Orange – My new LEAST favorite color

So everywhere I go, I see orange. Orange signs, orange cones, orange arrows, dudes in equally orange vests. I can’t get anywhere without hitting road construction. I’m not even kidding. Every single onramp and offramp within like a ten mile stretch of the freeway (the freeway I need to use every day this summer as well as the one closest to me) has one of those orange signs that says “this onramp/offramp will be closed intermittently from now until forever.”

I tried to avoid one jam up of construction, only to find another, only to find another trying to avoid that. There’s literally no way for me to get on the freeway right now without hitting construction. And then, I find some on the freeway. Saw them putting up a new sign even, the guy had a level and everything.

I get that it’s actually a good thing to be doing this. I mean, Hoover got us out of the depression with public work projects. Construction (especially of this amount) gives people jobs. Jobs means money, money means spending…it’s trickle down economics. But did they have to pick the SAME spot for all this construction?

Anyways, that’s the evening rant.

On another note, iTunes changed the Supernatural Pilot. If you buy it from iTunes, you are not getting the same thing off the DVD. SCANDAL.

Up

Up (2009): In Disney Digital 3D. Written by Bob Peterson. Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. Starring the voice talents of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai and Bob Peterson.

Pixar has done it again, another amazingly fantastic film. From the  plot to the well developed characters, everything about this movie was fantastic. When I first saw the teaser trailer I wondered what they could possibly be telling a story about. Even as more trailers came along, I still had no idea. I mean an old man in a flying house with a boy scout (or Wilderness Explorer) and somehow there’s a talking dog and a bizarre bird creature? With that information from the trailers, the movie appears to make no sense. And when you first sit down to see the movie, the beginning hardly seems to match up with anything seen in the previews. However, slowly but surely the plot is revealed. And despite the absurdity of the trailers it all comes together in a surprisingly straightforward plot.

I also think that Pixar handled the 3D thing pretty well. 3D seems to be the way we are going with films for now, and since people keep shelling out the extra 2-3 bucks for the flimsy glasses (which seem to get better everytime I get a pair), they’re going to keep making these films. In fact, I think we’re slotted for 3 or 4 in the next couple of months. But I digress. Point is, I didn’t feel like they used any cheap lame in your face gimmicks to show off the 3D aspect, and personally, I think I prefer that.

I barely had any issues with the story, nothing that brought down my love for this film even a little. They are simply relating to the age of the main character Carl. It is never explicitly stated how old he is, so I cannot allow myself to be unhappy with some of the physical aspects of what he did. In fact, I’m perfectly content buying that he’s just a very fit old man. — Upon further investigation, it seems that Carl is 78. This is never stated (to my recollection) in the film. I thus have a teeny bit of difficulty buying one physical activity in particular, not only that Carl does but also another older gentlemen. But it’s still minor enough. –It occurs to me well after I posted this however, that I’m complaining about the physical abilities of an old man in a movie about a flying house.

The only other disappointment was the lack of a Pixar short. I LOVE the Pixar shorts and it’s weird to have missed it. Although there’s the slimmest possibility that we simply missed it as the projector was giving us a beautiful green screen for a good 15 minutes before the tech people fixed it. Perhaps they started it after the short? – I’ve been told there IS in fact a short. I just lost out on seeing it at my theater.

Overall, this is a great movie. Easily up there on the top of the ranking of Pixar movies, but it’s getting harder and harder to decide which one is the best. I highly recommend Up. Even with the (possible) lack of a Pixar short, I felt nothing but happiness when the credits started rolling.

Scotty – Beam Me Up.

So it’s been a while since I’ve stumbled my way over here and blogged about a movie or set related something or television. I blame it on the fact that I just had finals and an archery competition and moving. Despite all that, I’ve managed to watch some stuff:

Star Trek (2009): Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman. Directed by J.J. Abrams. Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, and Karl Urban.

Now, I have never been what you might call a Trekkie. I love science fiction, and I’m familiar with the show but I’ve always been more of a Stargate fan. But I still really enjoyed Star Trek. I think that Mr. Abrams did a good job with it. But that’s not to say it’s perfect.

