Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Undefeated!!!!

That's right! Behind going into the second half, my last half of the week and the Steelers D pull out a tough one for me! Not only did they get enough sacks and one interception to win it for me but they also scored a fumble recovery for a score six point score!

The net result is I put twelve points more points on the second place team and padded the overall lead by double digits!

I'm the lone undefeated team now but again it is the bye weeks it is difficult to go without a loss during this time. You have key players out when other teams might be strong. It is very tough.

My team narrowly missed being in the money for a fourth time this year by three points. I had the fourth highest total of the week. One more weekly money win and my season rolls into profit as the whole season will be paid for by my fellow players.

How cool is that?

Iron Man comes out today on DVD. I can't wait for this one! That was a great movie! Lots of fun to watch.

Monday, September 29, 2008

First Place Sorta....

I have a chance to win my weekly match up against Beersnob. I'm behind forty three to my thirty seven. I have the Pittsburgh defense and special teams tonight while Beersnob is finished for the week.

I'm the only team over two hundred total points with two hundred nine. Second place over all has one hundred seventy one. I didn't lose any ground and I didn't gain any. I'm just maintaining my league lead.

If I can do that until the bye weeks are over then I'll have accomplished a big step towards the league championship.

It was a good weekend. Yeah I took off early on Friday if you'll remember and spent a lot of time reflecting on things. Not things in specific but things in general. I watched football with friends which seems to be becoming a weekly ritual. I did buy another bottle of Zaya which is some incredible rum if you'll go back a few blog posts. I paid my bills out of this paycheck, well it was only two this time around.

Next paycheck is the one where all of the utilities come out, a necessary evil but I do enjoy electricity and water. This week should be pretty stressful at work. The new program manager will be walking around and I'm sure looking to see where he can cut work force to lower his costs. Scary times.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Week Four

Today is actually my second week of bye weeks. Because of Hurricane Ike I had two players effected in Andre Johnson and Matt Stover. Not that big of a deal with Stover but Johnson has been targeted quite a bit in the end zone and just hasn't made it click yet.

I saw him drop two tds last week in the end zone. I know that he will make some adjustments and is an elite WR. He will get it all together soon enough.

This week Kevin Smith, John Carney, and my main D are on byes.
Haven't submitted my lineup yet, I want to drop Matt Stover and pick up Matt Prater from Denver. He has been lights out in scoring and Stover hasn't really done much. Prater has the Chiefs on his schedule this week while Stover has the Steelers, my other defense and special teams. So it adds up to Stover being cut.

Kevin Smith might very well be cut as well and I might activate another rookie. Smith is a great RB but right now he won't be getting carries. We will see though, Smith is a great RB.

The lineup I plan on submitting is: Rivers QB, Peterson/Turner RB, Fitzgerald/Jackson/Johnson WR, Prater (if I get him) K, Steelers D/ST with Garrard being my tie breaker.

If I don't get Prater then I'll get another top K that is on the Free Agent board.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

I Took Off

Half a day yesterday. It had been quite a while since I took off of work early and it felt good. I am already planning on taking off October nine and ten and having a five day weekend. Picked up a bottle of Zaya, it was payday after all! I'm allowed an indulgence every once in a while.

Next week is going to be stressful at work. the new program manager is going to be walking around and likely seeing where he can cut jobs. Ugh....

It tires a guy out after a while.

Anyway tonight Alabama is playing Georgia! That should be a really good game! I really hope Georgia is upset. They are just a bit overrated compared to a couple of other SEC teams. They are better than nearly any Big 10 or PAC 10 team though. Those conferences just suck.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Beavers Stun Trojans!

These are always good days!
I went to Buffalo Wild Wings after work yesterday and picked up an order to go. Came home and had them. They were really good, Spicy Garlic and Caribbean Jerk.

Then I sat outside for a while until the game started. Well that was my plan anyway, then a friend called me and said he and his girlfriend were going to Buffalo Wild Wings for supper and I should come up there.

I told him that I just ate there but I went anyway and had a mojito. They make good mojitos! Excellent Summer drink even though it isn't Summer anymore.

