stahl p. cologne, comin' atcha!

whoops...

2006-04-13T15:32:00.000-04:00

hey hey! almost three months since my last post i'm noticing here, so, yeah, that's pretty good right? keeping right up w/ things.

well, this isn't much of a post anyway. just sort of a reminder to anyone who happens upon this page to start checking back in more regularly. things are more than a bit hectic right now, though in a pretty good way, but i should hopefully start getting some shit down here.

so for now, go out and enjoy the lovely day, or what's left of it, and i'll talk to all y'all motherfuckers later.

stahl

mo' sportz

2006-01-30T15:58:00.000-05:00

it's hard not to chat about sports these days, and sports specifically. namely the sox. ok, the super bowl is less than a week away, and that is awesome as i very much look forward to my dad enjoying his steelers winning and all. he's been pretty psyched to this point, so he should be "overjoyed" once they wrap up the seahawks.

and uconn, well, hey now. here we go. all the way baby. from here on out their schedule does not let up, and i could not be more psyched. get ready for ranked games day in and day out. this shit is "tight!" i just hope playing down to their competition the past couple of games doesn't catch up to them tomorrow, but i don't think it will. and for a team that does play to it's competition, i cannot think of a better way to close out the season and head towards the tournaments than to play game after game of ranked team. they could and should be on a role like they've never seen before. should be exciting.

and i had totally forgotten, but peter manfredo has a "contender" fight in providence in two weeks, sunday february 12. a perfect valentine's day gift! i'm trying to figure out who else is fighting, which neither espn.com nor ticketmaster.com want to help out w/. well, i can only assume it'd be someone amazing, and that manfredo's fight would be the greatest fight in history, because the ticket prices are (lowest) $35, $125, $225, $300 and $500. seriously. at the dunkin' donuts center in providence. $500. seriously. w/ no other matches even listed in their attempts to sell tickets. will there be other contender matches? will 'fonso be fighting? the latin snake? my boy joey perhaps? what IS the deal? cause goddamn, those prices are insane for one match that manfredo should handle easily. i mean jesus, the dude he's fighting is 38! and he's not "b-hop." so, that should be good.

but baseball, or more so, the sox. coco crisp is officially "in center field and leading off!" i have made mention of how i don't think he's gonna be able to play in boston. that's my biggest concern that he's one of the majority of players that cannot handle the pressure of playing in boston and new york. the sox have been fairly lucky w/ this lately, at least luckier than the yanks have been, but i fear this could be a big one. that being said though, it's hard not to get caught up in the "what if?" what if he CAN handle the town? well if he can somehow, then we're looking at a whole lot more than anyone had even begun to imagine would be possible after damon left. this is a guy who's young still, and has had his numbers increase in every year. a guy who hit over .300 last year, which in boston would be a 100 run season at the leadoff. he's a guy who also hit like .331 in the final 30 games of the season last year, which if you'll remember were crucial to a very heated race for the central title down to the final weekend of the season. that was a pressure situation, and this kid delivered. again though, delivered in cleveland. which, even in a playoff atmosphere, is not even close to playing in boston, in april.

all that being said, i'm still gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and hope to god he can handle things here. because like i said, if he does, this is one hell of a situation we're looking at here. it's just that he doesn't help things out by saying things to the effect of, "i'm not johnny damon, so i don't think people will really compare me to him." that's not the exact quote, and i'm having a hard time finding it for some reason right now, but that's the idea. and to be so naive to think that not only will that happen, but that it's already happening and will only increase in intensity from now until he leaves town is just plain stupid. and it really shows he has no idea what he's getting himself into here.

on the other hand, i am very psyched about david riske, especially over guillermo mota. this is a guy who seems to really love the idea of coming to boston, and while not the name that mota is, he has far better numbers, especially over last season, than mota. he should be good for us, and if not, ah well, not really that big of a deal.

now we're only left shortstop-less. but w/ many available players to trade to the o's for tejada. not helping baltimores case to keep him is that javy lopez is now looking to be re-signed by spring training or dealt. what a surprise. lots of money or get me the hell out of here. i think that's actually the orioles motto, it's on a plaque somewhere in the stadium.

i'll leave this one as a sports post again, but i've got movie reviews, news and some videogame chit chat to delve into later in the week. last week would have hard more posts, but one of the days, i think friday, blogger was down for an extended period of time, so i wasn't even able to sign on. so sad. but i've got the goods this week. tune in! later!

stahl

who likes sports shorts?

2006-01-23T23:51:00.000-05:00

so what a fucking sporty weekend we've got here, let me tell you. well, slightly longer than the weekend, since i somehow missed a friday post, yet again. but let's jump all over this shit.

theo's back. what a shock. and i am happy about that, and i am hoping things will start to turn around a bit here, but i'm also so very pissed that all this shit took place to begin w/. do i think johnny would be gone had theo been here? no, i don't. do i think we would have made the move for beckett? no, i don't. but at the same time, while the beckett move, by itself, is a great fucking move and was well worth making, we've got a rotation of pitchers who can go out and start baseball games. at this moment, we still do not have anyone who can even stand in centerfield and pretend he's a centerfielder. nor do we have a leadoff hitter. so...yeah. at this moment, i would take johnny over beckett, and i would take theo having never left in the first goddamn place.

i hear coco crisp is on his way over here, in one odd trade of basically prospects for prospects, which is good news. better than trading away bronson for some untested kid. coco crisp is a good player, but is he the type of player that can play here? that i really wonder about, and i'm kinda worried that the answer is no, he's not. he is also no johnny damon, but that can be remedied quite quickly if theo can come back, use his skillz (yes, w/ a z, they're that good) and get tejada up in boston for clement. all this talk of us signing alex gonzalez is, i hope, just a backup plan to tejada, and possibly even another piece to add to the trade for tejada, to fill baltimore's new hole at short. because man, alex gonzalez? seriously? it's better than trading players away for no good reason to tampa to get the same exact player, but come on. and better yet, why have you not yet traded wells to the padres for dave roberts to leadoff and play center, and then dump clement, gonzalez and "prospects" on baltimore for tejada. what IS the deal?!

well, uconn went about handling it's business this weekend, sloppier than anyone would have liked to have seen, but they got it done, and got it done w/ very little concern. they are THE team in the country this season. and as if them winning wasn't nice enough, duke and florida were nice enough to lose and open the door up to the number one spot once again. here we go. uconn huskies, number one in all the land! all the land i say!!!

then the steelers went about just handling the broncos, and the panthers reverted to the team they were throughout portions of the regular season, just unaware that yes, they actually were a nfl football team. surprise! jackasses... not that i'm overly pissed, though carolina would have provided a much better "game", this should most assuredly hand the steelers their fifth title, and give jerome one hell of a send off. i'm very much looking forward to the flat out dismantling the steelers will do to the seahawks. i mean, seriously, seattle, super bowl champions? come on.

but the biggest most insane sports news of all was kobe bryant literally beating a team single handedly. i mean jesus christ, what he did sunday night, scoring 81 points, was just beyond words. i'd try to talk about here, and tell you all the stats, but it just doesn't even get it across. 81 points! in one game! he outscored the raptors 55-41 in the second half himself! 58 times this season an nba team hasn't even scored 81 points! in a whole game! as an entire team! come on! 81 points! i hope it's an instant classic, as i assume it will be, because man do i need to set my dvr for that. that is a game that everyone should watch, because if you know me, or read this blog, you know i'm not down w/ the nba these days. i keep up w/ it, i watch sportscenter daily, but i couldn't even tell you who's in first in what division (though i've got a prety good guess.) i follow certain players, kobe being one of them, but i could not care much less about the nba than i do these days. but this here, kobe scoring 81 goddamn points, is possibly the most amazing thing i've seen in sports. at the very least in the nba, or in the game of basketball. i've seen larry legend, i've seen jordan, i've seen jordan's flu game, but i don't know if a single thing i've seen in the game of basketball can measure up to that performance. i mean jesus, it's the second most points ever in the nba. and you may say, well, anyone can do that these days w/ all the shots the stars are shooting. no! he shot 28-46 from the floor! 18-20 from the line and 7-13 from three! those are insane numbers! a.i. scores in the 50's quite often. kobe does as well. everyone gets their 50 point game every so often. but kobe not only has the second highest scoring game of all time now, he's also only the third player in the history of the nba w/ two games over 60 points in a season. third player! ever! (wilt and jordan are the other two) this is a game that'll be talked about for a long fucking time, as well it should be, because if you don't understand what kobe did, you need to take a look again. this is one of the finest performances any athlete has ever had, ever.

so yeah, a whole lot of sporty type things to chat about. i'll leave it at that for now. enough to wrap your little heads around. plus i've got a goddamn script that, for whatever reason, has yet to read itself. imagine that. ps. god i love making movies that are just sad ripoffs of something, that often times, wasn't an original or good idea in the first place. this would be my ryan reynolds movie, if i were to do it. we shall see. i would totally have a beard in it too, just like he did. good times. and that's that. gotta take a leak. later.

stahl

i am so sexy right now

2006-01-18T23:26:00.000-05:00

heeeeeeyyyyyyyy...i'm sick. sweet. that being said, i can let you know ahead of time this'll be a short, even less worthwhile than normal post. but i don't want to take it out on you, it's not your fault. or is it? last time i was here, i think you were coughing something up. goddamn you...

so a quick mention of how easily uconn trounced (TROUNCED i tell you!) syracuse, AT syracuse no less. sure, the final was only eight points, but good lord, that's not how the game played out. a severe beatdown that should serve notice to the rest of the big east (and those fuckers down in north carolina. yeah, i'm looking at you duke) that uconn is starting to hit it's stride. saturday night, 9pm, espn, hi def, uconn at louisville, in what should be another statement to the country. and who would have thought that this is all coming on the back of hilton armstrong? i mean jesus christ, when did he learn how to play basketball? what's w/ this okafor impression he's doing the past few weeks? let's hope he can keep it up.

so yeah, i'm all "online", checking out auditions for films and all, and i come across this headline here...

"Looking for a good looking masculine actor 25-30"

so i'm interested, cause that's a hell of a headline. i go ahead and click the link, only to read the greatest posting ever...

