It's been a good Week

Just wanted to post that I made my first sale this week. Yahoooooo!!!! No longer running in a circle I actually made a sale!

Screw Kreitner...

Hey kids - Kreitner took the crown over at the Kern blog. Frankly, it all makes me sick. Posted is his new pic... ugh.


The weekend is upon us and Cara is heading off to Chicago to do some running in an 8k on Sunday. 8k is 5 miles to us less than in shape folks! She won't be back until Monday night (YIKES!!!) so I will be fending for myself this weekend.

The boys are planning on seeing Slither - Nathan Fillion in a semi-lead role, so we can't resist.


I am reading this book right now, "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire. Things have started off very odd. We pick things up as the four compadres (Dorothy, Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow - bludgeon yourself if you have no idea what I am talking about) head through the dark forest. The wicked witch o' west is hanging out listening as they talk about her... and for some reason the Tin Man is very homosexually cleaning the Lion and announcing that the witch was born a hermaphrodite! What the hell!??!

Weird - but kind of cool - I will keep you posted.


Of course I am still ga-ga for Sopranos. This year is top sh*t! I am really looking forward to Sunday!!


Finally, last night Devin and I watched King Kong... and I think was a little too nice to the film the first time around. There are some major major flaws with 50% of the picture. Granted, the other 50% is magnificent... but a talent like Peter Jackson should have been able to see the mistakes he was making... or someone around him should have had the cahunas to say "What the f*ck are you doing?!?!"

I don't think I will ever be watching that film again... actually though, Devin and I had a ball mocking it! Jamie Bell's character definitely took a beating from us... and we discovered that Jack Black and Colin Hanks had a special moment between each other in the end of the film... it was uncomfortable!

Anyway - I am out early today. Catch y'all on Monday.

Yo

the end

It's finally official; Arrested Development is no more.

We have been holding our collective breathes, hoping that perhaps a deal would be made with Showtime or another network - but word came down today that the Bluth family will not be returning to anyone's home.

Though, it has ended in a way that I did not expect. Showtime did make an offer to Mitch Huriwitz for 26 more episodes of the series - but he turned them down. Hurwitz told Variety that he would consider continuing on as a consultant, and that he would be interested in making a feature film of the series.

"I said I'd be happy to do that, but that as show runner, I've gone as far as I can go," he said.

So, this is our end - and not a bad one I might add. I felt the series wrapped itself up quite well. Regardless, there is an empty spot in my heart for the series... COME ON!!!!

Yo

Wonky eye wins

Hey all! Big news -- I passed my thesis defense this morning. Now you all must refer to me as Krysta Jo, M.A. Ok...just kidding. Anyway, on to bigger and better things starting with a new apartment in West St. Paul this weekend.

Have a great one.

random

A few weeks ago I was working on making a new t-shirt to wear around - this image was something I was playing with. Unfortunately I felt the image might induce nausea.

It is yours to enjoy.

Scrubs tonight! Tuesdays are always nice.

Yo

Not luck - just good

I am sure I am several weeks behind on everyone seeing this movie, but I finally took a peak at Clooney's b&w opus last night. The film, though akwardly paced and lacking a 3rd act, is a beautiful piece of cinema. The editing is fresh (though not entirely effective!) and the b&w imagery is well used - but not over done.


Strathairn's Murrow was spot on - never once showing that any acting was taking place. It was a joy to watch what was happening behind his eyes - seeing the plume of smoke whirl around him as he thought through the difficulties and challenges that the frightening McCarthyistic world was throwing at him.

The rest of the cast was well balanced, with Robert Downey Jr. tossing in a small but effective role.

One major problem with the film can be blamed on Grant Aslov (character actor seen in True Lies!!) and Clooney himself. The script lays on the drama onto a scene that has no direct effect on the McCarthy plot. A specific character makes a life changing decision - and everyone deals with it. That moment is the most dramatic of the film - and it really does not even belong in it.

