Saturday 31 March 2007

Surfing MySpace for tunes.

I was just chilling at home tonight doing something I hardly ever spend time doing any more. Playing music. I've been working pretty hard lately and now that I've had a bit of time to just "chill" I thought I'd spend the evening reminiscing old tunes from back in the day and maybe look around a little to maybe discover something I haven't heard before. And I'll even share by linking to the MySpace pages of some bands I enjoyed tonight.

First of all I started with something familiar, a couple of bands I listened to a lot as a teenager: Mother Love Bone and Temple of the Dog. I don't think I come across music very often that I appreciate as much as the music of these two bands.

Considering that the last new artist I've heard that really blew me away to that extent is Ben Folds (and I first heard of him about 12 years ago), it hit me that maybe I'm just not looking hard enough to find new music to appreciate. So I spent a couple of hours just browsing artists on MySpace in search of my new favorite thing.

Here's a few artists who caught my attention enough to mention.
Dan Torres - Kind of reminds me a little bit of Jeff Buckley. Kind of.
John Erikson - Reminds me of Chris Cornell...not so much the voice but the song "Blue Skies" is eerily similar to Cornell's "Sunshowers". "Chains" is a toe-tapper. Hmmmm. I sorta like it but I don't know how I'll feel about it tomorrow.
Karma Cowboys - WOW! I am going to listen to this one again. Probably a lot. "Shine On Tomorrow"
Piper McKinnon - Great songwriting.Her voice is pretty good too.

That's all I've got tonight. That was fun, I'll do this more often.

Thursday 29 March 2007

Word of the Day: Bucolic

My attempt yesterday at raising this blog's level of sophistication had mixed results. The part that could still use improvement: I again ended up talking about butt wiping. But on the plus side: we had our first two confirmed reports of someone (other than ourselves) actually reading our blog. Okay so one was my wife who I practically had to force her to read, but the other was my sister-in-law...my very sweet, proper, polite, conservative sister-in-law from Japan...and I was talking about butt wiping. How embarrassing.

I suppose it just goes to show that I can try all I want to put on a show of being sophisticated and cultured but when it comes down to it, I'm still just a redneck turd from the sticks. And it isn't a good idea to try to polish a turd. Just try it sometimes. Or better yet, don't. It's a messy thing only a country fried hick would attempt. Which brings me to the Merriam-Webster Online word of the day:

bucolic • \byoo-KAH-lik\ • adjective
1 : of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen : pastoral
2 : relating to or typical of rural life


I have been bucolic all my life and didn't realize until tonight. I knew I was a couple of other things ending in -olic but never of the "buc" variety. But step one of overcoming any problem is identifying it.

I know I'm bucolic because:

  • I currently live in a town of less than 3,000 people.
  • The major industry here is the dump.
  • The most famous person that lives here has an outrageous mullet.
  • You can see the city limits sign from the other city limits sign.
  • You can write "Ethel" on an envelope, put a stamp on it and the post office knows exactly where to deliver it.

I didn't always live in this town though. The place I grew up in was even more bucolic. I had five classmates in my fifth grade class. We shared the same classroom and teacher with the two fourth-graders and the four sixth-graders. One time my dad pulled out to the end of the driveway and had to wait for a car to go past and complained about the darn traffic. Yes we were a bunch of raging bucolics.

But this is good. Now that I've admitted to myself what a bucolic I am maybe I can get myself some help. I'm sure there are a few good government programs that help unfortunate bucolics such as myself. My town is probably too bucolic to have its own chapter of Bucolics Anonymous but maybe the next town over...the one with the liquor store...

Bucolics Anonymous, there's a contradiction in terms. If you ever want to be anonymous don't come to a town that's full of bucolics. People might not all know your name but they all know about something personal about you. For instance, some people in town call me by my name. Others call me "that guy who's dog stole my burrito last summer." And everyone knows exactly who they're talking about. I haven't tested this theory yet but I wouldn't be suprised if I received a letter some day addressed only to "That guy who's dog stole my burrito last summer."