Looking for a good looking professional actor to play a role for a male client. You should be muscular, professional, good looking. Prefer light brown to blond hair, green or blue eyes and white male.

You will be flown to Denver for the weekend and be available to the client for the weekend to attend dinners, movie and social engagements: Friday evening to Sunday late afternoon. This is NOT an escort job. This does NOT involve sex and discretion is a MUST.

Interested actors should send your resume and headshot and zed card or shots that demonstrate your physique to this listing.

Job location is Denver
Compensation: $700 for the weekend plus airfare and accomodations

yes, yes, oh dear god yes. now THAT is an audition i'm interested in! let me tell you something, when they say this does NOT involve sex, oh you better believe this involves sex! gay sex! for you! and if not "sex", rape can be assumed. good old fashioned, gay denver rape. just the way god intended. but goddamn, i implore you to check into this. it's not an opporunity that should be passed up, by those who fit the profile. and for those that do check into it. good luck. let me know how easy that $700 is to make. yikes.

ok, i'm dripping shit everywhere now. gross. so, bed time and such. thanks again for getting me sick asshole. yeah, i'm sure it wasn't you.

stahl

football and ikea, a real man's post

2006-01-16T14:05:00.000-05:00

look who just keeps on coming back for more. is it me, or is it you? i don't know, but i may not ever put anymore thought into that again, so, yeah. let's assume it's your fault.

what a weekend of the football, eh? eh? eh! yeah, that sounds good. namely that steelers game though, what a cock burner that was. steelers come out gunning, left and right and everywhere in between! the colts are all, "football? what?" and then joey porter is fucking bitches like it's his bitch fucking job. but then, slowly but surely, peyton remembers he's amazing, and the refs decide that they're not even gonna watch the game, not even in the fucking replays they spend minutes reviewing, and all of a sudden we gots us a game! the colts bring it all the way back to three, but then joey porter just starts slapping bitches w/ his dick again, and the steelers d wraps it up. that's a wrap!

but slow down, hold up, wait a minute! wait a goddamn minute! or, a minute twenty, something like that. steelers from the three, a touchdown to wrap it up, bettis for the gold...a perfectly placed helmet on the ball, fumble! nick "i fell down the stairs, i swear!" harper picks it up and he's out of here, gone, touchdown, colts comeback to win! but sweet fuck, as if he wasn't the best qb from that draft two years ago, he's also the best tackling qb, and big ben makes the game saving tackle of all game saving tackles! holy shit! a minute to go! colts ball, two timeouts, godfuckingdamn!

well, needless to say, it wraps up w/ a first down or two, and a 44 yard "chip shot" for vaderjackoff (i don't know how to spell his name, not to mention he is an enormous douche) to te this fucker up and push ot. from the left hash, in the dome, this asshole misses so fucking far wide right you'd almost assume he was trying to kick from the sidelines. what a kick. a kick that saves the steelers from one of the most ridiculous "comebacks" ever. hell, even though the colts didn't complete the comeback i'm pretty sure i've never seen a game like that before.

the bears/panthers game was pretty good as well, and even though it was pretty close and all, that never felt like much of an issue to me, since i thought that steve smith could and would pretty much break it open whenever he needed to. i said it god knows how long ago, but this season there was no more entertaining player in the nfl. go ahead, look it up, i said it. i even named him midseason mvp. the man is insane.

that being said, the panthers should cruise, seriously cruise, past the seahawks next week. the same should happen for the steelers, though i think the broncos should make it a it closer than the seahawks will. that being said, the superbowl should be fantastic. polamalu and steve smith will be the key's to that badboy. will (and can) troy stay back and stop steve smith? will troy be able to get to jake before he can even get the ball out to smith? what IS the deal? i'm very much looking forward to next week, and hopefully this here superbowl matchup. it'll be a doozy.

so football! what the fuck else is up. i took a trek to ikea this weekend w/ my lady. man, what a party that place is. if you're ok w/ giving up a day, your sanity, and you're ok w/ getting lost inside one building w/ no fucking idea where you are, and just hoping you'll eventually get to where you need to be, might i suggest ikea. it's the second time i've been to that place now, each time at a different ikea, and each time has been crazier than the last. they've got some great prices on some none too shabby products, that is a fact. the furniture is what people seem to go for, and it ranges from "oh man, that's really nice, and so cheap!" to "what the fuck is this shit?", but the kitchen goods downstairs are the coolest shit in my book. knives and pots and pans and shit, all for insanely low prices. and so far all that shit has held up. some knives that are used regularly, and some pots and pans as well, over a year now, that are still rocking out.

though to attain such cheap goods, you have to be ok w/ the idea of wandering aimlessly, and driving around the parking lot for a good hour or more, damn near fighting people to hopefully, eventually find a spot. once you're in though, it's all good. all confusingly lost good.

let's see, anything else to chat about here on this day? ah yes, i saw brokeback moutain this weekend. and after having to hold myself back from just flat out ending these fucks in the back (and because of my "no longer legal to beat up kids" age, being forced to go "tell"), i settled into one of the more depressing movies i've seen. i mean, man alive, ouch. you will not get over how slow this movie is. and i say slow, and it'll come off as a bad thing, but it's not. this movie is just fucking slow though, that's the only way to explain it. it takes it's sweet time w/ everything it does, and as slow as it does move, you just kind stay glued to it the whole time. while little seems to happen, so much seems to be keeping you there. i'm guessing it's heath ledger, who not only gives a fantastic performance, but also got the better character to play of the two. this movie is not about these two dudes being gay together. it's not often about that actually. it's a movie about heath's character, and him dealing w/ his gayness and his life around him, trying to please everyone and pleasing no one at the same time. it's really rough to watch him go through his life as he does, just never seeming to be able to allow himself to be happy. seriously, one sad ass, depressing as hell movie. that being said, it's definitely something that should be seen. movie of the year? i don't know. my initial reaction was while it was great, no. but the more i think about it, the more i like it and everything it does. i don't know how many of the other "picture of the year" movies i've seen this year, but this certainly is worthy of the debate i'd say.

my favorite part of the whole movie, by the way, anne hathaway's character and her ever changing look from time period to time period. it was like looking at pictures and memories of my mom, minus the smoking. hilarious to me, because man did they nail that shit. good stuff.

ok, time for a shower and showery type things. woo! have yourselves a merry little monday, and i'll chat w/ y'all later!

stahl

lost is back! seriously!

2006-01-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

wednesday is here, and just like that, almost gone. funny how we so look forward to these days only to watch them flash by in the blink of an eye. what? was i the only person looking forward to "wednesday in general?" cause, you know, wednesday's are cool.

to figure out that it actually was wednesday (because watching lost an hour ago didn't really drive that point home enough) i took a look to my left. see, right to my left is this lovely wall. and that wall is normally adorned w/ one of those large "blotter" type, desktop calendars. it's nice and big, i can see the dates from a distance, and they provide a good deal of space for me to be able to write down things i need to, on the two days every three months i have something to actually do. but sadly, my calendar was for the year 2005, and for those of you paying attention at home, that has officially come and gone. so for a good week i sat here, confused as to why the days and dates weren't matching up w/ what websites and my computer was telling me. i kept thinking, "damn, i need me a new calendar." never did i actually get up and get such a thing, but goddamn did i think the hell out of it.

so today, w/ my "d.i.y." attitude (that's like a tv channel or something now), i threw caution to the wind and went on ahead and fixed it up all nice. i ripped off the final month (which was december for those wondering, or, you know...retarded) to expose the cardboard backing. a sharpie, a bunch of horribly sloppy lines and ten minutes later, voila! january 2006 is mapped out as far as the eye can see. i'm quite proud of it myself. i'm thinking of maybe making a line of hand drawn calendars. who wants one? they really class the place up, trust me.

so yeah, wednesday. lost. fantastic. i gotta say, i was psyched, to the limit, for the return of lost. what i did not realize was how psyched i was until the show started. and then it all came flooding back, and let me tell you, i was PSYCHED. and an eko episode no less! sweet jesus! i won't go too in depth, since some of you may be on the west coast, and/or downloaders/dvr-er's, but it is fucking great to have that show back. eko like a motherfucker!

so i'm watching this show on nesn today, some sort of "sox news" or some shit. let me tell you, yikes. what an awful show. even more awful because eric "freide" (or whatever the fuck his name is) was filling in as host. those who watch the sox on nesn know that asshole. he's the dickbag that sits in the crowd w/ awful updates on players, and shitty interviews w/ fans, all the while coming off like the biggest dickhead around. he even seems like a bigger dick than remy. seriously, he is impressively dick-ish. anyway, bottom line here is that this show had segments teased at the open that made me believe i'd hear something of interest, even a rumor or something. but alas, an interview w/ francona and what amounted to a recap of the great big "nothing" the sox have been up to was all i got. so thanks a lot eric "fuck-eide." and yes, that's seriously the best i could do.

that being said, i am pooped. another "creative" day for me, which is carrying over into the blog a bit. more entertaining than this thing has ever been i can assume. so i'm gonna throw the wraps on this before i drone on and get boring for the sake of writing something. if i can keep writing regularly this may become a shorter post, so, we'll see what happens. even though it's shorter though, i think it's better. trust me, the sox are on the verge of pissing me off monumentally i'm assuming, so a long post will be on it's way, you can be sure of that. plus, it also seems that all the movies i made last summer are planning on having premieres at the same time in march, which is also looking like the same time i'm planning to go to sox spring training. so, that'll be one hell of a vent if that ends up happening. lots of anger on it's way is what i'm saying. so that'll be fun. for now, enjoy the rest of the week. this rain and thunder/lightening is nuts! enjoy it whilst you can! later!

stahl

who missed me?

