Friday, March 30, 2007

I don't have a green jacket


Mickelson - Singh - Woods..... Findlay!

Howdy folks,

Cara and I head out on our trip tonight - we will be driving down to Kansas City to stay at her sister's (Tricia and fiance Graham). Then tomorrow morning bright and early we fly out to Atlanta.

The whole reason we are going is that Cara's father (Bob) won tickets to the practice round of the Masters.

That is golf to those who are not with the sport scene (as someone who is constantly catching up with Cara on the sport scene - don't be ashamed).

Tuesday we will be walking the course at Augusta and seeing the greats play the game. It is going to take all of my energy not to scream for Tiger when we walks up to tee off. He always looks so cute in his Nike garb...

ahem.

Anyway, we will be shooting several rounds of golf on various days (18 holes worth on Monday!) and it will be time for Jed to shine!! I have bought new shoes - my clubs are worn in... and I am primed to make my break in the sport.

It's my time baby!!!

Or not.

Pics will follow next week - adieu to those stuck in Iowa... suckers.

Yo

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Badda... Badda... *sniff*


Ya know - I do tend to watch movies over and over. Good movies... bad movies... some times I watch a film that I cherished and watched ten times over when I was young... and see the quality has dropped... others, just reaffirm the greatness.

So Cara and I started watching Sopranos from the beginning (she had not seen them all) in preparation for the upcoming Final Episodes... and I realized - this show is simply amazing.

Last year I watched the series again with Devin (though I missed most of Seasons 4 & 5) so it has not been that long since I viewed these... I am just amazed that I can continually be surprised - excited - humored - blown away... by this show.

The direction is always spotless... the writing rarely falters... often, we look to the plotting for problems... but after watching these from back to back... with less expectation... I see the patience and passion the show has.

It just continues to stun.

So here comes April 8th - the final 9 episodes. With the finale last Season I felt I wanted the series to end... after watching again... I am truly going to miss the show.

The Sopranos is and always will be one of the greatest TV series ever created. Period.

Yo

Friday, March 23, 2007

Fo' Sale

What up Damfinoblog!
We're building a new home in Dallas Center and need to sell our first house. So, if you know anyone looking please keep us in mind. You can view all the details at fsbo.com with the listing #93889. Our ideal buyer would be someone wanting to downgrade from a single-wide or mom's basement.
Keep it real.

Urnotme

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Mr. Spendy



*note, I wanted to post this last week but have not had any time... end note*

Once upon a time there was a boy... and he was awfully spendy. Mr. Spendy didn't actually make very much money - and what he did have he wasted on booze and flowers for his girlie - but he had an innate desire to "own" the finer things in life.

He was pretty naughty in November and bought an Audi A4. Many have seen Mr. Spendy's beloved A4 - but he thought he had better add some images for the others. Pics below;


ooooh!


yum


My daily view.


Hee-hee!!

But even more so, Mr. Spendy felt an empty place where a certain item's love should live. Mr. Spendy needed something more... he needed an HD TV.

Last weekend marked the breaking point for Mr. Spendy and his girl - they had gotten some funds back from the Government and Mr. Spendy had some plans on how they should spend them... of course his girl had quite a different idea... but they met half way.

American held a nice deal of 2 years no interest - this allowed Mr. Spendy to pay off small amounts monthly and take the large sum from the Gov. and invest it away - this made the girl very happy. Mr. Spendy had found his way to buy his TV.

Sony - Mr. Spendy loves the brand - LCD - Mr. Spendy found this type of TV to offer the best image quality - Bravia XBR - the Sony model that just sort of screamed "TAKE ME HOME!!!" to Mr. Spendy.


Girlie and Lilly are excited.


Mr. Spendy - obviously happy.


Even the batteries say Sony!


46 inches of drooley!!!


This is the first thing we watched - over the air first!!


The picture does not do it justice... it - looks - good!

Mr. Spendy is thrilled... he can sleep soundly... until the next toy is in his sights.