Got home in time for the kickoff between USC and Oregon State. It was the only football on last night so it would do and what the heck, OSU plays SC tough at home so it might be closer than the twenty seven point spread that Vegas has on the game.

By golly it was too! The top ranked SC Trojans got beat by the unranked Beavers, the names alone incited many giggles last night with friends. It was a really good game, OSU took control right from the start and SC never recovered. Great game and a good evening!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Thursday!

This week is almost over with. I'm in need of a weekend too. This week has been long and strange. AT work and at home.

At work the big boss got fired for cost overruns. He went around and shook everyone's hand yesterday. He was replaced by the guy who from corporate who wanted all of the layoffs to start with.

He immediately put an end to the recalls that were starting to happen. Recalls are when the people who were laid off are called back to work. Well they are done. Now we are wondering if or when there will be more layoffs and if so who.

I don't exactly know how safe my job is but I do believe this time it is safe. We barely have enough people now to do our jobs. Take anyone else away and it will be impossible to do what needs to be done to meet the mission.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What Do You Do

When you have a crisis of conscience exactly what do you do? When you have an opportunity to do something with no one around and not get caught do you do the right thing or do you do it?

I think that is a good question for my project the 12 Angry Jurors. We are supposed to have a discussion with the cast and come up with some good questions to film and script answers for.

It is also a good way to tell the character of the person and their integrity. That and compassion are the subjects that I'd really like to approach for the project. We will see what the cast can come up with! I bet it will be good!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

First Place And First Overall

This week was gold for me as I said yesterday!
I won my heads up match up, coming from behind to win sixty seven to sixty six. I'm one of two undefeated teams, I'm now first place overall with a combined one hundred seventy two points. Second place overall has one hundred thirty five and they happen to be the other undefeated team.

I've won first place twice and tied for second place once so far. Now the bye weeks start and teams won't be one hundred percent for a while including my own. There is no way I can come out of the bye weeks undefeated. It is just nearly impossible in fantasy football to do that.

I haven't left many points on the bench either so all of my scoring is happening from the starters. That means when they are off I won't be scoring many points at all. A couple of losses are inevitable.

Monday, September 22, 2008

First Place!!!!

I've taken over first place overall in my league and have a chance at first place this week for another win!

I had one hundred five points combined for the first two weeks which put me in second. First place had one hundred eleven points. I had another monster day yesterday with fifty five points however my opponent had sixty six points.

Even if I don't win my heads up match I'll still have second place secured as most all of the players are done for tonight. I have two, Rivers and Jackson. If they hookup up for one td that will give me ten points. If Rivers has his average day he should get two to three tds.

If he does that then I'll have a very sweet week! If not I am still in the money this week and STILL am in first place overall!!!! I put twenty eight points on the second place team, they only had twenty seven points yesterday and are done for the week.

This is one incredible team! They have been unstoppable through the first three weeks!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Week Three

Well here is what I was afraid of when I drafted Adrian Peterson. He gets nicked up during the season and gives fantasy owners decisions like this to kick around.

He has a slight hamstring pull today and it happened last game, even though he had a great rushing game. AP is a game time decision today so I haven't submitted my lineup yet. I'm waiting on news to break about whether he will play or not.

So here is my lineup if he starts and if he doesn't.
QB: Philip Rivers
RB: Michael Turner and either AP or Kevin Smith
WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, Vincent Jackson
K: Matt Stover
D/ST: Giants

I want to go with Vincent Jackson over Torry Holt for a couple of reasons. One the Rams are horrible. Two Jackson plays on Monday night and if I'm behind then it will be nice to have two threats going and they are a double down threat meaning that if Rivers throws to Jackson it is ten points instead of either four or six. If they are shut down though it is zero two times.

It could be a mistake since Holt is the main weapon along with Stephen Jackson on the Rams team and could see a significant amount of targets against the Seahawks.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Mind Of R. Kelly

What an amazing idiot. Not because of his trial of an alleged video of him and an underage girl but his answers to some pretty straight forward questions are just mesmerizing.

I swear I felt the intelligence being sucked out of my head while watching this. I actually lost IQ points here! Beware it will hurt your brain if you watch this video. You WILL feel dumber.