2006-01-09T17:35:00.000-05:00

seriously, who did? anyone? nobody? awesome. i figured as much, but hey, i'm back now! a busy couple of weeks to close out one year and start up the next, but i'm back to the basics now! chillin, sleeping, interwebbing, video games and all the good stuff.

so yeah, i'd go about catching up w/ all the things that have happened in the world since my last post, but, eh, you know. it's old news by now. something about a new year, vince young doing his best impression of god, west virginia apparently living in the 1800's still, college basketball getting all crazy (except duke still), and the giants proving how they are truly, "so good."

and yes, here i am, weeks w/ no post and i've got nothing to say. i have spent a good part of the day actually writing for real, so that may be helping. i'm also so fucking hungry right now i can't think of much other than that. which is cool, i'm sure even cooler to read still.

so w/ that i get back into my own boring life in an attempt to fill this goddamn thing out a bit. the past few days i've spent getting little to no sleep and working up to 18 hours a day, "on set", down in stamford, ct. yes, back to work indeed. one of the longest, most ball busting experiences i've had so far, yet also one of the best, most professional and most fun as well. it really depended on when you asked me in the day, but this thing seriously ran the whole emotional spectrum. i suppose that'll happen when you pretty much don't sleep for three straight days, w/ close to a three hour round trip drive on top of those 18, 10 and 12 hour days.

all that being said, it was one hell of an experience and time. and the film itself, "tick tock", should be the best thing i've been associated w/ so far. that being said, please do rush out and see "remedial attraction" still, sometime this spring, but the overall level of professionalism from top to bottom in this movie was great to be a part of. everyone in it was great too. ok, thinking back, not so much everyone. but the actors who are in it for more than "one day" in the story as all great. the one's in there for "one day" are all pretty shitty actually, but luckily, one day.

i've also never eaten so many pretzels in my life. and some little fig newton looking things that were so think and dry that i'm not sure how i didn't suffocate or choke to death shooting this thing. a whole lot of water was consumed.

jesus this is uninteresting. so to wrap it up, a great production, w/ some very great connections made (friday involved being filmed by a law and order director), and some high expectations. very exciting. and then some really awesome friends made as well, at least "in the biz friends", who i can't wait to work w/ again. the whole experience actually got my shit flowing again, hence the "real writing" done earlier.

i should also mention that while there are two days of green screen shit to shoot still (which i'm not involved in) there is already a newspaper article on the whole thing. there were a couple of reporters down there this weekend, and today's edition goes to press w/ a "tick tock" story. sadly no one wanted to interview me specifically, so it's not as cool an article as it could be, but still, if you're interested it's out there.

and oh shit, i almost forgot about my boy "lyric", a hip hop artist out of bridgeport. a) he's pretty damn good and b) was quite entertaining to me during the shooting. once crazy dude. i'll throw his myspace page up here, so feel free to check him out. i'll tell you, as much as i like him as a person and an artist, this page just doesn't do him justice. these songs are nowhere near as good as his newer stuff i heard this weekend, and it might be the most unintentionally gay pictures on the internet. super gay. but, if you saw ludacris this summer, and were there early enough for the opening acts, you probably saw lyric perform. pretty cool shit.

so that's it for today. good to be back. hopefully i'll have something of interest to actually comment on next time. which will be soon! later!

stahl

tom, you gotta come outta the closet, of my god!

2005-12-28T23:57:00.000-05:00

nothing fucking happens at this time of the year. seriously. dick. so that makes posting this lil' blog w/ all my "witty" and "insightful" comments that much more difficult. also, having everyone around and home and whatnot sure does fuck my internal "day of the week schedule" up. seriosuly, no idea it was wednesday.

but yet it is wednesday, and here's your wednesday post. fair warning it sucks dick. and will be short. but i do suppose if i were to be sucking dick, the shorter the better would be my motto.

so, four days into my ds now, and good god, it just keeps on being great. i love the fact that i can pick it up and put hours into it if i want, or i can just grab it and play for like, five to ten minutes and move on. at least that's possible w/ all the games i own. i know there are some that aren't exactly setup for that kind of play, but these four allow for either style. particularlarly mario kart. i know i spelled particularly wrong, but i wanted you to see how dumb it looked. go me.

it is seriously amazing to me that this mario kart does what is does. that after four previous versions (that i'm aware of, on every system since snes), that have done the franchise as well as they have, that this tiny little red (mk special edition) system, w/ a game card that's maybe two inches big at most, is the biggest, deepest, most complete version of the game ever created. there are 32 regular tracks in the game. then you can feel free to beat them all and open the mirror versions of them, to bring that total to 64 tracks. 64 fucking tracks. 64 tracks w/ control that is somehow as pixel perfect as it was on n64 (even w/o an analog stick), eight player wireless multiplayer, RUNNING ON ONE GAME (though all w/o the game have to use shyguy), and 4 player wifi on the interweb. in one 35 dollar game, on one 130 dollar system. or just $150 if you get the red mario kart package. it is beyond me. and if this is what nintendo can go ahead and pull out of it's ass to try to support it's goofy new system w/ a weird ass input, then i can't fucking wait to see how they support the revolution. it should be one hell of a gaming experience.

on that note, in case anyone missed it, nintendo has announced that zelda: twilight princess will take advantage of the revolution controller. what the fuck that means, and why it would even release for gamecube when it's apparently being built FOR the revolution is beyond me, but goddamn that's exciting. it looks like in the first full year of the revolution we may get to play every single big nintendo franchise in some crazy new way, that i just can't fucking wait to play.

also, trauma center proves to be so fucking compelling in it's gameplay that i just can't put it down. that is until i hit a surgery that just absolutely rapes me, and after killing a dude like seven times in a row, well, i feel a lot better about putting it down for a few minutes. those breaks are certainly welcome. the other two games are kinda on the back burner right now as these two just need me to kick their asses, but the limited play w/ them has been great so far.

asked myself, why won't tom cruise just come out of the closet? south park "rewind" or some shit is on now. though it's a bit late to tell you to check it out, i'm sure it'll be on again this weekend, and whether or not you've seen this new season, you should definitely watch it, because this was one hell of a season. particularly tom cruise locking himself in the closet. and r. kelly pulling out his gun. good, good times.

well, let's see. that's about it. got a big fun weekend of super fun times ahead of me this weekend. my lady will be coming to spend the next five days or so w/ me tomorrow, and we will enjoy each others company...sexually. hopefully. plus, i've got like hundreds of dollars of giftcards to spend this weekend, so that should be fun. mostly clothes and little to nothing in the way of a "best buy" type spree, but i am gay for clothes. and i'll be spending the weekend trying to track down one of the few medium black velvet blazers still available at any gap in connecticut. good luck me. there were few, if any, before they went on sale.

so, yeah. that's that. i'd say i'll be chatting w/ you friday, but to be honest, i'm not sure what's gonna be going down on friday. it's more than likely, but i promise nothing. and is that is the case, then i'll chat w/ y'all motherfuckers next week, and happy new year. later!

stahl

post christmas greetings, from an hd/dvr world

2005-12-26T22:44:00.000-05:00

hey hey hey, and ho ho ho. hope everyone had one hell of a merry christmas, i sure did. there's just something about christmas that's so kickass, it is indeed my favorite holiday/day/season/time of the year. this year was no different, despite the fact that everything seemed to want to make it less so. thankfully, that good ol' christmas spirit came through and made for a lovely day.

now that all the gay is out of the way, let's get down to business. kickass gifts i got/things i can wholeheartedly recommend at this point...

- logitech mx 1000 LASER mouse

my dear god, could it be possible that this mouse exceeds not only my expectations, but my previous mouse, the microsoft intellinet explorer? yes indeed it is. this is hands down, THE only mouse that exists in my mind at this point. the levels of comfort and performance are ridiculous. the sensitivity may be set a little high at it's default, at least for my tastes, but i'll be damned if that's about the only issue i can think of w/ this thing. that and the fact that it doesn't ship w/ settings for firefox, but that's remedied in about two seconds (change the back and forward to the keystroke "alt + left or right" depending on which button you're changing.) what's fucking odd is that when you do change that, the buttons still hold the same function in explorer, both the internet and windows variety, but not in the windows picture viewer, which is odd. but between the overall feel of this extremely comfy mouse, the total number of buttons and their feel as well, not to mention it's incredibly quick charging, long lasting battery and wireless perfection, this is the mouse to end all mice. and the little thumb platform is genius. i can't express how highly i recommend this mouse. seven dicks up out of five, especially since you can find it at a few of the big stores for about half price right now.

- the complete calvin and hobbes

this is coming from a guy who grew up reading calvin and hobbes in the paper daily. a guy who has always thought that the art of creating a comic strip has never been done better than by bill waterson. a guy who owns all the individual calvin and hobbes books, and because of that has refused to buy the larger collections of multiple books that contained what i already had. that being said, this set is amazing. to be able to have every single calvin and hobbes strip ever created in one place is a thought that makes me happy. in the pants. the strips alone speak for themselves, but the presentation of the set is really top notch. the books look great, the art work on each volume and the case is perfect, really capturing some of those classic calvin and hobbes moments and feelings. be warned though, this set is not recommended for the elderly, little kids or nerds. or anyone else who can't lift what has got to be like 50 goddamn pounds of comic. it is a beefy set, but that'll happen when you've got every goddamn strip ever. aside from that though, it is just fucking awesome.

- nintendo ds

so yes, we all know of my love for the 360, and how i was at one point thinking i may get one for christmas. as the weeks passed though, it became clearer and clearer (or more and more clear, i don't know) that that just wasn't gonna happen. in all honesty, as much as i would jump to get one today, it probably ended up being better that i get to wait a few more months. hopefully either the price will go down, or the hard drive will be increased. or hell, both.
and then gears of war and oblivion and whatnot as well. that being said though, i've been looking to get me a ds for quite a while now. you may all remember my insane gay love for metroid prime pinball. as more better games just kept coming out, the system just seemed like the logical thing to pick up. i've got me a system and four games for at least $150 less than it would have cost for a 360 alone right now. and it's not just a great substitute for those who can't get their hands on a 360 (which is is though), it's pretty much just a great system, handheld or not. i'm playing mario kart (so fucking good it's pretty damn unbelievable. connecting to an opponent online is a fucking chore though, which will hopefully be streamlined in newer games on the system. it blows my mind to be able to play wifi online w/ that thing though, super fucking cool), nintendogs (seriously too cute to even handle, and i've also had the least amount of time w/ this one since my sister has fallen in love w/ it), trauma center (ouch. seriously. this game will kick your ass. but really fucking odd and fun because of that. another one my sister seems to be trying to steal), and advance wars (hopefully the long term "rpg"/strategy game i'm looking for, since i'm personally iffy about the lack of compelling story in mario/luigi). i'll get some more in depth reviews of these in the coming weeks when i spend some more time w/ them, but i'm thinking these first impressions will hold. i wanted to throw them out there. a cousin of mine got a ds for christmas as well, so i'm looking forward to the multiplayer good times that will follow w/ that. and the online mario karting.