I personally had two major issues with it, the first one being the script. First of all, I understand that we are trying to rejuvenate an established franchise for a younger audience, and we don’t want to be telling the same story that’s already been told. But on the same note we DO want all the characters that current fans know and love in the same spots as they belong. This of course is a dilemma, how do we tell a fresh story with the same characters doing the exact same thing? We do what any good science fiction writer does, which is essentially this: Alternate Reality.

Now personally, I’m totally cool with that. However, if we’re going to put characters back in to the positions they belong, we need to do it logically. And that’s where things fell apart for me. Now again I buy that in dire situations, but there are some “promotions” that are just too much for me. I’ll buy Uhura’s, that I had no problem with, but mostly Kirk and Scott’s that were just a tad too much of a leap for me to accept. I don’t even have that much a problem with Kirk’s (it’s a very minor bother really). But Scott’s was just too much of a flying leap for me to accept.

The other issue I had was with the excessive use of lens flare. Yes that’s a stylistic choice, but it was way way too much. Inside the ship, outside the ship, it was basically everywhere. Other than that, and the one wonky camera angle towards the beginning, I thought the cinematography looked great. Of course where the real gorgeous lies is in the soundtrack. Beautiful music, fantastically done. As I’ve said before, I’m not a music person, I can’t pick instruments out of an orchestra. But I know when I hear something beautiful. And Star Trek had a GREAT composer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Television news, all the networks seemed to have more or less laid out there fall schedules. Castle got it’s pick up for the same time slot (ABC Monday at 10), Big Bang Theory got moved back to 9:30 (CBS – Monday), And Chuck finally got his pick up (albeit with stipulations). Chuck finds himself with a 13 episode pick up instead of a full season and they’re being forced to drop an actor and two writers due to budget constraints. Chuck will however remain on NBC, filling in for the Heroes mid season hiatus at 8pm Monday nights starting in the winter. I’m pretty excited that none of these shows conflict, cause I love my Monday Guys.

My other boys (Supernatural) are still in the time slot from Hell on the CW. Up against the Office, Grey’s Anatomy and CSI, as well as Fox’s Fringe. They’re being paired with a new show though instead of Smallville (which has been moved to Fridays). It’s a Vampire show, so at least it is a decent match genre wise…but we’ll see how it goes. It’s weird that the CW didn’t put the new show after the boys to draw a lead in. That’s what USA did when it started Psych up. Granted, because of the Thursday night competition, no one else would be able to survive that spot…but they could always start the show at 10. After all, that’s still technically prime-time.

There’s a lot of new shows that we’ll be seeing this fall. It’ll be a few months though to see how they all go.

On another Supernatural related note – Misha Collins (who plays Castiel) is on Twitter, and he’s freakin hysterical. I joined Twitter, to follow him. I likely wont use my twitter, but he was WAY too funny for me NOT to follow.

I Can Has Massage?

Ever had one of those days, that’s a bad day in disguise? It’s not bad like, you are upset and cry and want to cause bodily harm to the nearest person, but it is in fact, bad.

Today was one of those days.

Now, getting up early isn’t a bad thing per say, sure I really don’t like it…but whatever. Of course, an alarm failing to go off when you’re laying in bed for those last five minutes is bad. I hate when my alarm fails me.

A few months ago, a friend and I got these really awesome spa packages. It’s like professional hair cutting, a facial, a back massage and highlights. All are different visits mind you, and it came to a grand total of like 30 bucks or something. Point is, we had our massage scheduled for today. We would have done it like a month ago, maybe two, if we hadn’t had to reschedule the facial and massage stuff like 3 times. They only have one lady who does those, and she got sick or something. And then she got fired. And then they couldn’t find a replacement.

So we show up today, all excited for a massage and the nice guy (who had to introduce himself to us a third time) tells us the lady is sick today. And what did we do? We started laughing. Seriously, we weren’t upset but it was pretty hysterical. The guy of course feels horrible, and so next time we go back (assuming the appointment doesn’t get rescheduled) we will have hour long massages instead of half hour. I love massages.

So now we’ve got all this free time on our hands, so why not go exploring? Well, we really just wanted to go to Target, but there wasn’t one that we knew of nearby. So instead we decide to drive in the general direction of where we think there’s a Target until we find one.