Good Night and Good Luck definitely has some flaws, but it is an amazing achievement for all involved. Check it out!

Yo

3 times the fun?

Watched the second episode of Big Love last night and I am still not very impressed. This is definitely no Six Feet Under. I am going to give it one more try... if only for Harry Dean Stanton's sake!

For an in depth review - head over to Kern's blog.

Off to KC this weekend to see my cousin Jeremy and Cara's sister Tricia... expecting to get very very drunk.

Yo!

Free T-shirts??

Just want you all to know I saw this on slick deals today. Free personalized t-shirt all you have to do is pay postage. Holy Crap.

KELLY RIPA!!!!!

It's so gold.

Scrubs ruled this week - the Amazing Race was pretty cool... other than that, I ain't done much.

Whaddup wit chu?

Yo

DAMN!!!

Well, I wanted to throw this in your faces earlier (computer at work would not recognize the damfinoblog) ..errr..I mean let everyone know ... that my bracket has yet to go to shit. I have 13 of the Sweet 16 teams and my only final 4 team not in is North Carolina. I'm in the lead with my bracket in the pool at work and have never won one yet, but I have a great shot this year. ( I wish it was morning so I could knock on wood.)

don't hate the playa
hate the game

So 2 Buddhist monks walk into a bar...

After the sunday crew took off, me and the boys sat around and discussed last night's episode of Sopranos. Aside from loving every single moment of it (I can't believe how insanely good the series is right now!!) we got on the to topic of the Season poster above.

Note how seperated Tony is from everyone - how he is inside another world, cut off from the color filled real one! And see how Melfi and the idea of Tony's psychosis (mind) floats between them, a mere reflection.

I loved the posters from the past - but this is the first time I really thought they were conveying an essential theme to a season. I gots me chills!

Yo

Bracket Bummer

Um...can I just say, d**n Hawks! So much for being sentimental...

Does this post have a point?!?

Sheriff here,

Watched the last 6 ep's of season 1 Arrested D last night.(kudos to Jed and his magic burner) What a f*cking great show. Fox you are dead to me.....except for FG, ADad and the National Football League.

Flop, his co-pilot Trish and their navagator Ella Pearl are taking the red-eye (Nissan Altima express, with steel wheels and snap on wheel covers, c'mon man...just kidding bro.) from Grand Rapids to the Kreitner oasis this evening. I wish them safe travel in the impending snow/rain storm.


On this very day six years ago at Pepper's Sports Bar and meat market in Waterloo, Iowa I met Miss Andrea Dawn Devore. My life has never been the same since. I love you Buttercup.

B.O.

ps: Go Hawks

Mr. and Mrs. Libre!

Nacho Libre, er, Jack Black eloped!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060315/en_celeb_eo/18564

Felicitaciones!! Enhorabuena!! (Well, that's what Answers.com listed as translations for "congratulations" anyway...)

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE iii-iii-iii-iii EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraa-HA-HA-ha-ha!

"F*ck you, Joey!"

The Kreitner's had a netflix movie night last night and took in "A History of Violence". Buttercup and I enjoyed the film and the ride it took us on. For some reason at the end both of us said "I wasn't expecting that from the film". I like to be taken on a journey that I can't see comming or that somehow is different from what my ideas of the film are pre-viewing. Bill Hurt's 15 min of screen time I watched with interest since he had been nominated for the Ocscar for best supporting actor. I did sniff out the demise of Ed Harris before the "shot" but otherwise my journey was unspoiled by my oft correct predictions. Lots of good extras on the disk too. A nice investment of 2 hours.


b.o.

Blogagool!

I just discovered an amazing blog by N.Y. Press and Newark Star-Ledger critic Matt Zoller Seitz. It is a really well written and insightful commentary on the episode (as well as other eps of Sopranos and Deadwood!).

Here is a link to it check it out!

