Leia: “I know.”
Legend (1985)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Plot: A young man must stop the Lord of Darkness from both destroying daylight and marrying the woman he loves. (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Tim Motherfuckin Curry. Oh and that creepy elf guy (David Bennent).
Why I Love This Film: This was fantasy done right. Fantasy films previous to Lord of the Rings were spotty at best. They were either way over-the-top campy like Krull or Dragonslayer, or way too dark and violent like Conan and Red Sonja. A few gems appeared in the 80’s to help the series, one was Willow, and the other was the supremely badass LEGEND. The entire movie may have been a flop if it wasn’t for Tim Curry’s amazing performance (and makeup) as the Lord of Darkness. Tom Cruise, before the craziness and the cult, actually put forth a decent performance as the forest-dwelling Jack.
Scenes I Love: Jack getting his armor, the first meeting of Lily and the Lord of Darkness (”Eat, Drink, Sit.”), anything with the Gnomes.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Plot: A classic fairy tale, with swordplay, giants, an evil prince, a beautiful princess, and yes, some kissing (as read by a kindly grandfather). (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Pretty much everyone including Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, and of course Billy Crystal and Carol Kane.
Why I Love This Film: Because at heart, I’m a big hopeless romantic. I think I’ve watched this film over 50 times in my life, and I would sit down and watch it again right this minute if it was on a television nearby. From the instantly quotable one-liners: “INCONCEIVABLE!” “My name is Indigo Montoya..”, to the epic sword battles, to the odd and dry humor that peppers the film, nothing in this movie disappoints. Even the romantic parts call attention to its own “cheese” by having the Grandson (played by a very young Fred Savage) bemoan the kissing, at least at first.
Scenes I Love: The entire opening, “As You Wish”, ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size), and of course Miracle Max and his wonderful loving wife Valerie.
Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Plot: Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) agrees to babysit after her “dream” date stands her up. Expecting a dull evening, Chris settles down with three kids for a night of TV … and boredom. But when her frantic friend Brenda calls and pleads to be rescued from the bus station in downtown Chicago, the evening soon explodes into an endless whirl of hair-raising adventures! (Amazon)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Elizabeth Shue, Vincent D’Onofrio
Why I Love This Film: Okay, this film isn’t worth of any awards, nor should it be considered a “classic” by any means, but that doesn’t make me love this film any less. I remember this film fondly as a kid, and I’m pretty sure my very first celebrity crush/lust was Elizabeth Shue. Despite the films obvious cheesiness, it’s actually a really funny comedy and falls in line with a lot of other decent “family” comedies out at the same time (think Uncle Buck). Vincent D’Onofrio’s appearance as a garage mechanic/Thor at the end is really entertaining to look at considering his recent portfolio (The Cell, Law & Order: SVU, etc).
Scenes I Love: When Chris (Elizabeth Shue) finds her boyfriend (played by West Wing/Studio 60’s Bradley Whitford) on a date with another woman, Sara’s deadly skyscraper adventure, and of course the gang meeting Thor at the end.
The Goonies (1985)
Directed By: Richard Donner
Plot: They call themselves “The Goonies.” The secret caves. The old lighthouse. The lost map. The treacherous traps. The hidden treasure. And Sloth… Join the adventure. (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Sean Astin, Anne Ramsey, Jeff Cohen (Chunk)
Why I Love This Film: C’mon. Pirate treasure, secret maps found in attics, idiot criminals, and a friendly monster. This movie had everything a boy wanted in it, up and including a hot redhead in a tennis skirt. I think this is the only movie I’ve seen more than The Princess Bride, and my young adventures into sewer pipes and underground caverns is entirely to blame on this film. This movie still holds up extremely well with today’s generation, and is probably one of the most demanded sequels people still want. There’s been several rumors of a sequel, but nothing has ever gotten off the ground. Unless it was written, directed, and starred all the same people (except Mama Fratelli and Sloth, RIP), there’s no way it could ever come close to how awesome this movie is.