We did find one.

Of course, we also drove down this street called “Gunn Street” that looked like it had a school on it (although the sign may have said park – all I’m saying is that it had an awful lot of buildings that looks suspiciously like classrooms for it to be a park). Point is, who builds a school (or a park) on a street called “Gunn Street”? That’s just not thinking.

But when I got back, I had an email to set up an interview with a potential employer. An employer I would love to work for. Only problem is, I can’t do that job AND my internship (assuming of course I get my internship). And I really, really want my internship. I mean, I spent months putting together that application. I honestly think I worked harder on that than I did my college application. But who knows where I’ll be this summer.

Also, one more grievance to add to my list on the anti-Mac books. The new computers, like the new new ones don’t come with adaptors. VGA adaptors that is, to put your picture up on a projector. I had to spend 35 bucks to buy one cause of course they had to make yet another style adaptor.

Go figure, that the teacher would forget I was suposed to lead the discussion and so the clip I wanted to show didn’t get shown and thus the money I spent on my shiny new adaptor was for naught.

Awesome.

So that, combined with 100 degree heat was my day. In other news…

I watched the rest of the season of Castle since I blogged last (a grand total of 7 episodes), including the live one on Monday night (ABC at 10pm). Love the show. Nielson ratings say they’re up slightly from last week, but according to Variety still isn’t doing too hot. This entire first season is only going to be 10 episodes, it really really needs to get picked up for as second season, cause I love it so much.

Castle and Chuck are the only ones I worry about for pick up. According to my findings, a lot of shows have already been picked up. Big Bang Theory was even renewed for two years instead of the usual one. Go geeks.

I’m compiling a list of renewed shows, it’s a sloppy work in progress right now.

Sorry, no reviews today.

TV shows on the rise…or not.

You would think being on spring break would allow me more opportunity to blog, but apparently not.

Today I’m going to basically jump right to the reviews, cause that’s why I came on. New TV shows are popping up guys, and well, I’ve seen a couple, wanted to give them more of a try than just the pilot, so be sure I’ve seen at least two episodes of each show mentioned.

On another note, CBS has the worst online watching I’ve ever experienced, I get better video from hosting sites in japanese. the video started over from the beginning when I was half way through and then stopped saying the video was “unavailable” at least three times before I hit the end.

Parks and Recreation (NBC): From the creators of The Office, Greg Daniels and Micheal Schur. Starring Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones.

Synopsis: (From NBC.com) “The documentary cameras follow Leslie Knope a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana. In an attempt to beautify her town — and advance her career.”

Pilot (April 9th 2009): So the Pilot did NOT impress me. Yes the show did have it’s funny moments, there were some jokes that I LOL’d at, but it felt forced, the humor was not natural. Another thing that bothered me, the turn around of the Ann character. One minute she’s acting completely against Leslie, the next thing you know they’re on a team.

Canvassing (April 16th 2009): The teaser at the beginning, seemed to have virtually NO context within the rest of the episode. Considering the show is technically a sitcom, it was probably the best situation to find comedy, but the episode quickly fizzled after that.

Overall impressions: Too similar to the Office, too forced. The comedy in the Office is more that these guys are working for a boss who is essentially inept at his job. Parks and Recreation is a show about a blond moron (yay for cliches) and how she annoys her coworkers with her stupidity. It’s the same thing as the Office, only taken out of context to a place where it wont work.

There’s something about Leslie that rubs me the wrong way. I don’t like her, I don’t feel for her. I’m not connecting and so I don’t care about her. And well, there’s the blatant Office copycat attempt too.

General recommendation – Even though it’s a 30 minute show, don’t waste your time.

Harper’s Island (CBS): Created by Ari Schlossberg. Starring Elaine Cassidy, Christopher Gorham and Katie Cassidy.

Synopsis: (From CBS.com) “HARPER’S ISLAND is about a group of family and friends who travel to a secluded island off the coast of Seattle for a destination wedding. In every episode, someone is killed and every person is a suspect, from the wedding party to the island locals. By the end of the 13 episodes, all questions will be answered, the killer will be revealed and only a few will survive.”