The upside is that you witness him talking about himself in the third person which to me is always priceless!

R. Kelly was acquitted on all counts of child pornography but then again O.J. was found not guilty as well. For the record I was never fired by R. Kelly.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Name Change

Those long time readers will notice a change in the title.

I'm not in a lamenting frame of mind anymore. I'm a filmmaker at heart but projects have been few and far between right now with the latest fanfilm project being put on at least a six month hold.

I've thought about a name change for a while now and I think Story captures what I want to tell right now instead of Laments. A lament is sad, in truth I was sad when I started this blog. I had a lot going on and needed an outlet to express things even though I never came out and said them.

While I was lamenting my state of affairs at the time, they ended long ago, since then I've come to own them. I've come to a place of peace and limited understanding of where I am now but not so much of where I'm going....yet. The future is bright though and you who know me personally will know my fondness for shiny things!

I still feel that I'm at my best with a project to work on and lots of projects have come and gone since I've started the hobby. A few have actually come to fruition but most have fallen by the way side for whatever reason.

My current project is small, just putting together some clips for the next theatre project. However small it may be it is still important to me and hopefully it will help amplify the story being told on the stage which is Twelve Angry Jurors.

What I do for a living is still something I'm pretty good at but when I feel that I'm great is when I've got a story to tell visually. I'm excellent at planning a shot, shooting a shot, being efficient at it, keeping people comfortable on set, and putting my own spin on things, editing clips together, and telling a story.

By no means am I an expert but in my little world I'm pretty decent at it. I don't know how long this story will be told but I'm happy to have you along gentle reader.

A Filmmaker's Laments is dead, long live A Filmmaker's Story!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Zaya

I found the best rum a couple of weeks ago. I read about it on Clubstogie.com in their food and drinks forum. I have to say that as a scotch drinker I've had some of the best tasting scotch out there. I've had smoky, peaty, fruity, nutty, all of the scotch that my budget allows to drink.

I believe I found the rum equivalent of Lagavulin, which is my favorite brand of single malt.

Zaya is a gorgeous looking caramel colored rum. Hard to find though. If you can find a bottle you might want to grab it. It isn't cheap for rum either. It should fall into the thirty to fifty dollar range. I purchased a bottle two weeks ago and after some of my friends tasted the quality it was gone in no time!

You can mix it or you can drink it with ice. It is that smooth and has a ton of flavor! I'll have to keep an eye out for a bottle the next time I'm in a liquor store, it might just be nice to keep one on hand.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Simple Evening

But it was amazing! First I had to get Operation: Qatar underway! I packed up all of the cigars I have been saving for this trip overseas and put them into two humidors. Well they were stored in humidors anyway, I just got them packed up and ready to go with ten cutters and three jet flame lighters.

Beersnob will not want for any relaxing material as I figure about one hundred premium cigars will be on their way to Qatar today!

That will be enough to supply about ten of his cigar smoking buddies for about ten weeks for a weekly cigar night. I've read so much about these, that it is a simple way for the troops deployed to relax and get away from their daily grind and danger for about an hour and feel normal again. I hope these help!

So after I got all of that packed up and ready to go I went up to the pub to meet a friend for supper. Had a great sandwich and a water then moved onto a Laphroaig and water on the rocks. Laphroaig is a Islay Malt scotch. It has a ton of smoke in it. A very tasty scotch on a nice evening.

We moved outside to enjoy the incredible weather and I had one more before going across the street to talk about the film project I'll be doing for Twelve Angry Jurors. I gave the director my ideas on how I think it should be since that is what he asked for. He agreed with me and gave me an idea to get more material which I didn't even think of!

Briefly we'll collect questions from the cast, script answers for them, get the Assistant Directors to recruit some of their friends to answer the questions while being filmed. I'll edit a two minute clip before the show, at the second act change, and maybe a clip at the end with some credits.

It should be an interesting addition to the show and our discussion was a great addition to a wonderful evening where nothing special happened but it was amazing in its simplicity!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Second Place

I'm in second place overall with one hundred five points but I won the week and forty dollars! Romo and TO had monster games and took the team that had them from the high twenties to fifty seven points putting them at third place this week and first overall with one hundred eleven points.

