An Application

The owner of the restaurant was a bit busy yesterday but said we'd talk and gave me an application. He seemed to be an alright guy.

The cool thing about this time of year is all of the monster movies on tv. I watched Friday the 13th part III yesterday. It is hokey by today's standards but then again few movies stand the real test of time and don't become outdated. It was on AMC, a channel I don't really care for that much since it introduced commercials and shows movies that have been edited for tv. It used to be a great channel too, a serious movie fan's channel.

Friday the 13h was a good movie, in fact it was a good series until about the fourth movie. It had some good horror movie moments in it. Many movies today have been influenced by the success of that series. For an indie filmmaker it has the one storyline that always works. Take some teens, put them into a house, and chop them up. Many directors have gotten their start by such a movie!

I'm not ashamed to say that Locker was my version of that.

Anyway Happy Halloween my friends!!!! Enjoy all of the good monster movies!!!!

A Good Monday Night!!!!

It was good to me, I have a line on a small part time job to get my budget plan rolling. I am going to go talk to them after work to see if they are interested and I can get the hours I need and with them knowing it is only for maybe four months.

I only want to work about sixteen hours per week which might not help them as much as they need. If that is the case then I will look elsewhere. There are lots of people putting on their holiday workers now so if I get serious about it I can find work easily for the next couple of months.

The NBA season kicks off tonight or I should say tips off. This is a great time of year when all of the sports come together! With college basketball just a few days away and the NFL and NCAA in full swing, NASCAR is winding down, I even watch the occasional hockey game! I'd mention baseball but I don't think anyone really watches it anymore on TV.

Yep! A great time of year!

I'm Up

33-22 over Beersnob's team. I have Elam going tonight while he still has Donald Driver. With that kind of lead it will be hard to beat me and I'm middle of the pack in the weekly league standings.

I plan on going to Mickey's tonight to watch the game. I really enjoy it a lot but missed last Monday since I was at the theatre to watch the rehearsal and to give out a DVD of the doc.
Another week is starting and I'm sure it is going to be a good one as most are!

Actually I guess that they are what you make of them huh? I mean if you are dead set on having a "Monday" then that is what you are going to get.

If you are excited that another week full of opportunities is upon you then that is what you are going to get!

I purchased a George Foreman grill yesterday to start to eat a healthier diet. I am tempted to buy another one and leave it at work and make lunch with it everyday. It wouldn't take a lot to buy some meat and potatoes something simple to make. I have a first generation grill but this one has a temperature control and is quite a bit bigger.

I sliced a red onion, drizzled some olive oil on it and then added some sodium free seasoning then did the same with some sliced chicken breasts and it was done in under ten minutes. I could easily make some simple but healthier dishes at work and that would probably get rid of my hypertension.

Great Time!

Last night's party was very enjoyable! I got home around midnight but the party was still going pretty well when I left. The Exorcist: The Version You Have Never Seen and Them! were playing last night to add to the Halloween theme.

I have all of my main players going today except Maroney. He is questionable so I have benched him in favor of playing Kevin Jones and Brandon Jacobs as my RBs. TO is on a bye this week so Calvin Johnson, Lee Evans, and Issac Bruce start as my WRs. Big Ben is still my QB and I'm rolling with Elam and the Buc's D and ST.

New England continues on their march towards a real masterpiece of a season today as I'm sure they will pummel Washington. Very few times do we actually see something this perfect while it is happening and only in hindsight we appreciate it. I'm declaring now that even if you hate the Pats you should appreciate the perfection every week.

This is really something we have never seen before and possibly never again. Football played on this level with no one even coming close to challenging them yet, yeah this is a very special season if you are paying attention.

November 4th will likely be the last challenge for them until the post season as they line up against the Colts who are also putting together a great season but not quite as spectacular as the Patriots' s season.

Halloween/Cast Party Tonight!

It'll be fun and exciting!
Beersnob, the host, asked me to bring The Exorcist to watch until the party starts. This is a dual purpose party you see.
The cast for the new production is coming while the people who have seen the show already are coming to the Halloween party before that.

It'll be a great time!

My Suburban is now fixed and running on a reliable basis now! I have to return my brother's Suburban back to him today. They are having a b-day party for my nephew today so I am going to that.

There are some really good college football games on today. That always makes for an exciting day!

A Bad Wire

About six inches long is the cause of the Suburban's malfunction. One end had corroded and wasn't making good contact anymore. Not a battery cable type of wire, this is a very small wire.

So it'll cost me about three dollars to fix since I'll probably have to buy a roll of wire to do so.

I plan on going out tonight after the show is over with friends Bob, Wendy, and Sass who is back in town for a couple of days before returning to Mexico. I taped the show last night and it is very moving and inspirational. I'd seen quite a bit of it already in rehearsal but this was the first time I had seen the whole thing put together.