- insane home theater setup

my parents went out and picked up, on my recommendation, a top to bottom complete home theater setup. a setup that is beyond awesome. once again, exceeding expectations. it all start w/ a lovely (seriously) monster surge protector, a kickass jvc th-c6 home theater in a box, a scientific atlanta explorer 8300 hd-dvr, and it's all topped off w/ what has to be one of the best performing hdtv's money can buy, the 50" dlp, samsung hl-r5067w. this is one hell of a system to behold. true to it's reviews, the jvc system is easily the best home theater in a box you can get for under $500. once it's all set up and running the harmony remote is fucking dream. i've had to tweak it a bit, mostly for "watch dvd" (there's really no need for a chapter skip option in the menu when there are buttons for it, but it is nice to add the ability to switch discs w/o having to take control of the jvc dvd player). overall though that's incredibly painless, and once it's working you'll be amazed at a) how well it really does work, and b) how you have surprisingly few places to stash so many now unnecessary remotes. and then the tv, well, take my word for it. cause you have just got to see it to believe it.

those are all the same places i got this thing purchased through. i pass them on to you, because through that, and then grabbing some belkin pureav component cables from amazon, you should be able to get the entire setup, shipping included, for the same price as the tv alone when purchased from best buy. now i'm not knocking best buy, cause it's the place to go for dvd's and shit like that. but to be able to save about $1,000 dollars off the price of the tv is pretty much a no brainer. be warned though, none of these places seems to be very adept at communicating what's actually happening w/ your purchase, but trust that they will all show up as promised. one place said they had no record of the jvc purchase, only to have it show up the next day. newegg was easily the best, shipping the remote w/in two days i think. and rapid plasma used some odd ass company to ship w/, but they did call the day before to make sure someone would be home to get it, gave me an 11-3 window, and showed up at 11 on the dot saying they would have been here earlier but had to wait til 11. so it should be all good. seriously though, if you're not in on an hdtv yet, go right on ahead and grab one of these. it is fucking beautiful.

this is a generally awful post i'm realizing, but, eh, what can you do? i'ma put the wraps on it now, as i'm boring myself and wanting to go jump back into any one of my kickass ds games. i may pick up metroid prime pinball, mario and luigi, castlevania: dawn of sorrow, and/or meteos this week as well. to think that two games go for the price of one 360 game does make me feel a whole lot better about my ds as well. to also think i can take my ds on set and use it to pretend to be busy and not have to talk to people is also excellent. thank god for technology. anyway, that's it. be back wednesday w/ an equally uninteresting post. chat w/ you later.

stahl

a sporty spice post

2005-12-23T00:09:00.000-05:00

two days til christmas, can you even fucking believe it? i cannot. super psyched i tell you. and to celebrate the giving nature that we all know and love at this time of year, i'm here to give you and bright and early friday am post! holy crap! i figured it was the least i could do.

that and in about 12 hours i'm gonna be ass deep in setting up my sweet ass new home theater setup, and signing for my even sweeter new hdtv, w/ a glee i can't begin to express through words. needless to say, i will not be in any position to come type away at my computer tomorrow.

so let's get to it, eh? tony dungy's kid was found dead today. that's hardly a christmas story, but it is making all sorts of headlines. especially since as the day progressed, it seemed that it was no natural death as first mentioned, but instead suicide. really awful stuff, especially at this time of year for anyone, but tony had to be riding particularly high, w/ both christmas and his 13-1 colts looking to crush all those who dare step in front of them once the playoffs roll around. hopefully he and his family can recover, because i just can't imagine losing your 18 yaer old son to suicide three days before christmas.

lighter sports news would involve the straight up ass whooping west virginia handed to oklahoma tonight. throw another big eat team into the top 25. the big east is so fucking deep it's really not funny. well, funny for now as they house the rest of the country, not funny once the big east season actually starts. uconn is just days away from getting marcus williams back now though, so as good and as deep as they've been, they pretty much become the best team in the country, hands down. speaking of uconn, hopefully i'll have my lovely new setup ready in time to watch the "god knows why" matchup between uconn and morehead state at 2 pm today. should be a doozy.

in other, possibly less interesting, sporting news, mlb has joined the us government in being a bunch of douche bags when it comes to the upcoming world baseball classic. last week the us told the "wbc" that cuba couldn't be in it, because appartly it's like 1967 or something, and cuba is a "power", as well as an "enemy." great. listen, if we're actually going to go ahead w/ this fucking idea of a baseball world cup, then we need to make sure that the four teams who really have any chance of winning are actually IN the fucking thing. the us, the dominican, puerto rico and cuba. i really think it just comes down to the us vs. the dominican, as well it should, but at least let the final four compete. and if cuba is out, who the fuck are you gonna fill that slot w/, some randomly selected spanish speaking country? guatemala perhaps? people from survivor guatemala?

and then, as those who happened by for wednesdays post saw, and if you watched tv, went on the internet or listened to the radio at all on wednesday, johnny fucking damon is a new york yankee. yes, he is now officially johnny fucking damon. trust me, i blame the sox more than i blame him, but what a stab to the dick this is. i mean, seriously, the fucking yankees? goddamn. so, while i'm far more composed today, let's kinda try to sum this clusterfuck up as smoothly as i can.

not only do we lose damon and his skills in center and at the top of the order. it's not like we lost him to the goddamn dodgers. no, he went to the yankees, who needed nothing more in their lineup than a centerfielder and a lead off hitter. hmmm...

on top of that, the sox are staring at a gaping hole at shortstop. a hole w/ no apparent plan to fill it. that's the priority right now. we've got a possible hole in center, but we've got johnny damon being re-signed as we speak, so it's all good. we can go about focusing on short. awesome...

well, to sum up the sox "point" here, johnny's price got too high. plain and simple. the problem w/ that is that they're using some sort of bullshit formula that takes NOTHING into account! not even johnny's actual market value! the sox offered up 4 years and $40 million, varitek style. now, first and foremost, johnny damon is not jay varitek. tek is the captain for a reason, he's one of the few sane people on the team. to think damon is gonna go yeah, that makes sense to me, that's just fucking retarded.

then, the sox offered that on, or around, december 6th. that's it. they had no "negotiations" from there on out. and on top of that, johnny was informed that the offer expired tomorrow, saturday the 24th, christmas eve. so now there's a deadline on what seems to be a final offer since nothing else is even being fucking mentioned to johnny!a deadline on a final offer, that he hadn't fucking accepted to that point, and obviously wasn't gonna fucking accept!

so these assholes (the sox) play this stupid fucking game and lose one of the most important parts of this team. word on the street is johnny could have been had for five years, $55 million. one extra year, one million more per year than their offer. two million more than the yanks paid him, but for one extra year. but for some fucking reason, and this is how the sox lost him (cause other rumors say he could have been had for 48-50 million for five years), because they were too goddamn worried about handing out a five year contract. johnny has five productive years left. at least.

none of this even mentions that this team continues to be run like it's the fucking kansas city royals. in case the sox were unaware, and someone should explain to them, they're filthy fucking rich. the sox are a team every other person in the country wants to spend money on (the other half being the yanks). the sox own nesn. the sox GOUGE their fans w/ the highest prices, by far, per ticket. the sox have money for days. to worry about payroll, at the spot they're actually at, is motherfucking insane.

(also, we may remember that long ago, i mentioned the idea of, "hey, johnny wants seven years, he's crazy. how about five, and then a team option from then on out if he wants to finish his career here. just like wakefield has now. doesn't that sound like an idea?")

so let's see, i'm trying to stay together here. so the sox not only fuck themselves production wise (and trust me, there is no fucking way they can get back the combination of damon and renteria's production at this point), but they hand that very prodcution over to the one team that they should do all in their power to keep from getting such a thing. no matter what anyone wants to say, baseball is the sox vs. the yankees. that's it. and whichever one wins out over the other is the team to beat. that's it, plain and simple. so that alone should have pushed up damon's value in the eyes of the red sox. not allowing the yankees to not only get a player they want, but a player the sox have and want back, has a dollar amount attached to it. and it should have pushed the extra money or year onto their offer.

the other thing that should have made this a no brainer for the sox, the biggest thing in my opinion when it comes to re-signing in boston, is that he's a proven player here. coming in to play for the sox or the yanks is like nothing else in baseball. look at renteria, and clement, and pavano and many, many others. it's always a gamble bringing in a new player, so re-signing those who have proven they can play in this atmosphere becomes that much more important. they're gonna go out and give clement 9 million a year, and renteria 10 million a year, basically gambling, playing the lotto, hoping to god they prove to be worth that? (by the way, neither was even close to worth that, so, sweet.) then to turn around and offer johnny damon the same fucking thing is not only insane, it's an insult to him, and to those w/ a fucking brain. you can say you overpaid for them, and you did, but that still doesn't mean it didn't happen. so their fuck up there ends up killing us even more than renteria kicking the ball all over the field, and clement looking like a goddamn fucking retard w/ his goatee and freakshow head.

now you're looking at replacing damon. and since this took so fucking long to happen, juan pierre is no longer a free agent. he was the backup plan. so now the sox look to trade. but who can they trade? and that is the question. the question that puts the sox into a deeper hole. right now it's looking like possibly bronson to the mariners for jeremy reed. bronson has been a star for this team the past few years. his ability to remain healthy, start in the rotation all season long (and be pretty fucking effective, more so than clement), and then make the move the bullpen for the playoffs and be equally effective out there is unmatched on this team. he is the fourth best pitcher on the team (behind schill, papelbon and beckett). but he's also making no money, so he's quite the catch for another team to get a hold of.

so now we lose bronson? for what? a centerfielder who is definitely a kid who could be pretty good, but it's not gonna be right now. and there is no fucking way in hell he'll come even close to replacing damons productivity. but that still leaves us w/ no shortstop, so instead of being one move away from shoring the team up, we're now at least two. at least two because of what we had to trade away to fill our current needs, which in turn create new needs.