It doesn't matter where you are right now but I'm in good shape. My team is putting up way too many yards and is performing very well right now not to get tons of tds in the future!

When the defenses are right this team will go off for over ninety points this season!!!! I'm sure of it!!!! This team rocks! It might very well be my best team ever and I've had some good teams before!

I've come up short from first place at the end of the season a couple of times, very close in fact. I've won money nearly every season save for a couple where injuries and bad performances killed me. Tiki Barber comes to mine on the former.

It's early in the season yet but I believe this team will compete every week for the top three places!

Monday, September 15, 2008

League Leader!!!!

No matter what happens tonight on MNF I should stay first place in the league! I have sixty points which should be good enough for first place this week but there are players going tonight who can score bunches of points.

However I believe that in combined points I should still come out in first place as everyone else is likely too far behind. We shall see though! I'm twenty six points ahead of second place right now.

My line up was: Rivers QB, AP and Michael Turner RBs, Fitz, Holt, and Jackson WRs, Jason Hansen K, and the mighty GMen of New York as my D/Spt! They all combined for sixty points but I have to tell you that I really agonized over the Garrard/Rivers decision.

After last week and this week I believe that Rivers will be the starter all year long save for the bye week. David Garrard has looked horrible in the first two games and has earned his benching.

Adrian Peterson had one hundred sixty yards but didn't score any TDs. That's ok though. The Viking's offense has looked horrible and yet he STILL can get that kind of yardage. He will get plenty of TDs this season. I just have to win on the weeks when he doesn't score.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

A Death Magnetic Saturday!

It was pretty rainy all day but overall it was a wonderful Saturday. I picked up the new Metallica CD.

For fans of Kill, Lightning, Master, and Justice I believe you would be a fan of Death Magnetic. If you were a fan of Black, Load, Reload....well then not so much.

It has a great sound to it, it is reminiscent of the old sound. You can't listen to The End of the Line and not think of Blackened. Any of these songs save for The Day That Never Comes and Unforgiven III would be at home on the Justice album.

These songs are longer, less radio friendly. They rock and they also will disappoint a lot of people. James sounds like he used to. Lars beats the drums senseless. Kirk is still a master of speed. The new guy pounds the bass as good as if not better than Jason or Cliff did.

Rick Rubin replaced Bob Rock and it appears to me that he has built a bridge for the older fans and the newer fans while attempting to resurrect Metallica from the St. Anger debacle.

Day and Unforgiven III are bones thrown to the fans of Black and the Loads. They will be the video friendly songs and singles no doubt.

In my humble opinion I believe that Metallica of old is back and I'm happy about that!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Early Morning Rain

It is a nice gentle rain this morning. I wish I had some coffee but I'm out and haven't used my coffee maker in a few months now. It would be tasty!

I had a great Friday evening. I watched USF beat Kansas in the waning seconds of the game. It was a fun game to watch! Lots of offense and both teams were in the thirties.

Looked at the radar and it appears as if Hurricane Ike will be throwing some rain our way but not like what Texas is getting and Arkansas will get in the next couple of days.

Today there is one big game I'm interested in watching in USC and Ohio State. It is a prime time game and likely will be a blow out if OSU isn't careful.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Economics 101 Or Why Obama Will Destroy Our Economy



Obama Obama Obama.....oh how I loathe your economic policies.....

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Spore

I've been playing Spore the past few evenings. Fun game. Very creative. You start off as a cell and design how it looks, paint it the colors you want, and then send it off into the world to grow and evolve.

Eventually you can explore your galaxy but I haven't gotten that far yet. I don't believe in Darwinism but I do believe that evolution works and is real. I don't believe that faith and evolution are mutually exclusive, that they can and do coexist.

This is an enjoyable game that just gives you a lot to do and explore. It has a slight learning curve but nothing that you can't get in about a half hour. You are able to see what kind of creatures other players have created as there is a built in browser, a really cool touch!

If you enjoy games that are fun, a challenge, and have lots of eye candy, pick it up. You won't be disappointed.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Half Way!

To the weekend and things are going smoothly right now.