Na-chooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hey kats,

So I discovered this little ad for Nacho Libre last week and I thought I had better share it.


View this clip on Vimeo

nacholibrediaries.wmv

The film stars Jack Black and is directed by Jarod Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and written by Mike White (wrote School of Rock and Orange County).


The movie comes out June 2nd, but the ad is for Jack Black's production diaries. Now, I know not many of you follow this stuff online (Peter Jackson's King Kong stuff was simply incredible!!) but this is a real opportunity to view something interesting. The diaries will be airing twice a week until the movie opens - 20 episodes total.


To view them - all you have to do is subscribe on iTunes tomorrow and you can watch them weekly through the program. I hope you all have iTunes - if you don't... well, frankly, I am not sure why I would be talking to you.

Let's try to follow along - no one ever really has to struggle to watch Jack Black - he is amazing!!


Here is an interesting tid bit to wrap up today - this is the Farm Bureau Annual Financial Report. And who happens to grace the cover this year - none other than our lovely miss Cara!


I have actually had to sit on this image for weeks, Cara was not too sure about posting it before the report came out (actually, she was not sure about posting it and will surely deal out some form of punishment on yours truly... but hey, I'll take any form of attention I can get!).

With that grin on her face - makes ya wonder what she was thinking about. Hmmmm.....

Yo!

Was a very good day...

Some days come and go without any real impact - others hit you but suck the life out of you... then you have some days that just end up being perfect.

Yesterday was just my day!

Here's the rundown;


Cara and I tried out a church in downtown Des Moines - it was a big old column having Methodist place with huge stained glass windows and a dome! I got to rip up some killer hyms and skipped out on the offering. Actually, the coolest part was we were running late and Cara somehow got us from West Des Moines to downtown within 4 minutes - that impressed the hell outta me!


Next up was a visit from my cousin Jeremy - it was his birthday. I ran out early and picked up two stellar gifts; 2 episodes of Kung Faux and the first season of Crank Yankers. Comedy gold that Jerm would truly appreciate.

Fast forward to Iowa game time! I watched the first half over at my grandmother's then ran quickly to the store to buy the food for Sopranos - then somehow got back home after missing only a minute of the game.


And then there was the win itself - which felt oh sooooooooo good! I hate OSU! Not only did we beat them - and also win the Big Ten Championship... but we knocked them out of the 1 seed in the NCAA and also earned a 3 seed for ourselves. I am getting that happy feeling again just thinking about it!

Then came dinner - Cara helped me with most of it - but the screwups were all me. I burnt the bread and burnt the Mozarella covered Cavatelli! But after cutting off the burnt top of the bread, it worked fine... and the burned Cavatelli was the dish that everyone loved and ate. Who knew?


Finally, came 8 pm. Wow - WOW!!! What a fantastic first episode! We have to keep things general here for the Kreitner clan who won't pony up for HBO - but we can say this, things are definitely rolling already for Tony and his crew. Dan claims he called the ending at Grandma's earlier in the day... but I did not hear him!

The episode was one of their best - tons of great scenes and shocking stuff.

Everyone bolted after Sopranos and Devin returned about 10pm - then I proceeded to watch the episode again with him.


The topper of the entire day was the news from Mom - the Fryes called to let us know Frye Camp is on this year - and we get all three cabins, the entire camp - to ourselves!!! RIGHT ON!!!!

Man - what a good day!!!

Yo

Another good day for ilovebacon.com links.

Yo, check this shizzie out!

From http://www.ilovebacon.com/031306/l.shtml.

- What was the #1 song the day you were born? At http://www.everyhit.com/dates/. Sheriff, I don't know if the Billboard system was around when you were born, so you might just be SOL. Oh! I kid, of course.

#1 on Feb. 16, 1974: Mud - "Tiger Feet". Never heard of it. I also learned that Sonny Bono was born on Feb. 16! No skiing for me! Ever!