Whap (April 9th 2009): The pilot didn’t grab me, it was a setting of the scene and there was a lot to get through. There are a lot of characters to set up, and well a couple to kill. Nothing really felt like it was dragging me in to the next episode either though. Episode seemed to push the sexy appeal a bit much in way of bikinis, underwear and well, sex.

Crackle (April 16th 2009): I feel like you could almost jump in to the series at this episode, all the backstory is included from the previous episode and it works a lot better as a launching point. Of course it only works that way because of the recap of the previous stuff, all information you really ought to know. It still felt a little slow moving, more set up, but I feel like it will really get going pretty soon.

Overall impressions: Feels like My Bloody Valentine (plot not gore) with some hybrid of Lost and the crime show of your choice. It’s a who dun it/who is next sort of show. The whole story is complete in 13 episodes, so it may be worth the follow since we wont get dragged on endlessly like the poor guys who still watch Lost. In fact, I think the short season is a good idea. So far in 2 episodes we’ve killed off 5 people and with promises for at least one every week, the cast is going to dwindle fast. Of course, so far no one has noticed that 5 people have died. Doesn’t speak very highly of the intellect of the characters now does it?

The preview clips looked to be more suspense and horror than the first two episodes have been. Variety sites the show as not getting going until about the 4th episode. I can’t speak to that just yet, but I’d say that’s an accurate assessment for the first 2 episodes.

General recommendation: It’s only going to be 13 episodes, so you have two options, stick through the slow bit at the beginning, or wait for the DVDs.

Castle (ABC): Created by Andrew W. Marlowe. Starring Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic and Susan Sullivan.

Synopsis: (From ABC.com) “CASTLE is a 1 hour witty drama…based on a famous crime and horror novelist, Rick Castle, who helps the NYPD homicide department solve crimes.”

Flowers For Your Grave (March 9th 2009): This Pilot was surprisingly well done. It quickly established the major players and got moving into a fun and enjoyable story. The set up of future episodes was weaker, but more or less works, I’m not sure I can really see anything else fitting. The entire episode moved quickly and didn’t have any moments of drag at all.

Nanny McDead (March 16th 2009): Another really well done episode that kept me guessing at the murderer the whole way through, lots of great moments between Castle and Beckett, as well as with him and his daughter.

Overall impression: The writing is good, the characters are fun and for a crime show it’s very fresh. I haven’t followed Fillion’s career (although I did watch Firefly and Dr. Horrible) But I think I like him in this role even more than I did as Mal (Firefly). Fillion’s character Rick Castle might feel a little bit like Psych’s Shawn Spencer, but that could be why I like him.

General recommendation: This is one of the better crime/investigation shows I’ve seen. Watch it.

I haven’t been on a horse in eight years…

Well, I think it’s been eight years since I’ve been on a horse, it could have been nine. I fell off and got a pretty intense injury back in 1999/2000. I think it was early 2000, don’t remember the exact date. But today I got up on my friend’s horse. Beautiful horse. She doesn’t have a saddle, so it was bareback and I wasn’t comfortable trotting…not when it’s been so long since i’ve been on a horse and she doesn’t have proper reins yet. I would have gone back ages ago, but my mom decided it wasn’t safe…go figure, my mom was more afraid of a future injury when I was the one on crutches for five months.

So the remnants of Christmas surround me, extra tags, spare wrapping paper, tape, new books, instruction manuals and a plethora of food. I’m not sure if it’s still legit to even listen to Christmas music anymore…and in fact, I hardly listened to it at all this year. Of course, the fact that I listened to the same song over and over on repeat 15 times before noticing shows how much listening actually goes on. I like music as background noise, I need it, it helps me think. So long as there is some noise in the background I’m good. I guess that’s why I don’t notice sound issues in movies…and I have many debates about this with my good sound buddy.

I am truly blessed though, my parent’s bought me an iPhone for Christmas. Now, before you say “What?! Laura? An Apple product?!” I’ve had an iPod for two years…I’m not anti Apple, I’m anti Mac. I prefer real computers (also known as Windows based PCs). However, I DID get a new Macbook a week  ago. Like a new NEW one. With the black keys and the black frame to the screen. As I mentioned before, the one I got in August was well…living up to the reputation of not being a real computer…it was defective. I took it in many, many times and as a result, they exchanged it for a brand spanking new one. So far so good. But I’ve only had it eight days…so we’ll see.