I'm in the mood to cook chili this weekend. I'd like to cook it for my friends and watch football but it might not happen this weekend. I've seen a couple of shows on Food Network on championship chili and it has inspired me to give one of those recipes a shot.

It looks fairly straight forward. No complicated steps or anything. It is just about timing.

Not a problem there! We can do timing!

I am sifting through recipes though to find the right one to attempt though, it is fun but a bit time consuming.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

45-10

I tied for second place overall in the league and easily won my heads up match. In fairness though that team, the River Rats, had Tom Brady as their number one pick and of course he went down for the season in the first quarter Sunday.

So that really hampered his score and likely put a big damper on their whole season. I left a few points on the bench this past week but I played all of my top tier guys. I might switch Garrard and Rivers at QB this coming week. Just depends on who they are playing.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my team's performance and even though Michael Turner had a career day and I can't expect that every week, he will be solid this season and put up some great numbers.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Week One

Yesterday was an amazing day of football with friends!!!!

We all had so much fun together! It was just incredible!

I did pretty well as Michael Turner had a big day with 220 yards and 2 TDs!!!! One TD was a bonus TD and it gave 6 extra points even!

I am easily winning my heads up match up this week 38-10 and I still have Adrian Peterson tonight on Monday Night Football going. I'm also 15 points out of first place overall as the leader has 53 and they are done. I feel pretty good about my team! Andre Johnson had a great game against a tough defense in Pittsburgh and still had over 100 yards! He should tear up weaker defenses!

I know Torry Holt will still come up with a decent amount of TDs but if not then I can replace him with Vincent Jackson who did score yesterday and is on a much better team than St. Louis. Time will tell.

I feel my team has a lot of potential and they might actually live up to the potential this year!

Sunday, September 07, 2008

First Full Day!

Yeppers the first full day of the NFL is here!
Excited doesn't really cover it for me! I enjoy the NBA, will watch the world series every once in a while if it is a compelling match up, hockey...blah, NASCASR, yes if it is a great track like Bristol, Martinsville, or the big tracks....but the NFL baby stands on its own!

Today I can start to gauge how my teams will do this season. Yeppers today is the day! I'm excited about today for another reason too. Beersnob is leaving for Qatar as I've blogged about already and today is more or less doubles as a going away party.

My main starting line up today is:
QB - David Garrard
RB - Adrian Peterson and Michael Turner
WR - Larry Fitzgerals, Andre Johnson, and Torry Holt
K - Jason Hansen
Def - Giants (1 point)
Spec teams - Steelers

This should be a solid line up but may need tweaking during the season.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

The Weekend!!!!

Get this, I started to stir this morning in bed and for a second I had wondered if I had actually accidentally turned off my alarm and that I had to go to work this morning.

Then in a moment of clarity I remembered that today was SATURDAY!!!! Woohoooo!!!!

Had a quiet evening at home. Didn't do much but got a sandwich on the way home and relaxed all evening. There are some good college football games on today but tomorrow is when I'll really get excited!!!!

It will be the first full day of football and then TWO games on Monday night!!!! Woohooo!!!!

I'm not even going to tell you what my fantasy scores are right now because they don't matter until the games are over with but I'll tell you I'm winning two games and losing one.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Friday!!!!

I'm excited!!!! Friday's are always good!

At work and usually on Monday's I ask people how their weekend was. They usually reply that it was good, bad, or eh. They in return ask and I say I've never had a bad weekend. They used to ask why, well it is because I was off work and after that it doesn't matter. I can deal with everything else.

They understand the logic, no matter how bad your weekend might have been that it was still pretty good. You'd be surprised on how that changes one's outlook as well. If you expect to have a bad weekend you likely will. If you know that no matter what your weekend is going to be good....well duh, it will be!

Well that's my simple philosophy anyway.

Yes I'm still excited that the NFL is back!!!! The other sports are more like diversions until the NFL gets back up and running. Well now that Oklahoma has a NBA team I'll watch that more often during the regular season but that's about it!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

AAaahhhhhhhhh......

The relief felt was on par to that of a cold drink of water on a sweltering day. Kickoff tonight was just amazing. I was with three wonderful friends and about half time another showed up at Buffalo Wild Wings!

