Tai Chi-chis

Found this DVD while looking for some beginning Tai Chi videos. Its Totally Nude Yoga and Tai Chi. That's right, somebody out there got their porn all over my Tai Chi.

Isn't Tai Chi is supposed to be a meditative and relaxing exercise? Somehow I find it hard to believe that any male would be able to relax watching this. On the other hand I'm sure it would be pretty easy to get my "chi" flowing.

My favorite part of the link above is a site dedicated to real martial arts. The review actually takes this DVD seriously, critiquing the postures and technique of the women. Something tells me that they kinda missed the point...

The Force is still strong.

The other day I was walking through a local Target and walked by a little boy that was humming the Star Wars theme. He then ran around the corner making lightsaber sounds.

While I'll be one of the first to admit that Lucas did a very poor job with the prequels, I still find it pretty cool that there are children today that still are obsessed with the Star Wars movies. I know I was sure that I could float things with my mind if I only focused hard enough. I too vowed that one day, I would own a real lightsaber.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but somewhere, there's a tiny little boy left in me that didn't totally hate the new movies. Were they horribly written? Yep. Should Lucas have had someone else direct? Absolutely, but I think they did the job of winning a new generation to the Alliance and that's kinda cool to me.

Fortunately no one reads this blog, so I don't have to worry about too much backlash for that. Plus I'm happy to announce that the new Indy movie was fun and didn't suck at all...

and NOW a warning?

The other night yet another commercial for a drug made me chuckle. It was for an arthritis medicine that I won't name. What amused me about this was that the ad didn't waste time telling me how great it was. No, it spent 60 seconds telling me that the benefits out-weigh the risks involved in taking it.

Obviously the side effects are serious and have been causing hesitation to take this particular drug. Any drug that needs to take that much time trying to convince me to not worry about the serious side effects, I don't need.

Have I mentioned I hate pharmaceutical companies?

Raptor Rhinoplasty

Beauty the bald eagle had her beak shot off by some asshole hunter a while back. She was rescued by the Northwestern Raptor Rescue. Recently an engineer volunteered his time to rebuild her a new beak. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

And the Oscar goes to...

Tonight the Red Wings won game two of the Stanley Cup Finals. Nothing like winning with help from the refs eh?

Anyway, I had to make a comment about their goalie, Osgood. I have never seen a hockey player with acting skills like him. Tonight Pittsburgh's Petr Sykora clipped Osgood as he was behind the net, barely. Osgood threw his stick, fell over backwards, arms flailing like he was hit by a semi truck. Of course Sykora received a Goaltender interference call. New hockey rules state that no one is allowed within 10 feet of Chris Osgood for any reason. I don't have a huge problem with that, except maybe the uneven reffing that the Red Wings have been blessed with this season. My problem is that any other player would be called for diving with embellishing like that, but Osgood, being a Wing is immune.

Osgood's thespian side had already been seen earlier in the period when he was bumped by Malone, and again Osgood flailed.

We saw the same thing in Game 2 of the Western Finals, Dallas VS Detroit. Everyone saw the slash that Ribeiro made on Osgood. It wasn't until later that it was apparent that Osgood speared Ribeiro as he passed the crease. In any case that incident was a prime example of Osgood's acting skills. Ribeiro hit him in the chest with his stick. While that may sound bad, bear in mind the padding a goalie wears, with the heaviest padding in the chest. Despite that, Osgood dropped to the ice and proceeded to role around as if he had been shot.

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone the slash, but I also think it was understandable. Ribeiro just had the end of a stick shoved into his face. I'd be irritated too.

Unfortunately the crappy refereeing has ruined this entire playoff series for me. I'm still rooting for the Pens, because...well...

RED WINGS SUCK!

Ho-humberry Street

I recently finished the second film on my Horrorfest 2007 list. This one is called Mulberry St. It's about a plague that breaks out in Manhattan. Not surprisingly, this pague turns the movie into a zombie horror survivor flick, sort of. They're not really zombies but something more beastial - and ridiculous.

Anyway, I found myself bored and awaiting the "over the top" graphic nature. Again I was disappointed. This film had fewer disturbing moments than Attack of the Clones. Unlike Deaths of Ian Stone, I didn't even really like this movie. It was a tad too "artistic" for my tastes. I found myself wanting to fast forward past all the artsy-ness, it really sdid nothing but slow the movie down.

I have to think the only reason this film didn't make general release was because it's really not that good.

Ah well, on to Borderlands...

Double tall heart stopper

Yesterday Starbucks introduced their "+energy" drink. Now, if that 4 shot latte doesn't have quite enough kick, you can have them add an energy shot too. Seems to me that if you're that groggy, maybe you should try sleeping more.

Apparently Starbucks is seing a decline in profits, a trend they relate to the increasing market of energy drinks. The answer? Offer an additional shot of energy and charging 50 cents more! That's the ticket!

I don't suppose the dropping profits have anything to do with charging $4 for a cup of coffee in the first place do ya? Of course who am I to talk, I plan on trying one tomorrow....

Fanta-TV

I recently found an decent way to waste some time online, if you can believe it. It's called TV Bigshot, and it's basically a fantasy league for TV shows. When you sign up you get $300 million to buy various tv shows that are or have been aired on network TV. After buying whatever shows you have money for, you earn points by how that show does in the ratings, among other factors.