It was asked of me earlier the status of How To Save a Life (the film I worked on over the summer) and well, things appear to be going mostly alright. I got a call from SAG about some paperwork a few weeks back, but that was taken care of. I’ve seen a trailer and it looks amazing. And it sounds like there have been a few rough screenings (unfortunately, I was taking finals at that time). As far as I know, we’re still on track for Spring.

Bolt (2008): In Disney 3D! Written by Dan Fogelman and Chris Williams, Directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams. Starring John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton.

I believe it was said to me…way back before Bolt came out that the movie looked “like Toy Story”. Now, I agree, there are many similarities, but I still thought Bolt was a pretty fun movie. The movie was actually like Truman Show combined with Toy Story and Homeward Bound. Take one of the dogs from Homeward Bound and make him a hamster…and well, you get the picture.

It was in 3D but it wasn’t a 3D that used a bunch of cheap 3D gimmicks to show off the “awesomeness of 3D” but just to enhance the picture. In fact, there were many times I forgot I was watching a 3D movie. In fact, I think they did it so well that if you watch it in 2D, you wont really notice all the things that were meant to be 3D (unlike Journey to the Center of the earth).

What I think frightened me the most was the sheer amount of upcoming movies I saw previews for that day that were to be in 3D. But UP (the next Disney/Pixar movie) looks to be a lot of fun. But there was a poster at the theater for Jonas Brother’s Concert in 3D or something…and sometimes…well Disney scares me.

What I think everyone needs to see though, is Watchmen. It looks like it’s going to be a LOT of fun. I can’t wait to see it. Watch the trailer here. Doesn’t come out till March though… that makes me sad. There’s a free download on iTunes of what they’re calling a “Watchmen: Film Montage” but it’s practically a trailer. It’s different than the above trailer though, so I’d get it if I were you.

The Woes of the Computer Nomad

So many of you know that several months ago (see last April/May) my computer of a couple of years began acting up. The motherboard was failing. Now the computer was not that old, but I’d certainly had it a while. The next thing you need to know is that I go to a school and study a field that is predominantly run by Mac users. So every time my Windows computer would act up, one or more of these mac users would say to me “You should get a mac, they NEVER have problems.” *snort*

If you’ve read the entries about my internship, you will recall that I walked away from that with a MacBook Pro as payment (August). Why? Because that is what the industry uses, and if I want to get by, I’m going to need the tools.

Now, the computer wasn’t perfect, there were a few times when the iTunes would freeze right at the beginning. One time, when the light went all wonky and I called tech support (had the computer for maybe 2 weeks at this point) but a simple reboot solved the problem before I was even off hold. The guy on the phone assured me that even though my computer was refurbished, it was as good as a new one would be.

Now I find myself about three months into the ownership of my Mac and I am computer-less. I took it in last Sunday to find out why it kept locking up. The mouse and or keyboard would stop responding all the way, or at all. Sometimes just one, sometimes both. Often to the point where I would have to reboot and would lose all my writing because I can’t save. Let me just say, when you have less than a few hours to get approximately 9,000 words out, this is NOT helpful. (I ended up with about 6,000, but it was cohesive if not short.) That’s not the point. The point is that I took it in and the guy said I had a faulty logic board. (fan-freaking-tastic) But they would have to order the part and it wouldn’t be there till tuesday.

Now I need my computer for school, I have typed assignments due like weekly. So I tell the guy, I can’t let it go that long. So he tells me they’ll call when the part comes in and I’ll bring it back then. Fine. But no way in hell am I leaving the computer if they don’t have the part.

Now the part is supposed to show up on tuesday…I get no call. I call Wednesday, and lo and behold, they have the part…in fact it came the day before. THANKS A LOT.