Scenes I Love: The “Truffle Shuffle”, Chunk’s first meeting with Sloth, Mouth and the marble bag.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Directed and Written by: Richard Kelly
Plot: A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident. (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Jake Gyllenhaal, Noah Wylie, James Duval (as Frank), and even Drew Barrymore isn’t annoying!
Why I Love This Film: First off, the plot synopsis above is a joke. That is not what this movie is about at all, and makes it seem like some kind of weird horror movie. If you haven’t seen this movie, you may not want to read after this, although i’ll do my best to avoid any big spoilers. What the movie is about is this: Donnie is a distressed teenager who is awoken in the night by a disembodied voice beckoning him to the local golf course. While he is discussing the end of the world with a 6′ rabbit, a jet engine crashes through the roof of his house directly above his bedroom that would have killed him upon impact. What he discovers then is that time and reality have been fractured, and through Frank (the bunny), and a few other spiritual guides (his friends, his teachers, Roberta Sparrow) along the way, seeks to fix the broken universe before the world ends. This is explained in greater detail on the Directors Cut of the film and in the audio commentary with Richard Kelly himself (as interviewed by Kevin Smith!) You seriously cannot watch this movie only once.
Scenes I Love: The “Knife” scene in the bathroom, Donnie skulking out of Patrick Swayze’s house with flames behind him, the creepy scene with him talking to Frank in the movie theater.
The Professional (AKA Leon) (1994)
Directed and Written by: Luc Besson
Plot: Professional assassin Leon reluctantly takes care of 12-year-old Mathilda, a neighbor whose parents are killed, and teaches her his trade. (IMDB)
Actors Who Make This Film Great: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and Natalie Portman in her first film!
Why I Love This Film: Fantastic storytelling, characters you care about, and Gary Fucking Oldman. I swear I’ve never seen a bad movie with this guy in it. Regardless, whether you’ve seen it as The Professional or Leon: The Professional, this film is not only absolutely beautiful to watch cinematically, but also just a damn good film from start to finish. Luc Besson went well beyond the call of duty for this film after realizing the character of “The Cleaner” from his previous film, La Femme Nikita, was underused and wished to develop an entire story for the character, both played by Jean Reno. Natalie Portman grabbed a lot of people’s attention in her first major motion picture role as the 12 year old Mathilda who trains with Leon to become a professional herself. Along with The Goonies, this is also one of the most highly demanded sequels. I’d love to see Natalie Portman back in the same role, 10 years later and following along in Leon’s footsteps.
Scenes I Love: Practice shooting on the roof with the paintball gun, the Mathilda/Leon fashion show, any scene involving Gary Oldman.
HONORABLE MENTION:
True Romance - Directed from a script written by Quentin Tarantino, this had a super all-star cast that kept you clinging to your seat from beginning to the end. Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, and Val Kilmer (as Elvis)
Airplane - The First and best parody film out there, this is one film that still leaves me hurting in laughter afterwards. Looks like I picked a hell of a week to quit sniffing glue.
Labyrinth - Muppets, Jennifer Connelly, and David Bowie. Don’t go that way. If you’d kept on going that way, you’d have gone straight to the castle!
Any many more too numerous to name here. These films I discuss above aren’t all masterpieces, but they are films that hold a special place in my heart and come to mind when I think of all my favorite movies. I’m constantly adding movies to my “favorites” list, but these will always be at the very top.
I logged into my Wordpress dashboard the other day and realized I was only ten entries away from my 1,000th blog. I’ve been busy with life and haven’t had the motivation to post lately, even so much as letting the fifth anniversary of the website come and go without a mention.
Since 10 is such an easy number to work into blog entries, I thought I’d do a “10 Things” list, but break it into ten separate entries with more content than a typical top ten list does.
The topics discussed are in no particular order, except for the 1000th entry.
10 Things I Love: VIDEO GAMES
It all started when I was a small child and my granddad let me play his Colecovision for the first time. Playing with those blocky characters and obnoxious tweets and chirps that passed for video game sound effects opened me up to a whole other world that I had never seen before.