It really makes you ponder exactly how you see the world. If you can tell the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. Sometimes people around you might be annoying you but in reality they might actually be trying to help you, such as honking at you and trying to get your attention while driving behind you only to alert you that you had left your coffee and briefcase on the roof of your vehicle.

Yeah.

My friends sometimes things just aren't what they appear to be and all that glitters is also not exactly gold. My Suburban being down was an inconvenience, a temporary one at that and one that turns out is an easy fix. Finding out you have a terminal disease would be a problem and I feel I can tell the difference now.

Can you?

Not Fixed But...

It is close! I have a friend who had one of these and he believes that it isn't anything with the engine at all. He believes that the ignition switch relay has gone bad since everything that is powered up when that switch is engaged won't come on.

I replaced battery cables and ends last night to make sure that those weren't the problem. I turned on the key and everything came on like it should until I tried to crank it over and then nothing again. It all went dead.

It is a simple matter now to replace that switch. It sits on the steering column behind the dash. It won't take a lot to lower it out of there and check it out.

Tonight I am also filming the final dress rehearsal for the new production. It really looks like a good show! Saturday night is a big Halloween/Cast party and that will be a lot of fun! I know it starts around 7:30 and I also know it will wrap up probably after 3 or so. This crowd loves to go to parties.

Did I mention I have great friends?

Suburban Blues

Yeah it seems the past couple of days I've hit a minor speed bump on my happy little journey. The upside though is that I now have a 2001 Suburban to drive for a few days! Not that I don't enjoy my vehicle at all, I do, I like driving a diesel.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a point A to point B person. I spent a few years in a body shop and as a result looks of a vehicle just don't really thrill me anymore. If it runs and is reliable I'm pretty happy. I'll drive it until the wheels fall off.

I start up my Suburban at work and about half way home I notice it is overcharging. There's a problem! I don't know what, the alternator is less than two years old and I know it is good after that rash of having bad ones a couple of years ago. So I get home and turn it off. I was planning on turning it back on again to see if it would have fixed itself, that maybe the gauge was glitching or something. I turn the key back on and NOTHING. It is now doornail dead.

Now with a new mechanical mystery to solve I pop the hood and start to sleuth it. A diesel is a pretty simple engine. You only need electricity to start it, you happen to need quite a bit as the compression on this engine is about 22 to 1 but you need it. Now I didn't have any which is a problem. I turned on the lights, check! They worked! Ok I know that the batteries are alright. I put the charger on them anyway and they are good according to the fancy gauge! Ok I'm getting closer now! I have a suspicion that it might be the glow plug controller on the back of the engine. I push on it a couple of times to make sure the plug is properly seated and WOW the console lights back up and I start it again!

So within about a half hour of pushing, prodding, and doing mechanic things I think I have the problem narrowed down. I turn the engine off and try again.....NOTHING. So now I am pretty sure that is the problem.

I'll have to call my garage this morning after I get to work and tell them what is going on with it. I'm sure that the controller has gone bad for some reason even though it was new. No big deal it should still be under warranty now.

Hypertention Blues

Are you kidding me?
I haven't had the flu since sixth grade, rarely have a cold, have a kidney stone about every two years, I blogged the last cold I had in the post "Headcold Blues", and I'm generally happy and always healthy! I haven't been to a doctor in three years! I'm in decent shape, I could stand to lose about ten pounds.

So now I go to the doctor and I have hypertension AKA high blood pressure. How did this happen?!?!?! I guess it is just one of those things but dadgumit I hate being on any kind of medication. Just don't like it.

I'm researching dietary changes but that scares me.
Eating good food is one of life's true pleasures, I'm not a gourmet chef but I'm a good cook and can hold my own. I'm a fan of eating.

Well eating good food is a pleasure, I usually eat bad food though. I can't count how many times I've had M&M's for supper. When I was younger and bulletproof I had them for breakfast along with root beer!

Perhaps that could be a contributing factor. Perhaps I don't exercise enough....or at all anymore.
I guess I really need to investigate my options. I go back into the doctor for a follow up next week. Perhaps it won't be as bad as I anticipate.

A friend of mine swims three times per week. That would probably help with the exercise and the meds could be temporary.

3-4

I won my heads up match up this week so I'm slowly crawling to averageness.....ick....at least my team is starting to get off of the sidelines and play again. I left about 20 points on the bench which would have helped but only in overall point standings.

I ordered a all in one printer/fax/flatbed copier/salad shooter/ginsu knife today. It should be in late this week. I've needed a printer for quite a while, I don't know when I'll ever fax anyone but it might be handy to have around, and a copier is always handy.

Anyway it has been a pretty cool weekend. Did some grocery shopping, laundry, few things like that.