So I take the computer down, cry over it, hug it and leave it. I’m told it will be 3-5 days but since I have the magic membership card, I get pushed to the front of the line. Plus, I told the guy about NOT getting my phone call about the part and he apologized profusely and made all kinds of notes to call me for sure this next time. (good, cause I NEED my computer)

So I go back Friday, not to the apple store initially, but to another store at the mall. And I figure, what the heck? Might as well go and see how it’s doing, there’s a project coming that’s due Monday that I need to get started on, so if it’s ready awesome.

Turns out, not only is my computer NOT ready, but the part that I MADE SURE was there before I left my computer in the hands of the “tech support” was faulty and they had to order a new one. WTH? It’s Friday, so it MIGHT come on Saturday, but the lady can’t be sure. Let’s just say be glad my friend was with me or I might have really done some damage to the mac store.

Of course then the area right near the mall catches fire…so I somehow doubt they got a delivery on Saturday.

So it’s Monday, and still no call. But I’m going out to the mall tomorrow morning, another store to pick up my pre-ordered copy of Wall-E as well as to go with my friend (who is also having mac issues) to the apple store. If my computer is not ready, heads will roll. If it IS ready, that means they failed to call me and heads will roll. Regardless, I’m walking out of there with a computer, even if I have to convince them to give me a dang replacement.

Meanwhile, I travel from computer to computer. It took me 6 different computers to finish the assignment I had due today. I used one roommate’s computer till she came back, emailed the file to myself, jumped to another computer and repeat. Over and over and over…

I feel homeless, I never know when I’ll be able to get on and check my email, or how I’ll do my next assignment. I have things on my computer that I can’t access (can’t get off my hard drive either cause apparently my computer formatted it so only my computer would talk to the hard drive). And I sit here on one roommate’s computer, after being kicked off the other’s and wonder when my roommate will be back. Most likely when I least expect it.

Until the next time I can find a set of keys and a screen (hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow with MY computer (or my NEW one)). But damn if Apple doesn’t suck.

To all you who said “Get a Mac, they NEVER have problems.” You all lie and I think I hate you just a little.

“Initial Recon Seems to be Bag or Box.”

It’s an interesting thing when you can stay up all night without really feeling all that tired. I mean all night. I got a little drowsy around 2 am, so what did I do? Took a 20 minute nap. Same thing happened around 7am. All this on one bottle of Mountain Dew (12 oz). Personally, I think that’s not half bad. I’m still more or less functioning and I’ve got at least 6 hours (closer to 7) till I can sleep again. At this point, I think i’m pushing 36 hours on the wakeful scale.

Now the question you’re asking is why isn’t it? Oh I can hear it. But I bet you’re also thinking you know why,  cause I procrastinated on my homework again huh? NOPE.

In fact, come Monday I wont be going to class because I’m working, so I say to myself, I’ll do all my homework early and thus not get any late penalty on it. So I do the equivelant of 4.5 days worth of work in well, one all nighter. Awesome huh?

What’s double awesome, is that I get to my first class and what do I find out? The assignment due Monday, is now due one week LATER. Awesome. Now if I can get my other assignment post poned, I’ll have stayed up all night for no reason whatsoever. NONE.

Luckily enough, at the moment, I’m not that tired. I’ve had one coffee, but I wasn’t really feeling tired prior to it…maybe it will keep it off for a while. This is going to be a fun day.

Ten Inch Hero (2007): Written by Becky Morris, Directed by David Macklay. Starring Elizabeth Harnois, Cleo DuVall, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Jensen Ackles.

This movie is really really cute. It’s an indie and not available on DVD. That’s stupid. This movie NEEDS to be on DVD. It’s awesome. Certainly has the Inde feel, and the story wraps up in a very nice “Everything is chick flick perfect” type of ending. Now, I don’t normally go in for chick flicks, but something about this one made me fall in love. The characters are fun and I feel like there were lots of little plot twists I didn’t expect.

But maybe its because I don’t identify with the characters of normal chick flicks, but this one, this one I did. That makes all the difference, honest. Like I said though, the ending seemed a little two perfect. The other thing that bothered me was the music cues when new characters were introduced. They were very loud. It seemed excessive.

I wouldn’t recomend this movie to those who don’t do nudity/sexual situations/dialogue or language. While the language isn’t excessive, the discussion and display of sex/nudity is. Just a warning for those who are squimish.

