Dessert!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Robert Plant, circa 1969, as a thrash-metal-screaming baby.



Some more.



And Blake Lewis fever is taking hold. Here's my older son (nicely blinged) recreating Blake's unique beatboxing version of "You Give Love a Bad Name"... and forgetting the words.

Main Course - Weekend review

Want to know how to make a grown man cry?



The boys soccer team I coached gave me a ball signed by all the players after our last game this weekend! I'm such a softie, I was already getting teary during my last pep talk about how much I loved coaching them. Then they brought this out. I didn't actually cry, but my words were definitely choked. They even gave me and my family two gift cards!

The game was a great one, too. Closely played, and tied late. We ended up winning when my son scored a goal on a cross from his teammate. They've made me so proud the last few weeks, actually showing me that they learned what I had taught them about passing and getting open. I'd love to do it again, but not sure if I will.

Now for what I watched:

TV - Still catching up on a lot of shows on the DVR. I watched the second to last Earl episode and loved it! I was a little slow on the Rudy uptake (duh!), but halfway through realized what they were doing. Hilarious!

Movies - Saw Spiderman 3, and I'm glad I did. Let's face it, it's an event movie. You almost have to. But I wasn't very impressed. Lots of awful dialog, corny and unsubtle imagery for Peter's dark side (when the reviews said emo, I didn't know they actually gave Spidey Pete Wentz's haircut), and lots of general silliness that didn't belong in the movie (Bruce Campbell's funny cameo and the "OMGWTF!!!11!" jazz club scene). The action sequences were good, and the scene of Sandman waking up after his transformation is Visual Effects Oscar-worthy (although I'm sure Transformers or Pirates will get it). The villains were okay, although their end was kind of abrupt. And Bryce Dallas Howard was pretty hot.

I also saw Breach, starring Ryan Phillippe, Chris Cooper, Laura Linney, and CAROLINE DHAVERNAS!! (Yes, Jaye from Wonderfalls! That was a pleasant surprise.) The movie was good. It had a constant, quiet suspense to it. I could barely find a time to open my Rollo candies, it was so quiet. Ryan Phillippe's performance was meh, but Chris Cooper again kicks ass. I don't know if his performance is believable from a true-story standpoint, but just from a movie perspective, his creepy paranoid villain is the highlight of the film. The most remarkable thing about the film though, was that there were at least 6 instances of blatant boom mic sightings. I understand that this may be due to an error of projection and not bad filmmaking, but it's very distracting and damaging to whatever dramatic mood the film is trying to set. I recommend the movie, though, if you're looking for a cheap diversion.

Dessert to come!

Appetizer

Wow, I have several things to talk about today! Here's your first course.

Ladies, your wait is over! Now you can safely and naturally match your carpet to your drapes with:

Betty! (via Thighswideshut)

Wow, look at all those colors! And the testimonials are hilarious.

More to come.

Oh Yeah!

You may be expecting me to lament the cancellation of Veronica Mars, but I've moved on from that tragedy (except for my desire that one of the other 4 networks pick it up the way CBS snagged JAG after NBC dumped it). No, tonight I'm going to praise the awesome Office season finale!

What a great episode. Creed's blog, hilarious. Jan's boob job, uproariously funny. The end during Pam's interview, amazing! I thought she was getting teary. I know I was. And the last bit with Ryan was an awesome topper. I've been enjoying the show all season, but I haven't cared about it and the characters as much as last season. Tonight changed that. And I loved Jim's dorky haircut, too.

Next week's two-hour-finale-a-thon is really going to mess with my DVRing. Looks like Fox will have to be videotaped from an antenna. It's the only channel that comes in well enough to record. After that, I'm really excited about my summer TV hiatus. It's going to be the Summer of S. Reed, baby! Reading, studying, running, working out, beach vacation. The possibilities are endless. Except for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I'm still going to try and watch reruns of episodes I've missed. Damn Nickelodeon has screwed me out of one particular episode 4 times! Bitches!