Now that I've admitted that I have this problem, I feel pretty good about my chances of kicking this bucolism. That's not to say I won't fall off the wagon every once in a while but I think that with the help and support of my family and friends...hey look at that! Bubba's got himself a brand new riding lawnmower and wants to race! Oh well, maybe I'll quit cold turkey next week.

Wednesday 28 March 2007

Word of the Day: Inveigh

In an attempt to make my blogs more enlightening (apparently some people think that discussing the ramifications of wiping your butt with puppy tp has no redeeming value) I am now committed to upholding certain standards that will hopefully convince our readers that reading our blog is educational and is in no way a waste of time.

So my first step is to institute a "regular" feature called Word of the Day, that will neither be regularly featured on a daily basis nor will it necessarily contain actual words. I'm just calling it this because it sounded good at the time. In this feature, I will from time to time discuss a new vocabulary word as found on Merriam-Webster Online.

The word for today is INVEIGH. It is a verb that means to protest or complain bitterly or vehemently. For example: Many people inveighed my last blog, whether complaining about my overly descriptive narration of de-muddifying (that should be another word of the day) or my insensitivity to puppies.

I, in return, must inveigh that unlike vocabulary building, wiping is in fact a regular feature probably done by most people on a daily basis. If left undone it can lead to serious health, social, and emotional problems.

So this is my argument: Wiping is more important than learning new vocabulary. So if Merriam-Webster is going to devote a whole section of its website to vocabulary building, shouldn't they have at least two or three times that amount devoted to wiping?

This will hopefully put the matter into perspective for those of you who inveighed me for yesterday's blog.



Tuesday 27 March 2007

Trouble Wiping My Butt


I was really having a hard time. Lately when I'm done in the bathroom, I'm dreading that simple hygienic ritual we all do of cleaning off the excess. A simple task made almost impossible due to recent circumstances.


No, it's not hemorrhoids. I've never had the opportunity to experience that, can't say I'm ever looking forward to that either. And it's not the dreaded runny poo, you know...the type you wipe and wipe and wipe and there is still something there...TMI? Ok. Sorry.


What the problem is is that every time I pull a wad of tp off of the roll, I find myself staring straight into the big brown eyes of a little puppy dog. Seriously. My wife brought home a different brand of tp than we normally buy. This stuff is Cottonelle Kids, which features various puppy dogs every few sheets, spaced by puppy paw prints to show kids how much tp to use.


Granted it's only a picture, but acknowledging that fact doesn't help it seem any less cruel when I realize that when I go to "tidy up" the poor puppy's face is going to be dragged through the...well...yeah, literally.


So the first few times, I really felt guilty taking this horrible action against a poor defenseless puppy dog who has never done anything ill towards me. It just doesn't seem right. Right?


But I think I have a solution to this guilt that I feel. You know how dogs are always sniffing your butt? And other people's butts? And other dog's butts? And really anything that has a butt? Well, they must like it, otherwise why would they be doing that all the time? So from the puppy's point of view, I'm really just doing him a favor.


Monday 26 March 2007

Which TMNT Am I?


Apparently, my Leo "do-goody" attitude of earlier years has been tempered in the fire of reality, since in the latest test I took I got now Raphael (that, as you can see, makes me happy). It's probably that my current POV about the world is more cynic and that I enjoy making sarcastic jokes when I can.

Guy's night out at the movies: COWABUNGA DUDE!!!!


Yes, I said it and I'm proud of it. I have been a TMNT-addict since I was eight and always enjoyed the stories of the Green Mean Machine (except for that awful run by Image). And now, when I lost my hope of seeing the last movie (since by the time it premiered in Mexico, I would be back at UK, where it is already out of the cinema... talk about bad timing), the darkside powers of Oscar allowed me... allowed us to watch the movie, from the comfort of our respective houses, at the same time, the new TMNT movie. That's why of the title of the section, techincally speaking, we saw the movie "together".

