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

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

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

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

A long time ago - we used to...

I don't know if it is just the weather - the yearly winter funk that happens - but I am just worn out on almost all of my TV shows.

I still laugh at the Office, love 30 Rock... but Scrubs is not really doing anything for me... Gilmore is way off it's track...


and Veronica Mars has got nothing going for it.

I have not seen last nights episode but last weeks big death was a complete joke!!! In fact, last weeks episode was handled so horribly... Richard Greico swinging a bat like a moron killing off a character that I really enjoyed!!

The episode where Veronica was arrested had a few moments of humor - it also had a cute storyline of Logan taking care of the younger sister of Dick's weekend chickadee (that was fun to watch too - "We got married!!! - I need a divorce lawyer!!"). The episode had some life - but overall this season has been a major major letdown!!

I am getting this feeling that TV shows should only run for a limited number of episodes... perhaps only as long as the creative idea behind the show comes to fruition (that would have Veronica Mars ending when Lily Cane's murder was resolved).

The Sopranos does a decent job of stepping away and taking some time to figure out where to go... but it also falters at times, producing stories and episodes that fail to live up to the quality the show deserves.

I feel nothing for Veronica... nothing for Lorelai... nothing for J.D.

What the hell am I doing wasting my time watching then?

Yo

Oscar Heart Scorsese

Last night's Oscar show was a big one for Martin Scorsese. Not only did The Departed take home the Best Picture Oscar, but Scorsese nabbed the best director trophy as well.

Scorsese's win was a long time coming (he has been a genius from Mean Streets and on!!) and having his friends/contemporaries Coppola-Lucas-Spielberg hand the award to him was quite fitting!


The show itself was blase - Ellen did ok as host. As usual, it was long and filled with tedious moments of crap (long speeches - stupid shadow dancer bits - lame presenter scripts) - but there was a few moments that kept my excitement churning.

The Jack Black/Will Ferrel/John C. Reily number was the best moment of the night. I found it on youtube - posted below!



Overall, it was nice to see my favorite film of the year win... it was nice to see Scorsese up there... it was nice.

I am afraid though, my passion for the Oscars has long since deflated.

Yo

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!

I had a moment last night... I was at my sister's house with Cara - I had cooked up a mighty meal of steak-veggies-potatoes au gratin... and I was holding little Maddy...

then my phone rang.

It was Andrea - but I had Maddy and I thought she was calling about Gilmore which I was missing... so I let the call go.

I held Maddy - looked into her beautiful eyes... and cherished the little drooley smile she gave me.

Then the phone rang again... Greg? I thought I had better take this.


WHOA!!!!



WOWOWOWOWO!!!!!



THE KREITNERS ARE PREGO!!!!!!



Look for a baby Kreitner to come along sometime next fall.... man... the world is changing.

I am so happy for you guys... love you both!!!

YO!!!

Happy Birthday "Flop the Nuts"

Let us all raise our glasses to one of our members having a birthday today. Brian McCabe turns thirty-ish today.

And by glasses I mean drinking not reading.

Sheriff



Ps: Let us also share a little moment we have shared with Flop to honor him. Kern Returns 2006, after a long night of drunken fun Flop takes five out on the back porch to get some air. 2 hours later sheriff asks 'where is flop?" We find him asleep on the back concrete stoop. Classic.

B.O.

P.S.S. This is Damfino - I have added a nice little slide show of images from the last time Flop came down to hang out. The video is set to "Alive and Kickin" by the Simple Minds - it ran through my head when we discovered him out on the porch.



Happy Birthday bud - YO!

In your 30's...

When one gets to a certain age, one must stop and reflect on his past experiences. The good times... the rough times... those times when you were awkward... those times when you exceeded even your own expectations...

Those times when you lived.



Then there is that certain age when it is just better to deny that it is even your birthday.

Josh is at that age.

32!?!??!? My brother Josh is moving well into his 30's taking leaps in life changes!! He lives with his fiance!!! He is getting married!! (that probably should have come first) He has finally stopped wearing his jeans up past his belly-button!!!

Here are some pics I had on my computer (mostly courtesy of Jeremy). I am digging his Iowa shirt!

Gosh - that is just embarrassing.

The Triad of Terror!!

Dang - I look good in stripes!

Anyway, today is the man's birthday - 32 years of the "thing" - and many more to come.



Happy Birthday Brother! Love ya!

Yo

Findlay Entertainment

I gotta send you guys out to my little brother's website - he is working hard on blogging everyday and he is also podcasting. You can visit his site by the link on the right side... but you can also subscribe to his podcast here.

It is pretty darn cool! Especially this week's episode... most of it is about me.

Yo

My World is Collapsing........

We now mourn the death of Anna Nicole Smith. And Barbaro is gone too. My world is collapsing!

Upgrade my @ss!

Cross your fingers kids - I just moved the Damfinoblog to the new version of blogger... oh boy!

Yo

Porkins for sale!

big boy

Big Boy is here.

Enjoy all,

Yo

Best of the ads

Bears lost - rough game for us Chicago lovers. In fact, I don't want to talk about it.

But here is the best ad of the night - the rock, paper, scissors one was good too.

Yo

FOB tune

Guys - Here is one tune off of the new album - "Bang the Doldrums." It is my favorite song so far.


Yo

Knocked Up... um... it is just a movie title!

From Judd Apatow - director of "The 40-Year Old Virgin" comes what looks like another home run.

Watch trailer and R-rate trailer here.

Funny, funny stuff!!

Yo

It's a GOD DAMN ARMS RACE!

Damfino returns with another exciting look into his musical insights and album reviews... um... ok, so I don't have the verbal power of Mr. Kern - nor do I have the music scene passion that he holds... but, I do listen to quite a bit of tunes (I drive 45min each way every day - all iPod - no radio for me baby!) and I have a blog... so, sorry, y'all gotsta suffer.

I stole "Infinity on High" from Stevens yesterday (I got to play with Maddy for almost 20 min by myself!!! She is so cute... and completely willing to yak all over me! I did get to see Holly pull a major bogey out of her nose!!) and I have listened to the complete album 3 times.

I can dig it.


Fall Out Boy is definitely a non-Kern-confirmed band, music that I am sure makes Alexxx tweak for a hit of an arsenic laiden roaster! I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoy the tunes that FOB pounds out for the masses. In fact, their previous release "From Under the Cork Tree," still makes it's rounds on my iPod playlist!


FOB completely embraces their pop aspirations - hitting their riff writing strides with "This Ain't a Scene, "It's a God Damn Arms Race." Expect the tune to play a while on the charts. The rest of the album definitely has some catchy moments. Though, thankfully, the music never slides into obligatory "Nickelback" territory. By that I mean, FOB writes heavy-ish tunes, filled with Lyndsey Lohan loving ("but it hurts to watch you work the room!") and Killers hating (listen for the synth-ish mocking in a couple songs) grooves - but FOB never feigns their passion. They never write the standard love song set to sell millions.

They still bite at you! I can slip into their poppy rattle anytime.

Fall Out Boy: "Infinity on High"
A-


Finally got the new countertop in - here is me yanking out the old one.


Totally out - ready to have the wall spackled and painted


Jed has some magical mime-ish leaning skills.


New sink and faucet - paying the plumber was the best $200 I have spent in a while.


Finished!!! Looks pretty damn good... Cara digs it too.

Remember - BEARS ON SUNDAY!!!!

Pce out kids

Yo

New Post At Listen!

Like the first flakes of pristine winter snow, it's the first Crotchety column of the year.

Come and get it, boys and girls.

Hugs and ****,

Kern