by the way, this is seriously the short version.

tejada or cabrerra are absolute necessities at this point. one of them has to come in, and do what they do, for us. be it orlando leading off, or tejada knocking in a whole lot of runs, one of them is needed immediately.

if you want the only way the sox can begin to get out of this hole w/in the next few years, i'll fill you in. mind you, this is a complete impossibility, and only here to make a point as to just how fucked the sox are. they need to trade manny to the cardinals for pujols. more than fair value there, as pujols is younger. throw in propects if need be. pujols comes in and plays first. we currently have like five second basemen and two third/first basemen. so pujols is a certain at first, giving us the ability to trade some of those third/first guys, as well as some second basemen. and clement. and a few "prospects" if need be. and that should be enough to get either orlando or tejada, and a centerfielder (who, i don't fucking know). then we can pretty much plug anyone left on the bench into left (gabe? if he can make it back anytime this season, which is unlikely), as it requires much less to play then center in fenway.

it's a trainwreck. a trainwreck that is made all the better by the fact that the sox didn't offer wade miller arbitration. good thing our roatation is all set, and we have no need for starting pitching at all. awesome.

so that' s what's happening as we head into christmas. i lost, and slightly regained, my mind. the sox decided that they were gonna go "retro" and run the fucking team into the ground. and it's supposed to be damn near fifty and rain on christmas day. what the fuck is going on? i do not know.

but i'll wrap all that up. because it is christmas! can you even believe it? again, i cannot. it's a beaufitul thing. so please to enjoy your christmas weekend. i know i will. i may be back for a quick christmas love note on saturday, but if not, seriously, have an awesome christmas, and enjoy your time off work. chat w/ you later. merry christmas!

stahl

and so it begins...or ends, what the fuck ever

2005-12-20T23:44:00.000-05:00

fuck.

monday eh?

2005-12-19T23:06:00.000-05:00

man, i totally forgot it was monday! here i am, watching MONDAY night raw, thinking about how bored i am and wasting away the last couple of hours w/ nothing to do. then raw comes to an end and it was a special episode in afghanistan, for the troops and all, so they recap it w/ one of their patented music video montages. this one though was extra special because it was to, my boy and yours, say it w/ me now, scott stapp. more specifically his new single, "i'm a huge fucking douchebag, doesn't it rule", or something like that. and THAT made me think how much i wanted to talk about scott stapp, more so on this here blog, and then bam, it's monday and i need to go post!

now that everyone is up to speed, and so happy to be so, let's see what's happening. not much. i'm sleepy and ready for bed, and would have had a much better post hours ago, but this is all you get today. i saw both king kong, and the chronic! what? cles of narnia! this weekend. i also saw snl which contained excellent song after excellent song, culminating in the finest rap performance given in years. if you've yet to see it, head on over to nbc.com, it's all up on there and good god is it hilarious. i've seen it many, many times now, and continue to be completely entertained. good times indeed. if you've yet to hear about it, man, i can't imagine how that's possible as it seems everyone else has enjoyed it as much as i did, and it's totally blowing up the scene. i hope it's just the first of many, many more awesome works between these fellas.

so yeah, kong and narnia reviews later in the week. i can tell you now they're both pretty "glowing." just in case you were all like, "oh man, i want to see them, but i've gotta wait to see if stahl recommends them!" i do, whole heartedly. both. kong more than narnia, but that's kind of a no brainer. though i cannot deny that narnia is infinitely cooler after andy samberg and chris parnell hit me w/ that dope ass rhyme.

what else, what else? well, we're down to, seriously, like five days til christmas. seriously. it's fantastic. i'm incredibly psyched, and living it up. i've still got a little bit of shopping here and there to do still, which is a bit of a pain in the ass that i didn't wrap this up yet. i totally thought i would have been done weeks ago, but, who was i kidding? i went out this afternoon, and target was a fucking mad house for some reason or another, before people should have been out of work.

shit, now that was one boring thing to chat about. target? that's my cue to wrap this fucker up for the evening. and w/ that i am off to bed. and i'll chat w/ you guys wednesday, at which time we'll be two days closer to christmas. good times. later.

stahl

a title is eluding me right now

2005-12-16T00:46:00.000-05:00

fellas, girlies, "ladies and gentleman" if you will, we are now looking at one more "work week" until christmas. hot motherfucking damn! who's psyched? i'm psyched! let's get psyched!

awesome, now that we're all psyched, let me throw this guy your way, which can only make things more awesome. i don't know if cnn.com decided as a whole that they were just gonna start basically making up "news" to throw in their top headlines, or if it's just one dude over there, but kudos to whoever is in charge. after the most excellent crocodiles/elephants battle the other day, they come back w/ what may be an even better story. fat penguins. seriously. fat penguins. it's just another beautiful story, one that can only really be appreciated by those "in the spirit." or just sick of all the same news that's no goddamn where near as entertaining that just keeps getting recycled. or drunk. which may actually be the spirit. it is definitely good to see that someone is looking out for the welfare of these fat little guys, cause they apparently can't seem to do it on their own. one helpful step may be to get them to start drinking coke zero, instead of the regular stuff.

fatties.

on that note, if you have yet to see march of the penguins, it's out on dvd, and widely available for viewing. even if you've seen it and just yet to pick it up on dvd, get to it, cause it is one hell of a movie. and it's good on whatever level you want it to be. a family drama about the strength and love of a parent for their child? sure. one hell of a visual feast for the eyeballs? indeed. the cutest and saddest damn thing ever at the same time? you bet. hilarious? to the max. get w/ it already, enjoy this damn thing.

you may notice that this post is beyond early. it's almost just a thursday post. well, yeah, this is true. but, i've got a day of driving in what may be a huge shit storm tomorrow, which will be followed by putting close to the finishing touches on my christmas shopping, as well as taking in a screening of the chronicles of narnia. or the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. or both at the same time. perhaps "thontltwatw." perhaps. whatever you want to call it. somehow i'm being talking into seeing that before king kong, which is beyond me. something about us seeing it later in the night on friday and it being shorter than king kong (though still close to two and half hours), and something else about i do what my lady says. something about something.

but then saturday, biggity bam! king kong! like a motherfucker! little more needs to be said than that. i am definitely psyched.

don't get me wrong, i am indeed looking forward to seeing the chronicles of narnia, i'm just gay over king kong. i hope that i can keep that gayness flowing after i see it. possibly even ramp up the gay to some sort of brokeback mountain, man on man action level. hopefully...

just a little note here i'd like to make. does anyone remember how kickass silverchair is? i've recently fallen back in love w/ them, and happily seem to have them keep popping up in my playlist. frogstomp was one hell of a cd back in the day, that really holds up today. i love it, therefore you do too. so make w/ the loving.

while we're chatting about music, i just downloaded the new coheed and cambria cd, "way too fucking long of a title for no reason 4", and am also enjoying the hell out of that. it's just as oddly good as the last, seemingly picking up on whatever imaginary story the lead singer pretends to be telling. whatever, it's good listening is what i'm saying.

i'd be remiss, since this fucking post is so early, if i didn't mention that today is howard sterns last "terrestrial" broadcast. it's as big or as little an event as you want to see it as, but now that it's here i find myself being slightly caught up in it. i grew up w/ howard on the radio, listening to stern since back in god knows when. my dad listens to him every morning, and used to listen to him when he was actually ON ccc in hartford, not just syndicated through ccc. the man is a flat out legend in the business, who rightly deserves the title and his spot in history. some people seem to think the fcc fucking w/ him has provided him w/ great material and someone to fight against. i disagree and think that over the past few years he's had some of his slowest stuff ever. granted, not being up that early regularly these days i listen far less than i used to, but still, that's how i see it. if sirius wasn't such an overall piece of shit (and i had any intention of paying 12 bucks a month for fucking radio that i don't listen to in the first place) i may be inclined to check him out over there. in fact, i'll probably download his new shows on the interweb, as they should be really easily accessible. but what i'm saying is that i expect him to really come out w/ some of his best stuff in a long time now that the leash is cut. it should be interesting to see what happens.

for those actually interesting in actually "seeing" what happens, yahoo will be broadcasting, what i assume is the entire show, but at the very least the whole march over to sirius live on their site, so feel free to check that out. again i may download it, though i may actually be up early enough for that tomorrow. we shall see.

the biggest question will be how long until sirius goes under, because no amount of stern fans can create the $500 million they're paying him. kinda like a-rod and the rangers, there's just nothing sirius can do now but cross their fingers and hope to god something i can't even make up here happens. i would assume they'll be bought out by someone before his contract hits the midway point. though again, we shall see.

did i mention though that sirius as a whole is fucking horrible? between their equipment and their actual programming, it's a godawful mess. xm is far fucking superior, namely because of their sports coverage, but also because their actual equipment is, somehow, light years ahead of sirius. a choice of sitting home and listening to nfl games every weekend on your radio, when you're more than likely already at home WATCHING the games, or having the chance to listen to all 162 games of every single mlb team over the course of the season? yeah, tough choice.

oh man, did not mean to go off shitting on sirius like that, but man alive. the company's idea of good business is to just throw large amounts of money at what they, for whatever reason, assume is the problem. overpaying for shit that isn't necessary in the first place is one hell of a way to do business.

as interesting as the sox were over the past few weeks, it seems everyone has checked out for christmas, and there could not be less, or less interesting, things coming out of them right now. "lucchino pleased w/ offseason moves." great, so am i. who gives a fuck? stop talking about how happy you are w/ what's happened so far, get off your lazy fucking ass and make tejada happen. now. clement, prospects, tejada. simple as that. then move your ass to sign clemens so we can just put the wraps on this world series trophy already. man, can you imagine a clubhouse w/ clemens, schilling and manny? jesus, all it's missing to be the most explosive disaster ever is pedro, though i'm sure he'll manage to contribute as best he can from the mets. god i miss pedro.

the huskies have been equally as boring since moving up to number two earlier in the week. that should continue through tonight, as they take on new hampshire, who i honest to god didn't even know had a men's d-1 basketball team. i thought they only had a d-1 hockey team. so that should be interesting. fun to be at, fun to watch, i'll be doing neither unfortunately, so reading how they won by 50 won't be quite as entertaining. three more fake games at home after that before we FINALLY get into what will be an amazing big east season. and i'm rocking it in high def. too bad none of the channels that carry the big east specifically are in high def. so here's hoping uconn ends up w/ a lot of espn games. the big east tournament will look lovely. did i mention the soon to be high def aspect of my life? yeah, it's nice.

ok, that's the end of this chapter. the point of the early post was to get it done and get to bed. that was an hour ago. ah well, it's still early and i'm all posted. now to pack and head to bed. i'll dream about all of you. seriously, i probably will, i'm very crazy in the dream department. so have a sweet last full weekend before christmas. enjoy the mess that's coming today. see all y'all next week.

stahl

crocodiles vs. elephants pay-per-view extravaganza!!!