I've come up with a plan to pay off my mortgage in 2.6 years. It is on a 15 year note anyway so it won't be long since I've already put a little over 5 in on it. I have very low debt compared to my income. My utilities are fairly cheap. All of that adds up to me having a very cool HDTV in a couple of years if I crack down!

I kept running the numbers for a couple of hours and it is possible to get it done. It would open up a lot of options for me with that kind of disposable income! I could actually pay my actors on the next big project for instance! The problem would be to discipline my lifestyle in such a way to get it done.

Not eating out as much, not buying as much junk, not adding to my massive DVD collection, lots of small things like that really add up. I'll have to figure out on what I can live on per week and see where else I can cut spending.

It is something I'm really considering.

Filming Thursday

For the new production at the theatre. Terri Galer is directing, long time readers will recognize her from Locker and Drinkbuster Weezy's mom!

Even though she has long been involved in the theatre and has been the assistant director many many times, not to mention has scored many productions, this is her first time in the big chair. I have seen scenes from the show and it is a funny and touching show. It is called Everything I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.

It is comprised of vignettes and musical numbers. The set is minimal, similar to Our Town. Chairs, a blackboard, lighting, that's about it.

My fantasy team will be at full strength today which is little help since I'm sitting at 2-4 and last in points scored. Injuries have killed my team so far. After week two they kicked in and they have hurt a lot.

So today I'm starting Roethlisberger, Jacobs, Maroney (even though he is on the highest scoring team in the NFL, he has been a major disappointment) are my RBs, TO, Johnson, and Evans are my WRs, Janikowski is my K, and I'm rolling with the Bucs D this week.

The Last Time

I saw this movie I had to have been around eight. I was in my dad's semi with a tiny black and white tv trying to keep the signal going until the movie ended. I didn't see the start of it but it was easy enough to pick up on and get into. Last night thanks to Netflix and The Criterion Collection I was able to watch Robinson Crusoe On Mars in full!

What a great movie! It is pretty much a kid's movie but still it has a lot of appeal to it. It even has a monkey! Now what movie isn't made better with a monkey? Every movie should have a monkey in it!

The story is simple. A probe orbiting Mars with two men and a monkey encounters a problem and they are forced to eject. The struggle for survival begins. It looks amazing since it has been restored by Criterion. The effects can be a bit dated but overall this is about the story and not so much about the way it looks.

Can a man have paradise on Mars? From this movie I'd say yes! Watch this movie, you'll enjoy it!

Man Hall Of Fame Part 5

Today's inductee to the Man Hall Of Fame is a person. In fact she is was a unique combination of hotness and grace. One of the great directors of all time fell deeply in love with her and metaphorically killed her off in a later movie.

A man would never feel more manly than if this woman was on his arm. Grace Kelly could very well be the definition of hot in her prime. Hitchcock himself knew exactly what he had when he cast her and knew how to film her so the entire world would fall in love. He put her in jeopardy on screen and worshiped her off camera.

She starred in three films for Hitch, with respect to High Noon, the three best of her career were Read Window, Dial M for Murder, and To Catch A Thief. Hitchcock knew how to paint Grace Kelly with the camera. It has been theorized that Vertigo was Hitchcock's lament to losing Kelly to another man when she retired from acting in 1956. He recreated in Kim Novak a Grace Kelly look alike. It was by far his most personal film about love and loss. Not only in Novak did he try to recreate Kelly, he attempted the same with Eva Marie Saint, Janet Leigh, and of course Tippi Hedren.

Allegedly later on he unleashed his fury on Kelly in The Birds and Psycho, both with a platinum blond Kelly clones being killed outright in Psycho and taking a ton of abuse in The Birds. For the most part this is legend but there might be some merit to it if you read enough books about Hitchcock.

If you believe that she doesn't belong in my Man Hall Of Fame, that's cool but I challenge any man out there to watch all three of those movies (especially her entrance in Read Window) in a row and not love Hitchcock's image of her. Yes Grace Kelly might not have been the person in real life that she was on screen in Hitchcock's mind but that is the part I know I love.

What Is Sparta?

Alright so yesterday was VERY rainy. There is a big leak in the building I work in at the major intersection. It has leaked for years and years now and resists all repairs. It is probably the most expensive and least effective roof repair of all time!

Well my friend and fellow Drinkbuster Weezy had put this pic up on her My Space for a couple of days. I was struck by the idea of replicating the same sign at work to draw a few chuckles.

What happened was no less than bewildering. EVERYONE without fail asked, "What's Sparta?"
It had me screaming! Alright I can forgive not knowing anything about the Battle of Thermopylae and King Leonidas. I can forgive not reading history books or not paying attention in class. I can forgive not reading a comic. But come on people! EVERY trailer for 300 had this scene in it!!!! They ran for months before the movie premiered! Even if you have not seen the movie I know you have seen the preview for the movie!