- See if you would survive during life threatening events! At http://www.spicolisbarleybin.com/games/survival.swf. I didn't do too well (9 for 17) and was surprised at some of the correct answers. Survivorman I'm not!

Happy Monday the 13th!

Enjoy,
Flop

I think its time you should seriously start considering salads!

Well - it is upon us. The Sopranos returns Sunday night for 12 weeks of mafioso fun under the Jersey sun. I can't quite explain just how jazzed I am to start watching this series again. Sunday nights with the family - and loads of Italian dinners to eat... and Four Square fun to be had.


If'n ya don't know - The Sopranos is a major event in the Findlay/Schmacker household. It all began when I returned to Des Moines from Iowa City. Season 4 was starting up and I thought it might be fun if a group of us got together to view. So at that point, there was just Jerry, Matt, Jed, and Josh. But things grew.


By the time the 5th season hit, our group was bouncing in between 3 different locations with groups that reached nearly 15 people! The real excitement came when we started cooking Italian dishes to have each Sunday - with each person taking a turn cooking.


Last year, during Deadwood's run, we started doing games of four square outside as dinner was being made. This added another level of fun to look forward to each Sunday! The game sometimes overshadowed our excitement to watch the show!!


So where are you going to be Sunday night? If you have no plans - come join us! I am super excited to have the family back... and to have the Sopranos back on. I am ready for the end!!


SALUTE!!!!

yo

Check this smurf out!

From one of the websites I visit daily, www.ilovebacon.com (more specifically, http://www.ilovebacon.com/030906/l.shtml): Smurf Name!

See what your name would be in Smurf: http://www.quizopolis.com/smurf_name.php.

Mine's Stingy Smurf:



(That's the best stingy-looking Smurf pic I could come up with, without spending hours looking...)

I pictured myself more like, uh, say, "Geek Smurf", or "IT Smurf":


"Tricia McCabe" returns Cheap Smurf. (The door is open for comments there...)
"Trish McCabe" returns Nasty Smurf. (Oh, geez... :) )

I was going to get everyone's "translated to Smurf" name and post here, but I decided to leave the fun to you!

I did do a couple others, though. Here are the "Holy smurf! Look at that smurf!" and "I'd smurf that!" twins:


(Come on, doesn't it look like they're looking at her smurf?!)

Later!
Stingy

When I was 28... it was a very good year!!

I am sure I will be pummelled for posting this pic - but sadly I don't have many others of miss Cara.

Today is Cara's 28th birthday! We are celebrating by going out to 801 Steak and Chop House in downtown Des Moines. Supposedly, this is one of the finer spots in town - I will report about it tomorrow.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Cara - hope your day is filled with wafflely goodness!!

"It's waffle time - it's waffle time! Won't you have some waffles of mine!!!!"

I like Scrubs... and waffles.

Yo

whoa...

The X-Men 3 trailer is now online... and it looks surprisingly very good!!

Check it out!

Marisa Tomei

Part of me thinks Jack Nicholson saw "Brokeback Mountain" on the winner card, took a deep breath, said to himself, "Screw it, I hated that movie," called an audible and said, "And the Oscar goes to ... Crash!"

Oscar...or Felix?

Hi All,

Sheriff once again watched the "really big show" last evening. And I actually saw "Crash" so that was cool. When did the awards become about how many montages they can show and not about what the winners have to say? Seemed like the number of presented awards went down and the time fillers went WAY up. At least 3 Dog posse were excited about their win. Stewart was funny at times..the opening 10 min were mixed from the crowd. Not bad , but not a great Oscar show either. The Crash win was a big suprise.


b.o.

I Want My Props Back!

So I have been challenged by Mr. Damfino to match Deit's Muslim/Buddhist/Existentialist joke on my blog yesterday. He won't give me props unless I do, so I assured him I would have something mindblowing to earn the respect of my peers once again. I may not have achieved that, but here's what I came up with anyway. Keep in mind that many of the people in the poem are from different eras, so please don't mention that it's historically inaccurate for them to be together, because it is highly unlikely any of them liked chili either.