Now, into business. What can I say, although I'm a hard core fan of the Turtles in their more mature aspect, like the comic or the newest cartoon (before Fast Foward), I like also the funny side of them (I grow up with the 90's cartoon and the Archie comics were actually my first comic). This movie was... no IS the best mix of that. In my opinion, is the best movie of the Turtles so far.

Basically (and to don't spoil the story for you) is a story set loosely in continuity with the former three movies. The team is broken, the brothers fight between them, but a global kind of crisis, brought by the manipulations of a tycoon and a set of monster, bring the familiy togheter. And with friends and old enemies, they have to save the world.

I for one, love the fact that it was made in 3D, since it allowed more freedom to the creators, without havong to use the more traditional cartoon way. The director, Kevin Munroe, a comic writer with experience in his belt, in association with Peter Laird (one of the two creators of the legendary first big media indy comic), took the best of the old movies, left the bad of them and offer an epic movie, not dragged by continuity (in has a small recap at the beginning). The music is superb and the voice acting was excellent (it was weird at first to hear Tidus as Leonardo) with professional voice actors as the brothers and guest voices like Patric Stewart, Sarah Michelle Guellar and even Kevin Smith in a brief cameo and Mako in a last job. The movie even includes a homage to Batman by the apparition of a "new" character: The Nightwatcher, whose secret ID is not a secret after the first 5 minutes of the movie. Finally the character desing was great, although the humas looked a little bit stiff, the monsters and more important the Turtles and their father Sensei Splinter are perfect (I think this is the best depiction of the Old Master, even the fur was done with detail). You can actually see the bruises they got after a battle, the different pigmentation of their skins or the texture of their shells.

Now, there are three scenes that reminded me why, while everybody back in elementary school drooled for Mickey or Leonardo, I enjoyed more RAPH: because he is a bad ass thta has what it takes to do the job. The scene of the first battle against the monsters, the final speech but specially the battle against Leonardo made me root for him again (even when everybody says that personality wise I'm more like Leo, which is not bad, since is my second fav Turtle).

Finally, they used a classic "before the ages" myth (inspired in the cultures of Central America) as plot device, but it was moot to the real story: the importance of family. Although Mickey and Don got little screen time-development, it was great to see the issues between Leo and Raph (the star of the movie) and show the importance how even when you are at odds with your siblings, family still comes first, since family is the best team you could play for. I think is a good messages for kids (and the fan parents of those kids). The final face off versus the bad guys speaks louds of how a family/team can defeat any odds just by trusting each other and working together.

I could go on and on about the movie, but it will all praises (yes I'm THAT biased), so I will just say: I LOVE BEING A TURTLE.

Sunday 25 March 2007

The Four Horsemen

So I took a deeper look in to the four Horsemen, this is the list:

The First Seal--Rider on White Horse
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

The Second Seal--War
And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

The Third Seal--Famine
And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The Fourth Seal--Death
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

That’s right out of the King James Version of the Bible.

So I’m going with the Fourth, and seeing as the first one has a bow, I’m guessing that is Winged Lion. As a complete guess I pick the third for Oscar, just because of the scales.

And now the movie pitch, listen up Hollywood Land. Just imagine the four horsemen are just regular people living everyday life, and find out one day that they will become the horseman, and that the apocalypse is very near (I’m not to sure that it’s not). Now the problem is not all of the guys are happy about all this, and wish to change it. I think it would be a good movie, if it were done right.

Friday 23 March 2007

At the Movies: Yes another senseless post about the 300.