2005-12-14T16:36:00.000-05:00

ok, back to more real things than gay shit about me today. i'm sure i've got more i could spout off on, but we all know how boring that is. plus, talking about movie making is me talking about work, and i find talking about work to be the worst, most goddman boring thing anyone can do. so on to more funner things!

let's start off w/ my absolute favorite story of the day/week. see, over in zimbabwe, day to day life can be a little tougher than what you'd find over here. for instance, over here, you can go get a drink of water and say, not die. over in zimbabwe, eh, not so much. which is where this little piece of news come in. in what can only be described as a banner year for crocodiles, crocodiles have passed elephants as the most dangerous animal in zimbabwe for the 2k5 year. yes, for years elephants have dominated the rankings, killing more people than any other animal out in zimbabwe. but in a perfect storm of a season, it all came together this year for the crocs. so congratulations crocodiles, you earned it.

equally entertaining news today comes out of iran, where iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad (that took like two minutes to type correctly) went out and was all, holocaust, what holocaust? it's another hilarious read, and you know, accurate. the holocaust truly is a myth. just like bigfoot and nessie. good times iran, good times.

shit, what else is happening out there? i do not know. also over at cnn.com is a link for story titled "girl has surgery to remove 16 pound tumor." as gross as that is, the link isn't to a text story, no, the link says "watch." i'm pretty sure that's not gonna happen, but feel free to knock yourselves out. i understand cnn's desire to push video on it's website, and move more info to it's website visitors, but jesus christ, i am pretty sure streaming video was not intended for this purpose. gross...

i'm getting this post out earlier today, which will allow me to go ahead and direct your attention this evening to a special showing of the grinch. 8 pm, the wb. the christmas movies seem to be slowing down, as we get closer to christmas, so don't miss your chance to catch one of the best tonight. i know i love it.

well, i'm about to (hopefully) put the wraps on my christmas shopping by the end of the weekend. i've got very little left to grab, and i'm pretty sure i know what it is that i'm getting, so barring any bullshit it should be nice and simple and easy. and i'm also sitting here, patiently waiting for my lovely tv to come in, which it has not, but it looks like it's gonna spare me the pain of having to stare at the box until christmas.

before i go, i wanted to make a quick comment about rent, the movie. so i'm sitting here, listening to the soundtrack again today, and just really loving it in that super gay way that should probably be cause for concern. but anyway, i'm loving it, and it's making me think the movie wasn't so bad. i know this isn't true, but like i said before, check out the soundtrack. it's really great, not overly different than the play, but newer and different enough. it's a strong goddamn piece of work, but it also reminded me of what was hands down the best part of the movie. and for those of you yet to see it, be prepared to be angry at having to see the entire movie. because the best part is the opening scene, "seasons of love." it sets the movie up so fucking perfectly that you just cannot even begin to figure out what the fuck ended up happening. you sit down, get sucked into what you think is gonna possibly be a better, film version of the play. the vocals are outstanding, the whole feel of it is just perfect and should be what the entire film feels like. but no, chris fucking columbus, who i refuse to even link to anymore. enough press for you cockbag. i would not mind getting the dvd solely for that opening scene. it's a truly fantastic scene, that sadly only serves to set you up so high, so that you can come crashing down throughout the rest of the film.

and that's that. for today even. but before i go, a sincere and heartfelt offical goodbye to bill mueller. the things he did for the sox cannot be measured in stats, but we all know that there is no world series title in boston w/o bill mueller. and not just because of his hit off of mariano. the guy was a fucking killer and the dodgers are lucky to get such a great fucking player, and a great guy. good luck to you billy, you will definitely be missed.

so that's that, for real this time. enjoy the grinch, stay nice and toasty inside, and chat w/ y'all later.

stahl

a little about me today. for real. how fun

2005-12-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

another week and another goddamn monday. goddamn. i say that like today was a bad day or even a day i wasn't looking forward too. neither is true, and in fact i waas greatly looking forward to today so i could get some goddamn sleep. goddamn. but, you know, mondays and all...

anyway, what is the motherfucking deal? i've really got nothing to say to you people today. if i weren't so goddamn tired i'd actually spend some time writing some real stuff, but, you know, goddamn. we shall see. i am awfully motivated though, or something in the vicinity at least. goddamn.

so what's happening "round the way?" nothing it seems. i mean, the sox go about making horribly boring announcements that mean nothing and no one actually cares about. and no tejada/sox news. i am no giants fan, and if possible even less of a jets fan, but man, i am interested in checking out their new stadium they've got cooking up. that thing sounds like a par-tay. maybe i'll use my insane celebrity status to grab some superbowl tickets there, which i'm assuming would be about a year or two after it opens officially.

i seemt o have far more things to chat about that are about me than about general ass shit today, which isn't normally the way i like to operate. i'm trying to control myself, but, seriously, the world as a whole is boring me a bit today.

i had a meeting/rehearsal/dealie on sunday at about 9 in the am. 9 in the am w/ about an hour and a half drive down the penis of connecticut. don't get me wrong, the whole thing went well, and even more psyched about the finished product now that i've gotten to meAt everyone and see them actually in character, but that is just a way too early hour for stahl to operate at. too goddamn early. but, being the first real day of shit and all, i was too nervous/excited to be too tired once i got down there.

as i said above, man, i am super psyched about the cast. first of all, no one is a douchebag. one dude certainly seems like he'll be looking to be punched by day two, not to mention his fucking name it torrance. seriously. wait, let me check my shit, cause that just sounds too fucking dumb to be real. oh jesus, holy shit! the dudes name is "hank torrance", yet for some reason he goes by torrance! fanfuckingtastic. shit, i mean, i know why he wouldn't want to go by hank, but when the alternative is torrance, it takes some serious fucking balls to actually tell people to call you that. goddamn...i'ma call him hank next time, see how that goes. man, it does make sense though, as he is "that kind of guy."

everyone else though, totally awesome. and old. there are three people in this film even near my age, and one of them is me. so two other people, and honestly, one just looks my age, but is actually 30. so then there's just one, who is my age. but it is something, a bit imposing at first to see all these old people who have been acting for most of their lives, and studied it and do shakespeare and shit, and then there's me who two years ago decided, "eh, i suppose i'll be an actor," made up a resume and went about my business. it does say something that i am in this film w/ people who have dedicated their lives to this and shit, that i am naturally better than them, which i'm sure once this is over i'll be back to feeling, but for now, slightly imtimidating.

but the thing is that i can be intimidated as much as i want, but everyone is pretty fucking nice, so it's hard to stay that way. in fact, mild intimidation quickly led to insane boredom after we took a break and everyone started having these horribly boring conversations about theatre and people in the theatre and characters in plays, and how they played them and blah blah fucking blah. the other thing about everyone else is they all have extensive theatre backgrounds. which is a plus for me, as it's easier for me to work on film. and it also helps to make me not the most boring person on the face of the earth.

but man, sorry to all those i'm about to slap w/ my dick here, but everyone in this is better than everyone else i've worked w/ in every aspect. point blank. this will easily be the best finished product i've been a part of. i'm still not overly sure about the script, just exactly where the humor should fall, but going through it, man, this is gonna make all my other shit look like shit. if only it were a larger project immdiately, instead of being more of an audition for future work. but, i'll stay positive w/ how great it's gonna be.

so me and these other two people around my age, i found, tended to hang together more often then not. which is fine by me, both very cool people to this point. the best part of the day may have been that the chick has a bit of experience w/ a dude who was the most douchebaggy/sweetest in my last film. gotta love the new england scene. anyway, for those not in the know, it reminded me of just how fucking sweet mr. william decoff is, and how he has what is most assurdly the worst website ever. the full site will not work in firefox, because seriously, who uses that anyway? jackass. but i'd recommend the experience in both browsers, as each gives it own laugh at it's amount of shit-titude. what a dick

so bottom line is things are awesome on this film. and so far, more so than anyone else i've worked w/ as well, this is a group of people i'd love, LOVE to work w/ in the future. in fact many are people that may make it easier for me to write, as they're people i would love to write into my shit. this one dude so should have been the guidance counselor in remedial attraction instead of my boy dick barron. but, such is life.

the moral of this story, before i just started smoking dicks left and right, is that i thought 9 am was my call time for the actual shoot. and that sucks dick. but not to worry, i was totally mistaken. no, instead it's actually 7:30. am. seriously. that means basically 4:30 am days for me. i am psyched. to the max. woo. fuck...

just to cover some bases, the people in this are better than their respective counterparts in other shit i've done. so most of my "contemporaries" should feel safe in knowing they've yet to be bested. except the ladies. this one is MUCH better than you. so, you lose. and honestly, the guys aren't being bested because there's no competition. though the bar is awfully low, so don't get too excited assholes. plus i hate you all. except for one dude, and he knows who he is. and then i know there's one dude who absolutely thinks i'm talking about him, but hah, no, i am not.

and my old pa (who i'm sure reads this, as does everyone else i'm talking about, because who the fuck doesn't?) is still the best pa. this one has a large dyke-y chick who i think honestly wants to throw me through a window. and should very much could. so...yikes.

man, this post is gaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy. speaking of which, my "not sure" staus on myspace continues to yield an impressive amount of gay invites. and not just "friend invites" from gay guys. gay invites for gay sex. seriously. it's fantastic.