Yo

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Craig......Daniel Craig...007

Casino Royale comes out today on DVD and Blue Ray HD disk. Let us all support the new and improved James Bond by adding this great film to our collections.



sheriff

Thursday, March 08, 2007

caracaracaracaracara=29


I woke up this morning determined to lie and deceive my beloved fiance - but first, I had to make like I was pathetic.

Cara turned 29 this morning and I said "Happy Birthday" to her as she left, but that was about it. My plan depended upon her thinking I was a bum... a louse who did nothing for her special day.

Hell - I even skipped blogging about her birthday (thus the late post) to keep her thinking I was a jerk.


She had some friends give her balloons - that was nice... that helped her get over that I was doing nothing for her day. As she worked away, I ran around franticly trying to get everything done so I could get to work.

I baked the cake - got the flowers - wrapped the gifts... and set up everything so Lilly could not get to it.


Cara came home and was surprised - another successful game of Jed the trickster!!


I should let everyone know I am typing this half drunk... thus the odd - not so interesting writing... my language skills suck after a glass of cabernet and a shot of makers!


Happy Birthday baby!!

Yo

This will make you lose your sh*t!


Finally, a re-edited trailer that looks and feels like a real trailer.



And it is truly f*cking funny!!!

Yo

Friday, March 02, 2007

Surprising Stranger


I do love film - I looove falling into a picture not knowing it is going to be fantastic... I love being visually entertained with hidden objects or elements within the frame that lead the observant viewer down a seperate yet interesting path than that of the laid out plot or story.

I love films that surprise me. "Stranger Than Fiction" surprised the hell out of me.


The film was released back in November, after a troubling showing at the Toronto Film festival (the festival that is supposed to let us all know what films will be the big critic and award winners of the year... but The Departed did not even play there this year), and somewhat limped it's way through a few weeks at the box office. It opened strong with $13 million, yet ended up with only a $40 million final haul in.

Cara had expressed interest in the film - ahhh but Jed, he was far to busy with Scorsese and DePalma to mess with the likes of Ferrell and Marc Forster. Thusly, the film was skipped (if only Cara would have pushed a little harder for what she wanted... c'est tragedie!!).

What a mis-caluculation.


Stranger Than Fiction steps to a tempo that PT Anderson and Peter Weir have danced to, charging their comedic leads (Sandler and Carrey) to step beyond their humorous performances to find the actor that may be hiding in them. The film's director also taps into Anderson and Weir's style, making an odd combination of the two talents. I guess I should be fair and pull Michel Gondry into this discussion - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind danced a similar number to this film!

The visual clues and games the film plays can slide on past the viewer with ease - there are no un-neccessary cuts or odd shots that make the film "artistic" - my excitement was in finding the images and trying to understand what relationship they played to the characters in the film. The picture above is one shot that definitely got my mind working...

What impressed me about Forster's work in the film is first, the monumental leap forward in direction (Finding Neverland was pretty useless) but also the astounding performances that he got out of his actors that inhabit the picture.


Emma Thompson stunned me in her work as Author Kay Eiffel - her determination to finish - her odd relationship with the world and the "characters" within it... here I mean relationship within Thompson's performance - not within the story.

Thompson absolutely shreds every moment of screen time she gets - going as far as stealing all of the energy that Hoffman can bring to a scene!!


I guess you cannot discuss the film without analyzing Will Ferrell's work. This was to be Ferrell's coming out party - "I AM AN ACTOR" - he cries from atop the mountain!

Well, yes he is - for 99% of the picture. He slips only for a few moments (one moment between him and Maggie Gyllenhaal) and that can be blamed on the director for not getting his scene right. Ferrell knocks some tough scenes way the hell out of the park... and yet, the performance is subduded and perfected. I am quite impressed.


So where the hell was it during the award season? Why did the critics just shrug it off as a misfire for Ferrell and crew? Who let this marvelous gem of a film slip behind the false joy of Little Miss Sunshine and all of the other unworthy contenders this year?

Well - I guess I did.

Shame on me.



And Cara for not making me see it.

Stranger Than Fiction = A


Yo