"This is Esparta!!!" Yeah that is a badass motto, epscially if you spit it while kicking the nuts of your sworn enemy (of your annoying neighborgh), pushing him into a bottomless pitt. I might add it to my repertoire.
As is obvious, I went today to see this movie. I'm not going to discuss its political speech or historical accuracy, nro write a critic to the film. I'm just going to say what I think of it.
"300" has a kickass soundtrack and one of the best photography jobs I've seen, it actually looks like a comic, a Miller comic, and by that I mean that you might want to take a raincoat with you, since the blood and the gratious violence can actually faal upon you. Yep is that gory, but well is based in a Frank "I ruined Batman with my over the top comics" Miller (yes I have no love for Frank). As my friend who went with me to watch it said, it seems like the author was overcompensating.
Anyways, the movie accomplish its objective: move the spectactor beyond a gory tale of war to feel the emotion and wonder of one of the most epic battles in human stor. To realize that no matter how bad are the odds, no matter if you lose at the end, is your legacy, your will to suprass those odds what will grant youthe biggest victory of all: to be remembered by the generations to come.
Indeed the Spartans were mad (or at leats over the top in this movie) and their breeeding techniques might make proud certain wackos, but is undeniable that those guys had ball, big ones. 300 men, very well trained and conditioned faced the biggest army of the ancient world (of course before Alexander and the Romans). Even if they did lose, their victory meant enough time to the rest of Greece to regroup and present a better front versus the Persian army. Their victory was not a physical one in the battlefield, but a moral one: they damaged the persian morale, while boosting the greek one. That battle was one of the decisive one that actually conformed the Western civilization.
Yes the movie portrays that act of bravery, courage, brotherhood and honor. For the modern men their battle was a nonsense, but in a culture that lived for the war, like many others (e.g. the samurai, the viking, the aztec), it meant everything, the whole core of their reason to be.
It has some false ideas true (like elephants. They were used in war until the time of Alexander; or a rhinoceros which was only discovered in Africa until the colonial wars I think) but in some odd way is faithful, not to the story, but to Herodoto's and the ancient greeks myths and narratives. It is sure that the batlle was different and the only true fact is the number of soldiers. But is quite a ride (without the valkyries).
Do I recommmend the movie? Yes, although in no way is suitable for kids or even teenagers (not especially those who can't distinguish reality from fiction. I don't think that someone will appreciate a recreation fo the Thermopilas battle in the school cafeteria). Is an enjoyable movie, adapted carefully from teh graphic novel that gave it brith and to some extent, truthfully to the spirit, if not the facts of what transpired in that legenady battlefield of Ancient Greece. And I say this stating that I don't like Miller's work.
"Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty, for tonight we dine in Hades!" Leonidas (who is NOW* in my list of cool badasses. He fought with you loincloth and a cape.)
*it was a typo.

Appreciation

I just had a rush of gratefulness wash over me. When I got in to work today I had six hours of work that needed to be done in six hours to meet a deadline so I got right on it. Two hours in, all of the building's electricity went out. I freaked because I hadn't saved any of my work on the computer and it was probably all gone.

I was fuming and grumbling, (I'm very good at that, you know, I'm a Grouch) and I was thinking evil thoughts about the men working outside with their bulldozers and jackhammers because I am sure this is all their fault. I was resigned to the fact that I now had four hours to do six hours of work. But when I restarted and opened up the programs I was working in (Word, Excel, and Publisher) I found my work had been saved by the automatic recovery system. Yay, Microsoft! You go boys. (I'm still ditching IE7 for Mozilla but that's another story.)

So anyhoo, I was extremely THANKFUL that I was still on track to meet my deadline and it threw me into a reflective mood thinking about other things I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my family of course, life wouldn't be life without them. I'm thankful for my blogging buds to the north and to the south who make me laugh and keep me going. And so I pledge my allegiance to their flags and to their republics for which they stand...two nations producing the best liquor in the world...with whiskey and tequila (and beer) for all.

And now that I've taken 20 minutes to type out this post...I'm 20 minutes behind again. D'oh!

Thursday 22 March 2007

What a day!!

So this is my first rant post, hang on to your ass.

What the fuck is up with people who can't take an apology, I mean come on, yes I screwed up, and I owned up to it, what more can I do. I can apologize until my ASS falls off, and it will still be the same situation, and I'm sorry someone else has to fix my mistake, but I'm human, SHIT HAPPENS.