My next great adventure in video games came with the release of the most perfect toy in the world for a boy in 1988: The Nintendo Entertainment System. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have one myself, but luckily I had a friend who was terrible at it and asked me to beat Legend of Zelda while he watched. I was over at his house every weekend for like two months exploring the first version of Hyrule, occasionally breaking to jump on Koopas dressed like an Italian plumber.
If the Colecovision was my gateway drug into video games, then Nintendo was the crack that got me hooked for a lifetime. The addiction only got worse as I grew older.
THE ARCADES
As the years passed and arcades began dwindling down to mostly movie theaters and an occasional mall (as the early 80’s arcade craze had come and gone), a few revolutionary titles started popping up that took my interest.
One of these was a game that has no equal: Street Fighter II Turbo Edition.
Later Mortal Kombat would come and kick all our asses bloodily, and the Street Fighter series went from sequel to sequel to eventually fighting the entire Marvel Universe and SF parent company Capcom’s entire character library. Arcade fighters have all but disappeared nowadays as the home consoles are easier and cheaper to develop for, but you can still find them hidden in corners of places, begging for your quarters.
THE PC YEARS
I followed it up with less risque fare from the fledgling Sierra Industries: Space Quest, Kings Quest, Quest for Glory, etc. As the genre grew popular and people actually became interested in playing computer games, along came other classics like LucasArts Maniac Mansion (and the awesome sequel, Day of the Tentacle), and Escape from Monkey Island, all using the same text-based input and eventually using that newfangled mouse device people liked so much.
I also played the original Wolfenstein 3D, the precursor to DOOM, QUAKE, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life, etc. Quake was amazing in that it was the first FPS to allow multiplayer right out of the box, albeit only over my 9600 baud modem. Yes, I’m name dropping the l33t early 90s tech. Maybe I’ll talk about my ZIP drive later.
Real Time Strategy came into play with Warcraft and Command and Conquer, titles that still are producing quality games today and eventually leading to my current obsessions: MMO’s.
THE MMO’S
It was.. disappointing. After barely a month playing I quit the game and discontinued my account, believing I was signing off of MMO’s for ever. I eventually heard of a new one that included one of my other loves: Comics. That game was City of Heroes.
I played CoH for about eight months, never quite reaching the max level (which was 40 at the time), but through the game I forged some far away friendships that I would never have had the opportunity to in the past with other games. Eventually I and most of my other CoH mates moved over to the current giant elephant in the room: World of Warcraft.
No need to go into WoW as I’ve discussed it several times on this site already and pretty much everyone knows what it is at this point. I have tried other MMO games since, including City of Villains, the follow-up/expansion to CoH, Dungeons & Dragons Online (OMG SUXX0R), Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeon Runners, Guild Wars, Tabular Rasa, Fly For Fun, MapleStory, and a couple others not worth mentioning.
CONSOLES
I have owned a few consoles over the years. The first being the Sega Genesis, which I (foolishly) traded my friend the whole original Weapon X saga in Marvel Comics Presents for it. That saga is worth about four times today what the Genesis was brand new when released. I had Altered Beast, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Kid Chameleon (with its maddening 99 levels of nonsense).
I was able to finagle myself an XBOX when it came out and was actually quite pleased with it for a few years until I finally sold it to a video game shop. I even bought a refurbished PS2 just to play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, then returned both when I finished. I absolutely hate Playstation and their ridiculously expensive peripherals that are required to play games (read: Memory card) but don’t come included with the system.
PS3 and XBOX360 dropped and I could care less. I would only want the XBOX360 just for the media-center capabilities of it, but the PS3 is a glorified BlueRay marketing device with a dwindling catalog of stale video games.
However when I caught wind of the Nintendo Wii, I became a rabid fanboy to which I still am a legion of today. Not only was it moderately priced, but the games are actually FUN on it and encouraged me to do more than move my thumbs (and throw the controller across the room in frustration). Guitar Hero III, Super Mario Galaxy, and Smash Brothers Brawl all reinforced the absolute FUN of the system.
THE FUTURE
For me, I’ll be right there playing whatever new time sucking game comes out next until I am old and my grandchildren have beaten me ruthlessly in Unreal Live Tournament 2060.
