Saturday, November 26, 2005

'Tis the season


It's a little too late to be reminding people of the upcoming holiday season, but that's not going to stop me. I've been seeing commercials with evergreens in the background, hearing those jingle bells, and of course another frickin' Harry Potter movie is out (theme song ringing: "dun don da-dun don, da dun dun"). Those are just some of the signals that it's time give and receive, and if you're lucky, do more of one than the other.

There has always been one specific movie that reminded me of Christmas, amongst many others: A Christmas Story. Now, I don't remember the last holiday season when I watched the whole movie, but I at have at least left it on in the background just as much as any Christmas carol. This movie is such a classic because every kid can relate to it.

Do you remember that gift you wanted so badly one Christmas, and all signs up to December 25th indicated a no go. Then all of a sudden that morning comes and you were surprised to find that actually did not get that gift. Well, that's not what A Christmas Story is about. The kid actually gets his gift but it ends up being a bitter-sweet present, because he hurts himself using it.

Last year, on DVD, I saw a future Christmas classic: Elf. Of course Will Ferrell is hilarious in this movie, but I enjoy it for the way it captures the innocence of a childhood Christmas in the elf character and also for Zooey Deschanel. What did it for me was when Ferrell's character walks into the bathroom and listens to Deschanel's character singing Baby it's Cold Outside. Now, in many cases, this scene would follow something sexual and possibly an arrest. But being the innocent child the elf was, this scene was charming and funny. Not to mention this scene introduced me to a classic Christmas song.

Plus how cute is Zooey and her beautiful voice. Damn, maybe that's the reason I love this movie so much.

Monday, November 21, 2005

360 reasons why not to get an xbox 360


(Warning! I am a big Nintendo fan, but of course I won't go as far as say that I am a fan boy. You be the judge. I happen to own a Playstation 2 and find many of its games hizzot. Sorry, I meant hot.)

Tonight at approximately midnight, best buys and video game stores will be opening up their doors for obsessed, loaded, early adopters of the xbox 360. I will not be one of them for several reasons:

1) It's all about the games. None of the launch games interest me so much that I need to get the system, with the possible exception of Perfect Dark Zero and Call of Duty 2. If racing games are your thing, then get an xbox and play Forza Motor Sport or Gran Turismo 4 on a Playstation 2. Do you really want Project Gotham 3?

Recently, I have played Call of Duty 2, but on the PC. I usually dislike World War II games, but this one was immersive. This probablly plays better on a PC than a console anyway. No need to to get this for Xbox 360 if your PC can run the game.

Sure, I am a big Rare fan, as they have made some of the best games for Nintendo's consoles (e.g. Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Golden-Eye, Diddy Kong Racing), but the verdict is still out on PDZ. If the game turns out to be even half as good as Golden-Eye and Perfect Dark, then this may persuade me. But . . .

2) The price ain't right. The system itself will cost upwards of $400 (Don't bother with the "Core" package, you'll end up paying more later for "extra" peripherals that you'll need eventually anyway). I can sort of understand the price, it is new technology, but 60 bones per game? I dont' know about you but my wallet would cry if I bought a game for $60 but it's too busy being empty in the first place.

So, you have the money for the system and games, but do you have a setup at home that can fully realize the potential of this next generation system?

3) High Definition televisions are still not common and an Xbox 360 would look like an xbox with your regular-ass television. I'm going to need a High Defintion TV to run the otherwise excellent looking games. My thirteen inch "tv" in my dorm is not going to cut it, nor will anything in my home or my neighbor's home. I bet you President Bush doesn't have a High Defintion television either. He won't be getting an Xbox 360 either. Once Hi-Def goes down in price in a couple of months, or even years, the Xbox 360 will also have become cheaper.

4) I have no time for games!

5) Heh, who am I kidding, I'll can always make time for video games.

6) Seriously, the games matter the most when buying a new system, so see reason number one and then number two, because that's also a big thing for me.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Arrested Development gets less arrested


Arrested Development is quite possibly the funniest thing on television. I challenge anyone to find another show that you can watch multiple times and still find something new and funny in each viewing. The show is made without a laugh track so it doesn't force viewers to laugh at anything that's not. In fact, it's meant to make you laugh at anything that you think is funny. Isn't that the whole point of a comedy: to laugh?

Unfortunately, not everyone feels that way. People would rather watch crime dramas that use special effects and "intuition" to solve unsolvable murders in 44 minutes. (With this piece of dandruff I can figure out that the killer was wearing sponge-bob squarepants underwear before he killed this dude, all I need is some special effects and I'm done.)

That's why the third season has been reduced to 13 episodes. It's probablly going to be cancelled soon.

My personal favorite episode is 'Marta Complex'. My favorite character: Buster ( "He just wants to see other boys' Linuses").

It starts. . .


I was flipping through the t.v. and saw that the Pussy Cat Dolls were performing on MTV's Europe Music Awards, which made me think. Sure, the girls in this group are not unattractive. If you ever get to see their faces, other than the lead singer's, for long enough, they're probablly not bad. (There is one girl that sorta looks like Rachel McAdams as a brunette which is definitely a good thing (see Wedding Crashers).)

But I am not particulary attracted to any of the women. Now, you might be thinking either,
"Damn, this dude is gay", or "What about the lead signer?"
First, No, I am not. Second of all, my main problem is the fact that Nicole Scherzinger, the lead singer, used to be in a reality girl group that I was fan of: Eden's Crush. Sure, it's not really her fault that the group that I was liked/was obsessed with broke up. My problem is that she feels that PCD is more successful because it was not a "manufactured" group like EC, and they have chemistry (my quotes).

How does she think PCD was formed? Did a bunch of chicks decide to make a band? No. PCD is just as manufactured as Eden's Crush. I think the main thing is she likes being the lead singer/ only singer. Can the other girls sing? Probablly not. No, I take that back. I meant to say hell no.

Now I'm not ragging on Ms. Scherzinger's skills. On the contrary, I've always felt that she was a very gifted singer. I enjoyed her voice along with the other girls on Eden's Crush. It's just that I wish two things would happen: either they change the name of the group to
Nicole and the Pussy Cat Dolls, or Eden's Crush gets back together.

Because, Rosanna, Ana Maria, Ivette, and Maile could sing circles around any of the other members of PCD with the exception of the single EC alum. Plus, they were hot AND they could
sang!

Friday, November 11, 2005

Knickerbockers

Damn, Damn, Damn, DAMN!

The New York Knicks are now 0 for 5.

Can you say first pick 2006 NBA draft?