“My Hands Are Cold.”

I did a stupid thing. I’m not going to lie. It was dumb, dumb dumb DUMB. Yet, somehow, I survived, that was AMAZING.

So this past Sunday, I went up to Los Angeles. I was helping out on a film shoot, an independent feature. Very low budget, very small crew. That particular day, they were shooting in an office building in downtown LA. Fun enough, the spiral staricase fountain/statutue from Heroes season 1 was right outside (known in Heroes as Kirby Plaza) that was pretty cool.

Anyways, I was mostly helping catering wise and we needed some things from the store…so I go out and head on my way to find me a grocery store. Lets just say, I think I was the only white person in the grocery store I found…I’ve never felt more white in my life. Now I went to public High School in southern CA, most of that school was mexican, so its not like I’m uncomfortable or scared or whatever.

So I shopped, and the store intercom was talking half the time in Spanish, it was hilarious.

Point is, I was loading things into my trunk when I got a phone call to add something to my list. So I run back inside to grab what they asked and I can’t find the stuff…I walk up and down the aisle like….a dozen times and finally I find an employee and she’s all “no”.

So I’m heading out and I reach for my car keys….and I can’t find them. They aren’t in my pocket, aren’t in my purse….In fact, I don’t recall seeing them since I unlocked my trunk….

Yeah, I did it. I left my keys hanging in the lock of the trunk of my car in downtown LA. Now, I’d been away from the car for maybe…15 minutes?

Miracle upon miracle, my car was STILL there, keys and all. Nothing touched, I checked my trunk, my computer was still in there.

God is good.

“Now, where is Space Mountain?”

What do parents hope to achieve by taking their kid to Disneyland when the kid is really young? Personally, I’m thinking 5 is the minimum age that should be allowed. You get much younger than that and you risk the kid not remembering (not to mention the nightmare that this young age will bring to the parents).

First of all – strollers. I have to laugh at the parents who unload their caravan of vehicles to pile all the children into strollers to wheel them all of like…100 yards only to have to unload said strollers, fold them up and load everything on the tram. If you’re going to go to so much effort unloading out of the car, just walk to the park from the parking lot (it’s not that far, I’ve done it multiple times).

But unless you live locally, it’s really quite silly to take kids at such a young age to Disneyland. They wont remember it, parents are stuck with the stroller and the diaper bag and the millions of toys that parents dote on their children. Plus, the kids aren’t old/tall enough to ride half the rides in the park anyways. Not only that but they tire easier and you end up having to leave or have grumpy children.

I think that 7 is a good starting age for a kid to come to Disneyland – should be old enough to ride some of the “big kid” rides but still can enjoy all the little kid rides. Plus, you wont need a stroller or a diaper bag (I hope).

But parents are going to take their kids, bringing them from across the globe to a park when they are far too young to appreciate it. Can’t do much about the lack of logic on that part.

Devour (2005): Written by Adam and Seth Gross, directed by David Winkler and starring Jensen Ackles.

So this movie, is one of the weirdest and most bizarre things I’ve seen in a long time. I’m not even sure what to say about it. The story was essentially this – Three kids are playing this video game that basically calls them and tells them to do things in real life, and so they do them. But they start getting more and more dark and violent. And then at the end, our main character Jake is trying to figure out whats going on and I really can’t tell you without ruining it…I had to watch the ending twice, cause it was the most out of the blue confusing ending bit I think I’ve ever seen. However Jensen acted wonderfully in it.

I wouldn’t recommend this movie, it’s bizarre and hardly makes any sense at all. That’s not counting the ending either, the ending was just nuts (not the good kind either).

Supernatural – Episode 401: Lazurus Rising (2008): Written by Eric Kripke. Directed by Kim Manners.

Without giving anything away, this episode was absolutely amazing. I’m not even sure you can comprehend if you don’t follow the show or if you aren’t caught up. But this episode did not disappoint. The story was fantastically done in a believable way that follows from the finale of the previous season. There are some fantastic shots (one in particular that was done with an RC helicopter = awesome). The lighting, the editing, the acting (AMAZING) this episode was an all around win.