just a sweet lil' note here, to those w/ mouses w/ forward and back buttons on them. it's possible i may be the last person to know this/find this out, but i'm loving it. if you have such a mouse, in itunes you can change songs forward and back w/ those respective mouse buttons. you have to have itunes as the active window, and actually have your mouse somewhere in that window, but still. it may not seem like much, but honestly, i fucking hate having to mouse over to the next and back buttons. it seriously pisses me off.

we're down under two weeks til christmas, and that is some fantastic news. i've recently come into some other fantastic news that concerns the way television is viewed in my household. it will not be viewed the same way for much longer. i am psyched. worst part is that i'm in on the news cause i've gotta fucking sign for this shit sometime later this week, and then somehow not just rip it open and start enjoying that which is "hdtv." fuck my ass. luckily it's off to my ladies for the week leading up to christmas, so hopefully it comes on thursday or friday morning so i won't have to sit and stare at the box the rest of this week. trust me, you'll be hearing all about it two weeks from today. even more so if one lovely 360 happens to make it's way under the tree as well. though if that does happen chances are good you won't hear about it cause i won't be moving til i've gotta go make this movie. 360, giant ass hdtv, 5.1? yeah, as great as it sounds, it's probably not the best thing for me and my career. but, there are worse ways to waste your life.

and that's that. enjoy your last two weeks of shopping and counting down til christmas. it truly is the most wonderful time of the year, so live it up while it lasts. it'll be gone all too soon. i also hoped all your guys watched arrested development tonight. not only was it awesome as always, but we're counting down to the final few episodes here. you better not miss the boat. anyway, enjoy the beyond freezing ass cold, and i'll see you guys in a couple of days. later!

stahl

a bit of the sox chat

2005-12-09T22:37:00.000-05:00

so yeah, it's friday. nothing to chat about. oh wait, except for this little ditty...yes, it seems that miguel tejada has realized that the o's suck. suck dick even. he may have been able to pick up on this earlier if his english were a little better, but i suppose $72 million translates pretty well. better than, "we suck. we suck dick even."

so while that by itself is certainly reason to laugh at the o's, the fact that he made this announcement mere hours after the sox sent edgar renteria packing is a bit too much for my little brain to handle. the timing is far to perfect to mean anything other than that which is implied. tejada wants out of a shitty situation, and sees not only a better situation, but the perfect situation for him to slide himself into.

here's the thing. tejada was a great player in oakland. he was always mentioned as being the fourth member of the "big three", nomar, a-rod and jeter. as much as he, and the a's, would have liked that to be true, it was not. then in 2004 he headed to baltimore. not overly interesting, though at the time there was talk of the sox signing him, which at the time was insane. see, a fella by the name of nomar was still rocking out at short for the sox in 2004. at least to start the season. then some things changed and nomar was shipped to the cubs. orlando cabrera came in and more than did his part in winning the 2004 world series. for some god unfuckingknown reason the sox dumped cabrera, a proven player in boston, and signed renteria for about ten million more than orlando would have cost. ten million for a far lesser player.

during that time period, miguel tejada became a monster in baltimore, w/ the bat, but even more so w/ the glove. in big games against the sox or yanks, tejada was an absolute killer. and since nomar was shipped away, and mostly over the entire span of 2005, i have just imagined a red sox team w/ tejada at short, and wondered why that wasn't what i was looking at. but now, a christmas miracle seems to have occurred, and miguel tejada sees it as well. the sox are looking at a big fat nothing at short. tejada is looking at running out his contract doing nothing but putting up mvp-ish numbers for a team that could very well finish in last place. and as good as those numbers tejada puts up in baltimore are, in boston they would just get even better.

the best part about all of this seems to be how easy it would be for the sox to steal away tejada. true, a manny for tejada trade would make sense if the sox were actually looking to dump manny, and would be something the o's would be interested in. but i'm pretty sure the sox aren't looking to dump manny, and i'm also pretty sure manny has zero fucking interest in going to baltimore. so then, where do we go from here? well, the o's need pitching like nobody's business. i happen to know where they can get their hands on some "good", young pitching! let's say we got a fella by the name of matt clement, who we need to deal before everyone else realizes he sucks. we've also got two guys on the staff who "came up" through the system that will be on the 40 man this year, jon papelbon and craig hansen. hansen may yet prove to suck, but papelbon we know is gonna be the man.

my point being, what the hell are the odds that the sox have anyone in the minors ready to come up like these guys anytime soon? slim to none based on history. they are not the marlins. so anyone and everyone who pitches for the sox minor league teams should be able to be traded. "prospects" they call 'em. the only prospect they have of actually doing anything for this team is coming up in august to spot start one game of a doubleheader, and in turn get blown out. i'm looking at you abe alvarez. so let's start packaging these assholes up and sending them (w/ clement) off to baltimore! stat! asap! other things!

and to top all this off, it seems johnny damon is close to finalizing a deal to stay w/ boston. i'm pretty sure there's a link for that, but i can't seem to find it. so take my word for it. so imagine, if you will, a sox lineup that goes damon, tejada, ortiz, manny. then trot and jay. fantastic. and then, if you will, a rotation to back that up that goes schilling, beackett, papelbon! and hell, let's just get crazy and throw clemens in there too! what a fucking team this will be!

the only downside to all of this tejada talk is that it is too good to be true. that and it makes too much damn sense. and the sox are not often times about that. but christ man, this would go a long way to changing that thought. this, re-signing johnny, keeping manny and getting beckett? that is far too much logic!

so baseball is rocking out right now. in december. like a motherfucker. it's fantastic.

the other big news it that it snowed, an assload, today. surprise! it's winter in new england! but man, because of that, i was all "shoveling" the sidewalk and the deck, both of which are huge (trust me, i'm a huge star, remember?). now i'm all tuckered out, and more than likely out of things to chat about, so...i'm gonna call it a post. and head to bed. so enjoy the snow, most of the country, and have a sweet ass second to last full weekend of shopping before christmas. it's sneaking right up! later!

stahl

barbara bush...hehehe, bush

2005-12-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

just to "break" the "news"...barbara bush is NOT engaged/married. no not old barbara bush, or "babs" if you will. that's just gross. and yes, she is married, though i'm not sure to who. i'm talking the younger, hotter (to some), twin barbara bush. i know, it was really stressful for you guys trying to get through the night wondering, is she, isn't she? what's going on? well relax, it's all good. not only is she not engaged, but there's just no way in hell the ring she's wearing could be at all thought of as an engagement/wedding ring. but that's cool, it had been a seriously long time since i had heard anything about those chicks. not sure what that's all about, but i hope it doesn't mean they've stopped being awesome.

i'll tell you something that excites me. in the pants. daily scott stapp news. what in the hell is going on? i mean, i understand, new cd, all by his lonesome, blah blah blah. but even when creed was together i don't remember seeing so much about scott stapp. it's fucking fantastic though, cause this is one man who does not have a grasp on reality. go ahead and check that article out for yourself, and then go ahead and add that to what you read a few days earlier (see: "311, i am ready to fight."), and tell me this isn't one hell of a celebrity. a guy who just knows that no matter what he says or does he'll still be rich, so it's all good. a guy whos just knows how to make my day better. for those not inclined to read the whole article, a few of my favorite quotes would be...

"I think it's going to be like when Sting left The Police." (wha? seriously?)

"He won't allow speculation about whether he's a Christian artist (he's not)." (he is)

"Jealousy started setting in," Stapp says, "and egos." (his)

"I just felt hated so I wanted to go away." (so far away, to the land of solo artist where no one will ever see or notice him)

"As much as we were successful, it was a painful success, at least for me." (and by painful i can only assume he means the effort it takes to make his face look so dumb, as well as the energy expended pulling his "love clone" into a rowboat, and, you know, counting his money and cutting satan in for 10%.)

what confuses me about all of this, specifically this article here, is that cnn actually portrays him as he says he is, and not the insane egomaniac that everyone knows he is. but like i said, a day of scott stapp news is a good day by me.

i know i said i was done talking about the bills, but i also said i was sure i'd come back and talk about them anyway. so, the bills have decided not only is their season done, but let's apparently start blowing up the team. or so it would seem. suspending moulds for no real reason is just the first step in setting off every veteran on that team that is ready to win, and could win if this goddamn team could put together an offensive line. but that continues not to happen, and this team continues to go nowhere. so, i look for a marlins style fire sale in the next year or so. that should be fun.

i should be watching lost tonight. i am not. thanks a lot abc. merry fucking christmas to you too.

i gotta say, i wasn't really too interested in the off court nba dress code that was introduced this
year. is it dumb that it has to be mandated? yeah, probably. could players stand to class it up a bit at press conferences and shit? yeah, probably. but this long shorts fine is just crazy. there are just so many other issues w/in the nba to be addressed before you try to go and bring back larry bird style shorts. for instance, make your product at all interesting. i can't tell you how fucking much i used to love the nba, in the 80's and 90's. it was great. college basketball didn't compare to larry vs. magic, celts/lakers, celts/pistons, pistons/lakers. the nba was just fantastic. and then jordan came along and carried the whole goddamn thing on his own. bulls/blazers would be a laughable idea today, but back then it was one hell of a finals. clyde the glide. many others. the league had stars, scoring, franchises, and games that were worth watching. last years finals was a matchup between what were hands down the two best teams in the league, but goddamn could i just not really get into it. and that was a finals w/ timmy d, a dude you just can't help but love, and a uconn all time great in rip hamilton. but christ almighty was it boring. it's not even so much the series itself, it's the flow of the games, and the utter lack of intensity. and to go ahead and attack the players like this, and go after the length of their shorts is just pointless. and to think that kevin ollie is an offender of this "offense" just shows how laughable this whole idea is.

man he's holding onto that mustache.

also, can the death of reggie lewis be directly attributed to the death of the nba? i'm looking at the dates, and it's not such a far fetched idea to me.

so yeah, what else? well, baseball happenings are exploding everywhere. i'd love to get into them all, but there's too damn much happening and not happening to really say much about it right now. once the winter meetings wrap, and free agents start getting signed left and right there should be a better picture of what's happening. so next week maybe. that being said, it's looking like johnny damon is coming back to boston! woo! though i am lamenting the loss of doug mirabelli, a very important piece to this team the past few years. though before i get too excited about damon's return, i did hear all day about how trevor hoffman was going to the indians, so, yeah...

ok, that's really all i've got to say to you people today. you people? what do you mean, "you people?" yeah, seriously, what's my problem? anyway, do your best to stay nice and toasty, as it has become an almost unsafe level of cold out there. unless you live in the midwest, then you can pretty much remove the "almost part." and to those in the northeast, enjoy fridays snow. if i don't post, it's only because too much snow fell directly onto my cable connection. and that would such. no interweb would make it awfully hard to post. and do other things. like live.

stahl

scott stapp, i'm ready to KISS you!