Lost and VM Update

Last night's Lost? Off the freaking hizook!!!! Forgive my comically dated expression, but it kicked a whole lotta ass! Dharma and Ben back story, the Jacob "reveal", more questions raised, and a cliff-hanger shooting at the end? Gold. And there's more to come. There are frustrating things left open, but it's the good kind of frustrating. There are answers, but not the kind that resolve conflict, just make you more curious. Loved it.

And here's some good news about Veronica Mars: it WAS Lindsey McKeon as the radio station manager! I thought I recognized her. Who is she, you ask? Well, not that I watched it, but she was one of the stars of Saved by the Bell: The Next Class. And she was on a short-lived Fox show I liked called The Opposite Sex. Which also starred... Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia! Weird. Apparently she also had a recurring role on Guiding Light:



Man, that's some good acting!

Here's even better news for Veronica: The CW may renew it!! Looks like the direction they want to take the show next year is convincing the network to keep it, and I really like the idea except for one thing: What the hell are they going to do with Enrico Colantoni? He's such a huge part of the show, you can't ditch him, too. Logan, Dick, Piz and even Wallace I can deal with losing, but not Keith!

There's some good season finale stuff coming up before I swear off TV for the summer and do more reading. But I am checking out ABC's Traveler tonight. Hopefully it will be good and won't be a summer series.

I do watch other stuff beside Veronica Mars

I guess I mostly write about it because it's the only show I watch the night it airs. Every other show I watch days later on DVR. Hopefully my writing about it will also contribute to the movement to save the show next season. If the show does get saved, though, they better bring it better than these last two episodes. This week's was better than last week's, but the absence of an over-arching mystery drains the show of a lot of gravity. Character drama just isn't doing it for me anymore (I'm writing you off, Grey's Anatomy, and your ridiculous doctors). Paul Rudd made the show. He was hilarious. AND they played some Idlewild during the show, too! Sweet!

In personal news, I've had a couple good longish runs recently that are very encouraging. Unfortunately, Sunday night after such a run, I almost certainly broke my little toe when I slammed it into a wall corner. It's healing faster than I thought it would, but I probably won't be running very soon. The toe is swollen and a very unattractive color, and I can't curl it without manual assistance. Damn.

In moving the hell out of our neighborhood news, there is no news. Our current plan is to move next Spring, but I recently spent some time looking at foreclosure properties in the area. Does anyone know anything about buying homes this way? Does it only work for investors with lots of cash, or can families do it, too? Because if we have to pay full price next Spring, we'll probably be moving to a similarly sized house in a similarly bad neighborhood. Or moving to West Bum Suburb. We'd like to avoid both of those.

Checking in

Hey, I beat my two week deadline! Here are some recent happenings:

- Remember that syringe I found outside our house, well it gets worse. Over the weekend two guys broke into a house a couple blocks from our house and shot three people inside, one of which died, and a dog. Yeah, we need to move.

- Finally got the remaining Heavy Vegetable and Thingy CDs I ordered after Christmas, and they're great! I also picked up a new CD by a band called Other Men, who is Heavy Vegetable without their female vocalist. It's awesome, too. Rob Crow is a fucking genius!

- Hooray for the return of Veronica Mars last night! Too bad the episode was pretty lame. Patriotic, honorable Arab character was cliched and dated. Fake ID mystery was very limp (except for Keith kicking ass at the end). Pulp Fiction quoting was over-done, not clever. The most entertaining part was the Piz-Veronica-Logan stuff at the end. But I don't watch the show for love triangles. If it's just going to be a soap opera, then don't bother renewing it. And you can't blame it on the fact that these last episodes are stand-alone, without an ongoing mystery. Hopefully the next couple will be better. You don't want to go out like that.

- I still need to watch the finale of 30 Rock online. Can't wait. And if you like excessive swearing, stay tuned to see if NBC screws my DVR efforts again this Thursday with 40 minute episodes of The Office and My Name is Earl.

UPDATE:

OMFG, how did I forget to write about this? Go. See. Hot. Fuzz! It's absolutely hilarious! Saw it over the weekend, and even the wife liked it. I was rolling. The shootout near the end is filmdom's second greatest shootout scene, behind John Woo's The Killer. Funniest movie I've seen in a while.