Three Words Back...

500 Days of Summer

This?  Looks too awesome for words.

Pajiba also has a list (with previews) of the Ten Most Anticipated Anti-Blockbuster Movies of the Summer, only  half of which I had heard of and most of which I plan on seeing at some point.

Online Banking

Due to my job, I tend to rarely use online banking.  A few times a month to pay bills, but that's it.  Day to day monitoring I can do from work, so no use in logging in daily from home as well.  And since I don't log in on a "regular basis" I always get prompted to answer a security question - What was the name of your first pet, How many siblings do you have, etc. (note - not questions I actually used, but you get the point).

But one of the questions I did use, when first setting up my online banking, was "What is your favorite movie?"  And I laugh every time I get this one, because at the time my favorite movie was What About Bob?  So in my head, I hear Bill Murray shout, "Dr. Marvin...I'm sailing!".  Also because I can never remember if I should put a question mark at the end of the title.



So yeah, I know you're not supposed to share passwords and such over the internet, but whatever.

Favorite Movies of the 2000's

Curt and I were killing time in Shiner, Texas, a few weeks ago and the conversation turned to our favorite films of this, the first decade of the 21st century.  Below are mine, you can share your own in the comments if you like.  In no particular order:

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• No Country For Old Men (2007)
• Almost Famous (2000)
• Adaptation (2002)
• Juno (2007)
• O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)
• High Fidelity (2000)
• Traffic (2000)
• Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
• Love Actually (2003)

At least three other films almost made my top 10....what were yall's?

Your Name Is Calvin Klein, Isn't It?

"I mean, it's written all over your underwear."

I think the fact that someone left their CK Tighty Whities on the hotel laundry room floor is another sign from above that I need to watch the original Back to the Future soon.

Two Days In The 'Cuse

It is a laaaaaazzzzzyyyyyy Monday morning for me, and though it's not really a day off, it kind of feels like one.  I need to leave in a couple of hours for Syracuse - a short two hour drive from Albany.  Our "two days of meetings" starts today with a team building exercise at 4:00 (grade school Olympics!), a murder mystery team dinner at 7:00 (my character is a wanna-be intellectual / 80's pop star), and whatever shenanigans we all decide to get into afterwards.  Tuesday is the all day meeting, and then it's back to our respective branches in PA / NY for work on Wednesday.

I've got eight minutes to catch the Residence Inn breakfast.  Don't think that's going to happen.  Here's why I missed bacon, eggs, coffee and a glass of orange juice: HBO was showing Back to the Future II.  Or as I like to call it, the best sequel since The Godfather II.  I caught the last 45 minutes of it, at about roughly the point where Marty stows away in the back of Biff's newly manure-free car en-route to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.  So of course I was immediately sucked in and had to stay for the ending.  (Going back to the year 1885!)

Credits roll and the movie ends.  In the back of my head I'm thinking, "How can you show Back to the Future II and NOT follow it up with part III?"  I consider mocking this while pulling out my laptop and checking my email.  And somewhere around the time I typed the first paragraph you just read, they announced that part III IS coming on next!

So really, this blog exists solely to act as a request for one of my faithful readers to call the bank and tell them I will be leaving for Syracuse about two hours later than expected.

(Have I mentioned before that one night back in college Jeff Scott and I made our girlfriends sit through a Back to the Future marathon?  That's a lot of time travel in one night.  Hee...fun times)

10,000 Z's

True or False: I literally fell asleep three times while watching 10,000 BC.

Answer:  False.  It was four times.  At least.

Is It April 1st Already?

There's a Jean Claude van Damme movie on AMC right now.  As in, there's a Jean Claude van Damme movie on American Movie Classics right now.

My head is spinning.  I need to lie down for a while.

SJLV ABBK P9YK 9F89

Remember when the underside of a bottle cap told you right away if you were a winner or a loser?  These days you look under a bottlecap and it's like reading an eye chart or a barcode.  If ever there were any "good ol' days" in our past, then surely such a time included messages like "You Are A Winner" for the lucky ones or "Please Try Again" for the rest of us.  At any rate, I plan on spending the foreseeable chunk of the afternoon sipping an otherwise delicious Dr. Pepper, popping Peanut M&Ms by the handful, and flipping channels in my brand new hotel room.

I really do live the life of a rock star, minus the concerts at the end of the day.