Ahem.

In a premise that may seem silly,
These authors sat down to eat chili
Nietzsche and Sartre sat inches apart
Lacan, Jung and Camus
they were there too
since they all enjoyed chili and brew

Lacan gazed at the pot which was poised for fiasco
As he went nuts with the habenero Tabasco
They drank and they ate and all was great
Until a quarter to eight, the group's bowels met their fate

First Jean Paul Sartre
let out a great fart
which pierced the air
and gave Jung a great scare

Nietzsche asked, "Jung, was that you?"
Jung shook his head and points at Camus
Lacan said, "Alright, come clean. Camus, was that you?"
Camus looked shocked. "No, I swear it's untrue!"
while clenching his buttcheeks
and holding back poo

There was gurgling in Jung's hindparts no doubt
who shit so violently his anima came out
"Good God!" Sartre cried, "This gas is as bad as Kant's!"
Jung agreed as he looked for clean pants
Lacan held his gut and ran for the door
with diahrrea dripping all over the floor

A stench filled the room
like a noxious perfume, their digestive tracts
were all but doomed

Nietzsche pinched his nose and loudly said,
"The smell of this room explains why God is Dead!"

Can I get some love now, people?

Come on!!!

Looky looky!

Look what I picked up over the lunch hour!!


Devin is nearly to Season 5 - he might be cutting things a bit close. We just met ol Pie-O-My last night... and Tony's hot little art dealer number. YOW-ZA!

On sale at Best Buy for $54.98!!


I also tripped up when I came to this. Walk the Line was the balls - but mostly I bought this cuz I think the poster/cover is amazing.

It also had several extended performances that were not in the movie - yummy.

Yo

The Tentative Flyer!

This is most likely not going to be the final flyer art, but the Sheriff asked me yesterday if I would post the date and whatnot on the Damfinoblog so that people knew approximately when Kern Returns '06 is going to be. So here is the preliminary flyer with what I think the date should be.



I am going to be buying my plane ticket in a couple of weeks or so. The plan so far is to come in on a Thursday and stay through Monday or Tuesday. So in addition to the big Kern Returns bash on Friday the 23rd, there will likely be other wild and debauched activities going on, so I hope some of you will join in for that as well.

If anyone has any questions or anything, please let me know. As more of the fine details come into focus, I'll definitely be sending out another (more complete) flyer as we approach Zero Hour.

That's all I have. Go forth and be filthy!

... she bit my nip!

More pics - stealing Dan and Hol's camera always leads to loads of useless images from ol Jedirinio!

This here is Lilly.


Lilly is Cara's new kitten - she arrived on Sunday and has been terrorizing Cara's place since. Cara and her fam actually took quite a drive to find miss Lilly! They drove all the way down to Texas (a drive Mr. Flop is all too familiar with) to pick her up!


Lil is cute but naughty! She was a little timid her first time in the house - but has graduated to total destructor in just a few days. She now has a ball running through the place as fast as her little body will go - using Cara and I's bodies as a bridge from one piece of furniture to another. It is adorable.


El Destructo is not all perfect though - last night whilst laying about and having her play with my hand (kitten scratches are cute and fun) she decided my nipple was her new toy. Damn kid nearly broke the skin all the way through my trusty Colostomy Bags shirt with her sharp little teeth!! She refused to let go even after I screamed the safety word several times. Bad Lilly.


In the end though, she is unbelievably perfect. She cuddles and meows and purrs just like a dream cat would. I had several cats growing up and they were all mean/independent b*tches! So this is a nice change.

I would post more pics but Blogger's photo program just died... HMPF! Anyway, Lil is ready to woo visitors with her adorable antics. She might even cuddle with you... or huggle for that matter.

Yo