I try my best to give co-workers a break when they screw up, I really do. Today I did not receive any quarter. Fine, so be it, next time that person fucks my day up…I’ll do the same thing I always do, I’ll tell him it’s just fine, it’s just the kind of guy I am. Because if I treat him the way he treated me today, he will feel the way I do right now, and I do not want be that guy, so I guess that makes me the better man. Hmmm…for some reason, I feel much better now.

Might just be a lesson in this post, who knows.

Monkeys

Thats me on the bottom right. Hear no evil, hummm might be time for a name change.

Wednesday 21 March 2007

Meet The Atomic Punk

Hello, I’m Atomic Punk, well for today I am, who knows when I might change my name.
I will be the other fellow contributing to this blog, and I’m the one on top…yes I said on top, I’m up here in Canada.
A few points about me.

  • My screen name is from the song by Van Halen, if you have never heard it, do so now, I’ll wait.
  • I’ll wait is also a Van Halen song, if you have never hear it, do so now.
  • I am a HUGE Star Wars fan, the movies, the books, the video games, T-shirts, force FX Light Saber (yes I have one) I’m just George’s bitch.
  • It is rumored that I may be one of the four horsemen, but don’t believe everything you hear.
  • Oscar could have been my brother, hell it would not surprise me if he is, and Winged Lion could have been my conscious, and if this all a dream he most likely is.

As for the hot air Oscar mentioned, he’s right…he IS full of it. I, on the other hand, always know what I’m talking about, and at the end of the day, you will see I make more sense then him.


If you wan to have a laugh, or ponder some random thought, check us out from time to time.


Hey Oscar, look out, I’m sending some of that hot air your way *FART*

Meet WingedLion

(And no, nothing related to Simba, Lion-O, Alsan or similar).

Hello, I'm WingedLion, the tyrannical ruler/boyscout member of the three amigos...err musketeers... err you get the idea. Like Oscar I will be contributing with this blog, when I gather enough energy to actually write something (talking about being a slacker). When you read my entries you will notice that:

  • I have lower intolerance to idiots (what can I say, I have to endure them in highschool), therefore, when something or someone is pissing me I will have my say.
  • For some odd reason and although normaly my memory doesn't work, I tend to get almost encyclopaedic info about usless facts of science, pop culture or random crap.
  • I tend to write many typos and smilies.
  • I have an undeniable love for tv (especially Smallville), movies, comics (only DC and Indy) and webcomics, anime, videogames, sci-fi and fantasy.
  • I tend to be very critic but at the same time optimistic and realistic (yeah odd combo, no wonder why I might have a multiple personality disorder).
  • I try to write dead-pan, sarcastic but good natured jokes (not always work) even about me. It might be the british influence of my postgrade.
  • I'm the self-appointed middle ground of the blog. I forsee a slow and painful dead working here.
  • And yeah I have a big ego. Deal with that.

I will let you wonder which ones are real and which one are a joke (if any). Now in more friendly notes, you might notice that my presentation is similar to Oscar's, well is because he did a good job, so why waste it? :P. My country is Mexico (although I live now in UK... long story). That means is that... well it doesn't mean anything in particular, except that I certified to handle chilli. And that some day we will recover California!!! Or get a deal with the Terminator.

I think that this summarize everything. Welcome and enjoy the ride. =)

Meet Oscar

Hi, I'm Oscar. I'm one of the three stooges...er...people...who will be contributing to this blog. Some basic things that you will discover about me as you read our blog:

  • I'm a chauvenist male pig, nothing against women as long as they know their place.
  • I'm politically conservative, which means I'm always right (pun intended).
  • I'll listen to what other people have to say, but I'm still always right.
  • I'm very serious. Don't joke around with me, you'll regret it.

Oh, and one other thing...most importantly, I'm full of crap and hot air (just like Atomic Punk's gut), so you should probably ignore at least three of the four points mentioned above. I'll let you guess which three.

Each of us is from a different North American country, mine being the United States. The only thing this really means to me is that, unfortunately because I'm in the middle, no matter who farts I have to smell it.

Let's see...did I cover everything...? Stooges...pig...crap and hot air...farts...I think that's about it. I guess I'm done. TTYL.