The biggest deal is that the top player supposedly will win $100K. Of course the season is almost over so anyone joining now, like myself, is way out of the running. However, it's still kind of fun.

Here's my chance hopefully learn why TV execs cancel the best shows...

KFSubliminal

I know not everyone out there watches commercials, but sometimes it's a huge source of amusement. Take the latest KFC ad, at the very end the snacker sandwiches are shown with a dollar bill laced in the lettuce.

It took me a couple of viewings before I was sure I didn't just imagine it. Sure enough it's real, I am, by no means, the first to blog about this.

Turns out it's a promo thing that KFC is doing. The first 1000 people to fill out a form online will get a free sandwich. Apparently they've been doing this before with a previous commercial that DVR owners could watch in slow motion to see a hidden message. This message could be used to get free stuff at local restaurants.

Anyway, I think it's an interesting take on advertising. Ever since the invention of the VCR, companies have fretted losing the effectiveness of ads. Kudos to them! I was wondering why I felt a strange urge to have a drumstick for dessert....

Deaths of Expectations

Recently I started watching films from the Afterdark Horrorfest 2007. The other day, I started with a film called The Deaths of Ian Stone. It's a pretty good horror film, but I don't understand one thing. The Horrorfest films were billed as films that couldn't be released because they were supposedly too violent, disturbing, or graphic for the general public.

I have to say, while it was an enjoyable movie, I was disappointed. There was nothing more disturbing in this film than a lot of released films, films like AVP:Requiem the The Grudge. Both of those were much more disturbing than Deaths.

Again, I'm not saying I didn't like it, I did. It just seemed like it was a indie film that simply didn't make release in the States. That's not to say that I'm looking for films that are more gore than story. I'm really not a fan of the Saw and Hostel type movie. I just wanted to see what is so disturbing about these films. Anyway, on to the others...

Snackie Cakes

Tonight I received my pre order copy of Barenaked Ladies' Snacktime. It's their newest album, and while it's all songs for children, I really like it.

Of course I'd like anything from the "Bear-a-nikid Lay-dee-yas". However, this album is definitely more fun than anything they've released since Gordon. Of course it should be, it is for kids after all, but I found myself loving every single song. Though there are certainly favorites. "Polllywog in a Bog" is one of their more catchy songs in a while, and both "Bad Day" and "Things" are simply touching.

A lot of the songs are homages to other great songs/artists, "Eraser" has a very cool nod to Queen. The album has hints of hard rock, folk, reggae, 50s bee-bop, polka, all mixed with simple and enjoyable Barenaked Ladi-ness. I think there may have even been some Proclaimers in there somewhere.

Plus I learned a little from it, I didn't know what the philtrum and frenulum were before this album, even after all my anatomy classes. Also, finally there's a challenging BNL Rock Band song in "Drawing"!

Not to mention, Best...ABC...song...ever!

Harvey Westlake-Dent

So I'm happy to among those in the web community leaking pictures of concept art of Two-Face in the upcoming Dark Knight movie. Thanks to Roland for this pic.

If this is truly what he's going to look like, amen. I was hoping they wouldn't wuss out and make him more comic book-like. This series has done a great job of de-comicing the villains and I'm glad to see the trend continue. Scarecrow was truly creepy in Batman Begins, as is the Joker in the Dark Knight. As far as Two-Face here, Ew.

And now I await my "Cease and Desist" letter from Warner Brothers...

Reason 1

This might be a reason for me to get a PS3. The game is called Echochrome, and is based on the perspective-bending art of M.C. Escher.



OK, so I probably won't be getting a PS3 anytime soon, but it's also available for the PSP. Hmmm.....

Drive by Edging

Today, I worked on our backyard, specifically helping my wife get her garden up and running. Of course a ton of people are doing the same, you can hear mowers and trimmers all over the neighborhood, but none really close. As time passes I start to notice that it sounds like one of these mowers is getting closer. I figured that I was just hearing a different mower, or I had misjudged what I had originally heard.

A few more minutes pass and my dog runs to the fence and starts barking like mad. At this same time I notice that the approaching machinery is right on the other side of the fence. So naturally I open the fence to have a look.

One of our neighbors was edging our lawn with a power edger! I was a little taken aback for a few reasons. First, I had just spent an hour or so the other day edging our lawn with a trimmer, a rather tedious task. My first thought was that I had apparently done such a bad job that this guy felt he needed to do it over. Secondly, I didn't know this guy. I know my next door neighbor quite well and wouldn't have been surprised to see him do something like this, since we shovel each other's sidewalks, mow a little of each other's lawns, and such. But I didn't know this guy from Adam.

Turns out that this guy decided to make good use of his edger and edged the whole gorram street. About an hour and a few dozen houses later, he quit. I'm still a little stunned at the kindness of the act. It was refreshing to see that there are still people that believe in being a good neighbor. Unfortunately I missed when he stopped and went inside, so I never found out which house he lives at. At some point I'll figure it out and find a way to thank him though.

Of course the jerk did miss the other side of my drive way...

For your consideration

Red Wing MVP of the second round of playoffs:



Final stats:

Threeormore played 130:31 and allowed 15 goals, Budaj 107:31 and allowed 6. Approximate save percentages: Jose - 82%, Budaj 91%. BTW, the goaltender with the worst regular season percentage was Manny Fernandez with a save percentage of 83.2%.

Guess who's contract I think we should buy out and send packing..