What a great evening it was!

The Giants pretty much dominated the inept Redskins however in one of my leagues I had Jason Campbell and he did throw a TD for me.

The next round of games kick off normally on Sunday now and I plan on spending the day at Beersnob's house where I hope to take a commanding lead in my heads up match this week until my showstopper Adrian Peterson takes center stage Monday night and puts an exclamation mark on the weekend!

Yeah that's how I hope it goes!

IT'S HERE!!!!

Finally tonight the kickoff of the NFL regular season!!!!

I plan on being with friends at 5:30 at Buffalo Wild Wings!!!!! I have the Giants defense in this game and a couple of other players on my two Yahoo fun leagues including Jason Campbell.

He has looked very unimpressive thus far but we'll see how he looks when it starts to count.

This is such a great time of year!!!! I'm so excited to get this rolling now and to see how my drafted team does! I believe they will do pretty well especially if AP stays 100% all season!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Best Show On TV Right Now Returned

Last night!

The Shield, the final season kicked off. Thirteen episodes per season, one down and twelve to go.

My general no spoilers review is that this was a great episode. Vic is Vic and still as bad as he was in the last season. Ronnie is still the loyal soldier who can step up when he has to and take care of business. Shane is the scheming guy who buries himself even though he tries to dig himself out.

Justice is still out there waiting like the Sword of Damocles over Vic's head. How will Vic meet his end, Tony Soprano like where life goes on? I hope not. That sucked....

The Shield is about action, in your face action in all of its gritty, ugly glory. Vic will go out either in a jail cell or in a gun fight. The jail cell is about as good of an ending as the Soprano ending. So how will Vic go out? My best guess is that he will turn into a Vader like character and die in an act of redemption.

That's my hope. He is a bad guy. Dirty on a lot of levels but I still find myself pulling for him. I want him to get away with it. I want him to escape the justice that will catch up to him. He is self serving. Murderous, thieving, and corrupt but I still want Vic Mackey to win in the end.

I just know he won't this time.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Babylon Labor Day

I had a great day yesterday thanks to an wonderful pool party at Catina's and then a movie and supper with Beersnob.

The movie wasn't that great. Babylon A.D. starring the sometimes working Vin Diesel. It was convoluted and really didn't have a context that was understandable. There was a guy who hired a guy to go pick up a girl and bring her to America. Why?!?!?! I don't know and I watched the movie.

The girl might have been a test tube baby but she might have been divine....but we don't know because IT SUCKED!!!!! This movie sucked on so many different levels I thought I was watching a Jenna Jameson flick....

Really....this movie turned into an action movie with more cliches than you could imagine. Troubled hero...well we don't know because we don't know anything about him! Nothing. Makes it hard to like a guy when there is almost nothing revealed about his past to make his journey they are filming endearing to the audience!

Action scenes too fast to keep up with! I've blogged about this before. When will filmmakers learn to slow the action down a little bit. It is still happening but no one can connect to what is going on because NO ONE CAN SEE WHAT IS GOING ON!!!! IT IS A BLUR!!!! How are you supposed to feel for the actions of your hero when you can't see what he is doing?!?!?! This kills any kind of tension you were trying to build in a most effective manner.

Hitchcock never filmed action this fast and try to tell me that his movies weren't suspenseful!!!!

I can go on and give you two more points to this movie but I believe I've made my position clear enough.

Avoid this movie as if it were work and you were on welfare!

Monday, September 01, 2008

Day Four

Of my four day weekend and today I plan on resting. I went to Chianti's last night again and helped her cook supper. It was really good! We did a great job!

Everyone who ate it also really enjoyed it so I know it wasn't just she and I who thought it was good!

Hurricane Gustav is starting to come on shore right now, targeting New Orleans even though it is a massive storm. It has apparently dropped to a category two hurricane but with the sheer size of it there will be lots of flooding. Its so big we might even get some of the remnants of this storm where I live.

Everyone followed the evacuation order this time on the coast.

College football closes its first week tonight when Tennessee plays. It was a pretty good first week and signals the start of the football season proper. This Thursday night the NFL kicks off and that is what is going to be exciting!!!!