Even a guy who has seen the movie TWICE asked me about it!!!! He thought that it had to do with the water on the floor and that maybe there was water in the pit that the ambassador was kicked into by King Leonidas!!!! I can't make this up!

I didn't know that I should have written out an explanation and taped it up above the sign so that people would get it and KNOW WHERE SPARTA WAS, NOT TO MENTION IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE SPARTA WAS, THAT WASN'T THE POINT!!!!

Ok so maybe I have a massive amount of pop culture junk rolling around in my head and things are funny to me and I just assume that everyone is on the same page that I'm on. I know I have a lot of inside jokes and subtleties in my head that is a bit esoteric. But this wasn't one of them.
This was pretty upfront and simple and still no one got it....

High and Low

This amazing Kurosawa film starring his favorite actor Toshiro Mifune is one of his attempts at making an American film noir.

The premise is simple, Mifune is an executive of a shoe company who after an argument with his fellow executives mortgages everything he owns to become the majority stock holder. On the same evening his son is kidnapped, he swears to pay the ransom which would kill his stock purchase deal and virtually bankrupt him. He finds out a few minutes later that the kidnapper has screwed up and that his chauffeur's son was the child who was taken.

Now he is faced with a moral choice, pay the massive ransom for an employee's son or pursue the deal which would vault him from rich to super rich. What transpires is two hour ride of angst and genuine film noir that only Kurosawa could pull off!

I'd highly recommend this as a Netflix rental! It is enjoyable and a classic.

Possible Projects Ahead!

With the fanfilm still in the works and moving ahead, it is moving slowly enough to leave me time to start another project. After I canceled the Chiller Channel project due to lack of a location I decided to hit up a couple of guys I know who have an interest in filming skit comedies.

They are pretty good at improv comedy and have had no outlet to express themselves since they are a bit disgruntled with the theater right now.

This promises to be a lot of fun and I believe in this case that material will be easy to come by. I also believe that we can get a solid group of five individuals to take on the skits on a reliable basis.

In other news, DID YOU SEE ME LAY DOWN THE LAW?!?!?! I AM THE LAWGIVER!
Yes indeed!

A Predicted Outcome

My team, shorthanded from bye weeks and injuries, took the predicted beating of 69-14 yesterday. There was some good news though!
Had a great time at Beersnob's party!

There were close to ten people there and it was just a very good time! We cooked out at halftime, had some wonderful football conversation, enjoyed a pretty competitive game for three quarters, and enjoyed the nice weather which soon after the game was over turned into a severe thunderstorm!

It rained a LOT and hard too. After I got home it really started to rain! It made for some great sleeping weather! I had two windows open in my bedroom and never woke up once!

I have to make some more DVD copies so I can get them mailed out! I need to send a copy up North and another copy to Weezy in LA. Her copy was cracked when it got to her. So I'll be doing that tonight after work.
I have had positive feedback though!

A Great Day On Tap

Despite my fantasy woes this year I've had some solid play from my players that aren't injured. Injuries have kind of summed up the results the past three weeks.

Today I have two WRs off on bye weeks, Roethlisberger is off on a bye, my RBs will be at full strength though with Brandon Jacobs returning off of the injured list last week and posted a good day, the Broncs are off on a bye so that puts my D/ST and Kicker on the bench.

I'm anticipating a loss, no big deal at this point.

There is going to be a great game and some communal football watching at Beersnob's house today at 3ish. There should be people from the theater crowd and my fantasy league crowd there, it'll be a mixing of both circles for me! It should be a great day!!!!

A Good Friday Evening!

Went to a Italian eatery with about fifteen friends and then over to the pub to hang out for the rest of the evening!

Most of the cast for the most recent theater production was there and we all just had a good evening! I had taken off early yesterday from work since it was pretty slow and I had some errands to run and some bills to pay. I had been looking forward to last night for a few days and it was a great evening!

Man Vs. Survivorman Vs. Wild

Man vs. Wilds' Bear Grylls is a survival genius. Bear is to survival what Jack Bauer is to defending LA against the nuclear armed Chicom horde. Throw this guy into the harshest environments on Earth and he will come out alive and in good shape.

Heck even MacGyver would take lessons in rigging up something from a shoelace, branch, gum, moss, and a turkey baster.

Water, shelter, heat, food and he could live anywhere! While I require electricity, indoor plumbing, and the internet, Bear just needs air and a minimum of broken bones to survive.

Next up is Survivorman Les Stroud who actually does his own filming while genuinely being stranded in the wilderness. While Bear travels with a cameraman Les does everything himself....for seven days.
Bear usually goes for three days I believe.

What Bear is to surviving Les ups it a notch since he is genuinely alone. If MacGyver looks up to Bear then The Duke himself looks up to Les for shear toughness.

Both of these shows are on a few times a week in reruns on one of my favorite channels, Discovery!