So yeah, channel-flipping and I see VH-1 is airing Ghostbusters for the second day in a row.  Around here, we love Bill Murray and we're coming up on one of my favorite scenes where Murray as "Dr." Peter Vankman delivers his "human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...MASS HYSTERIA" speech in the mayor's office.  I consider sticking around long enough to see the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but VH-1 has a pop-up heart graphic with a ticking clock in the corner of the screen and it's distracting me.  Apparently the premiere of Rock of Love 2 is THAT big a deal to the people of America.

Ok, I know that railing against "reality" tv is in no way a new concept.  There's a market for it and it's a money maker for the networks when they do it right............but.......still.....in the words of Dennis Miller, "I don't mean to go on a rant, but..."  So in the interest of time and my own sanity, I'll limit my remarks to the "celebreality" shows on VH-1 and the attention-hungry stars who gladly trade what little scraps of dignity and self-respect they might have left in order to keep a few rays of fame's limelight shining their way.  Flavor Flav, Bret Michaels, that Tequila chick, "New York", the list goes on.  Oh, and don't get me started on Scott Baio's new show: Scott Baio is 46...and Pregnant.  I spend 15 minutes watching one of these shows, and I feel dumber for the time I've wasted.  Well, a mixture of "dumb" and wonderment at why anyone who wasn't compulsively addicted to the public attention would willingly put themselves in such contrived situations, all in the name of vapid, lowest common denominator entertainment.  Is anyone able to watch this schlock and not feel humiliated for all participants involved, not to mention a desperate need for a long, hot shower?

Ahem, moving on..

(it was at this point in the afternoon that I had to put the laptop aside and answer several phone calls.  Then there was a mixup at the front desk with my traveling partner's reservation.  So now it's an hour and a half later, dinner plans are being made, and I need to wrap this up.)

Someone remind me later to look online and see if I won anything with that Dr. Pepper.

Did You Think That You Were Dreaming?

She says it's only in my head.
I said, "I know, I know this is only in my head."
She said, "Did you think that you were dreaming?"
I said, "No."
She said, "Did you think that you were dreaming?"
I said, "No."
She said, "Did you think that you were dreaming?"
I said, "Sometimes...I don't know."
Because, because I was out on the radio just starting to change.
Somewhere out in America it's starting to rain.
Could you just tell me one thing that you will remember about me?

Tomorrow is moving out day.  Today is packing day.  Today I'm supposed to drive to Columbus for a birthday party.  Today I'm supposed to drive to Dayton to hang out.  Right now it's early afternoon and I've got newly clean laundry sitting at my feet.  I don't feel much like doing anything but gazing out my second floor window at the pond behind this small town hotel.  And listening to music, hoping to figure out exactly what kind of day I've gotten myself into.

I may have already seen my favorite movie of 2008.  Have you folks seen Juno yet?  I highly recommend it.  Pajiba is my favorite movie review site, and their review sums it up pretty well.

I’m almost at a loss for words to describe just how good — how deeply and honestly good — Juno made me feel, and how its big bright beating heart is capable of delivering moments of genuine love and heartache and confusion and the general feeling of being left to the cold mercy of the universe in the hell that is growing up. Best of all, it’s great in the way the story plays out differently than you think it would.

There's so much more and so little left that I've had fleeting thoughts of writing about in the last few weeks.  Mostly the typical music and entertainment commentary.  And as for me, well, life is good and there's stuff going on...but not much worth the time to type it out (for me) or read it through to conclusion (for you).

The branch opening circus starts up again on Monday in Town Number Seven.  Wish me luck.

Sunday Lazy Sunday

Along with a little bit of spring cleaning, I added a link to my friend Jay's new blog over in the Community section. It's fitting that Jay gets added on the same day that I watched the Wilco episode of Austin City Limits and picked up my digital copy of Sky Blue Sky. Jay has been trying to get me to fall in love with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for years. I prefer their more alt-counry stuff like the double disc Being There, but to each his own.

Today was a good, lazy day off. I spent most of it sitting in front of my computer...either reading or playing with some itunes playlists. For the last hour I've been "watching" The Hunt for Red October on AMC's DVD/TV while enjoying the notes and commentary they provide in the lower bar of the widescreen margins. I also googled "things to do in Toledo" and came up with some places to check out over the next few days, in addition to the three or four movies I want to go see. (Did you know Toledo had the first miniature golf course west of New York City?)

Ok, enough blogging for tonight. There are other toys on my mac I need to check out.