2005-12-05T23:15:00.000-05:00

stuff to say today! woo! nothing overly intersting, unless of course you only want to hear the greatest thing in the history of time! man, i tell ya, i read this story late friday night and couldn't wait to just tell everyone i could find. scott stapp is a man. no, scott stapp is THE man. you don't just go about, effectively challenging dudes to a duel. on top of that, you certainly don't go out and challange an entire band to a duel. but goddamn, if you're scott stapp you do whatever the fuck you want apparently. i suppose that's what happens when you've got god on your side. and your ego. both figuratively and literally, like in the creed video where he pulls himself into the boat and then makes out w/ himself. or something. i don't remember it all, but i'll be damned if i'm gonna forget TWO scott stapp's on screen at the same time. good, good stuff.

some tv happenings are happening today. two things actually, of varying degrees of interest and awesomeness. first of all, chappelle's show will "return" sometime later. it'll be airing the sketches they shot before dave went "crazy go nuts", which is a nice alternative to nothing, but i still sit her waiting for the full return of the show. and then, of more interest since it's actually happening as we speak and all, arrested development returned to the air tonight. what a great fucking episode too. if you missed it, download it now. if you watched it and don't have a dvr on which it is recorded, download it now. how ever will tobias get underwater? sweet jesus, best show on tv. period.

the bills motherfucking suck. that's about the quickest and easiest way to sum that up and move on w/ the season. they led 21-0, and 23-3. they lost on a fourth down play w/ six seconds on the clock. awesome. fanfuckingtastic. that's hopefully about all i've got to say abot the bills now, for the season. i'm sure i'll get back into it next week, but i'm really ready to throw myself entirely into the huskies now. so, thanks for an incredibly forgettable year buffalo. much appreciated...again.

and in an attempt to make the nfl playoffs incredibly uninteresting to my whole family, the steelers lost to the bengals in what seems to have been one hell of a game. and what was certainly one hell of a performance from ben roethlisberger. i mean, he's got no goddamn thumb. just ask kurt warner how fun that makes things. but instead of warnering it up and fumbling on every other snap, ben throws for a career high 386 yards. what a man. what a fucking steal he was too. man was that draft ass backwards.

anyway, now it's just up to the colts to go undefeated, and the pats to lose in the first round of the playoffs. if those things can happen, i'll stay mildly interested in the rest of the season. if not, eh.

the winter meetings are underway, and the sox are making moves. i've been attempting to wait and give one big sox post, and i will, but i just wanted to mention it. i mostly wanted to express my unbelievable excitement at the prospect of matt clement getting shipped the fuck out asap. man, i think we all know how i feel about that asshole.

i am still xbox 360 less, but that was to be expected, at least until christmas. the thing is though, that every day w/o it is making it harder for me to be w/o it. i thought i'd be ok, i mean, there are games i want to play for it, but they're not going anywhere. and even those i want to play at launch are games that i may not be purchasing if they came out in six months. but they're still great games, and i'm really starting to need to get my hands on them. call of duty 2, project gotham 3, perfect dark, and now i'm really looking at adding nba 2k6 and need for speed: most wanted to that list. the first three are pretty much locks. pgr and perfect dark have history w/ me, and so far it's a great history that i'm not really willing to just dismiss w/o playing them first. and call of duty just looks to be so incredibly immersive, and a game i'm very much looking to play online. not to mention it's (based on the demo) kickass, super intuitive controls and amazing everything else. but the fact that nba 2k6 plays just like it should and has everything in it (as opposed to live 2006), and apparently looks flat out amazing on an hdtv, and the ever increasing possibility of me getting my hands on an hdtv, well, that's starting to look really fucking enticing. and then most wanted is just supposed to be flat out fun. which i honestly wouldn't expect anything else from. combining the underground series, which has been fun, w/ hot pursuit is a pretty fucking great idea. but do i want to have two acrade-ish racing games so soon? i may wait, but if i wait too long, burnout revenge will be here, and that will take over everything. p.s. burnout is now more than just prettier graphics for the 360 it seems. huzzah!

but aside from those games, that are seeming better and better each day i don't have them, i'm just dying to sit down w/ a wireless controller in my hand and turn that system on and off. and then just kinda walk around while i'm in a live lobby, controller in hand, off in the kitchen. no longer a need to "be right back" as i run off to pee. now everyone will come w/ me and hear the loveliness of my wiz. i'm also really starting to put together a list of live arcade games too, which is a little surprising, because i've never even seen live arcade running on my original xbox. i never got a disc w/ it on it. and here i am already, starting to add up "points", wondering how many of those little cards i need to buy. i'm thinking i may by the 12 and 3 month live starter paks, just to get both arcade games they offer (you know as well as the 15 combined months of live, a headset, some more points and 30 total bucks off a new 360 game. it really is a fucking steal). and then all the other great things that system does, like gamer cards and shit. i keep looking at my friends gamer cards online, wondering how cool it must be to check in and see how much progress you yourself have actually made in the game. cause so far, pretty cool just checking in on others.

so yeah, 360, i needs it. christmas is but three weeks away. no, less than three weeks away now. me and my lady got some shopping done this weekend, which was good. but more so, we got some "toys for tots", and that just felt good. so please, if you're out there and toys r' us, or your church or work or anything like that is running a toys for tots like program, just pick up one toy. one five dollar toy from everyone would help make so many kids so unbelievably happy this christmas. five bucks is just one less starbucks coffee you shouldn't be drinking in the first place. and you just can't imagine how good you'll feel picking something out for someone like that.

man, i feel very compelled to say that, and get that out there, but it is awkward for me to really be so "serious." but it's really important and has to be said. you may notice i keep throwing a child's play banner at the top of every post, and that's a perfectly fine alternative, but i just really feel that those of you who can give back (and trust me, if i can, you can), you really should. no matter how little you think it is, it's not. in fact, it's probably as big as you think it's little to someone in need. so, sorry to bring down the party here and kill everyone's buzz, but w/ less than three weeks until christmas, i just want to make sure everyone gets the point.

so, that's as good a way as any to wrap this bad boy up. to all those up in my neck of the woods and surrouding areas, enjoy the snow, drive safe, make a snowman, go sledding, take a picture, find an empty snow covered parking lot out of sight og police and do donut upon donut to your little hearts content. something. instead of complaining about how fucking cold it is (which goddamn it is) and how much snow there is (which there probably will be) live it up! snow is a party! snow, it's not just for pansy ass skiers anymore! see all you motherfuckers later!

stahl

can we be lovers AND friends?

2005-12-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

happy friday everybody, as well as happy december. man, november didn't even really happen did it? but it's all good, cause christmas is right around the corner now. so, you know, hooray for that.

back to rent for just one more minute here. my full, "in depth" take on it was in wednesday's post, so feel free to check that out for all the crazy things i had to say. later that night though, rent soundtrack playing in my head still, i think i came across my perfectly succinct rent review. rent the movie is like, 25 (or however many songs are actually in the movie) loosesly connected music videos. it does not often times feel as one whole piece, and that it what takes you out of it. that and the fact that chris columbus also is an awful music video director. which all adds up to something less than the sum of it's parts. and that's that.

now i, you, we can all move on w/ our lives. and move on we shall. though to what, i do not know. very little seems to be happening to strike my fancy these days. there are a few things, like this story that interests me and disgusts me entirely at the same time, so it makes for an interesting read. and then there's connecticut, representing as always. and let's not forget about "hurricane season", or what should now just be called "normal" or "everyday."

but nothing super interesting overall. and it's friday. and i'm about to go enjoy a weekend of christmas shopping and movie theater going, so that is that. what will i see? who knows, but if you guessed in the mix, god i wish you were right. ur-sher! oh man, i forgot about that song, now i'm gonna go sing it in the shower. what a way to kick this weekend off. so all y'all motherfuckers have yourselves a good one as well, cause i am out of here!

stahl

lost in boston, lost in lost

2005-11-30T23:25:00.000-05:00

it's the middle of yet another week (they sure do seem to just keep on coming, don't they?), and that means yet another post. how fucking lucky are we all?

well, let's get this party started. first off, xbox 360. yes, when will i ever stop talking about? a safe "guesstimate" would be never, since i still don't even fucking have the thing. so all this chat doesn't even begin to go in depth on the actual feelings/thoughts i'll have to express about my specific system and games. and boy will that rule.

chances are good though that you too do not have a 360 in your hands. chances are also good that anytime you ask any of the stores that should carry such an item if they will indeed be caring that item, you get laughed at, punched, kicked out, things like that. they'll go and tell you shit like they won't be gettins systems until january, february even. well now you can do the slapping cause those fuckers are liars. fucking liars. yesterday (i think, not entirely sure, but i'll say yesterday) microsoft decided to make official and let people know what many have been speculating for a little while now. xbox 360's will be out this week, and every following week from here on out. will you be able to walk in and pick up a sytem off the shelf anywhere you want? no, that probably won't be until january. but if you keep calling to find out if new systems came in that day, chances are good you'll be able to get your hands on your choice of system (and by that i mean the real/full system) sometime w/in the next few weeks. so keep on checking. but not if you're near me. i'll go ahead and let you know when it's ok for you to go in and pick yours up in the hartford area. for now just sit tight.

i saw rent last weekend, and i gotta say, i really don't know what to say about it. well, no, i know what to say about it, i just don't know what that means about my overall opinion of the film. it is...good, bad, right down the middle, great and awful, depending on what scene/cut/second you're watching. it's a real mixed bag, which is a shame. and if you're not a fan of the play (or of that kind of musical, or think you might be a fan if you've yet to see it), you'll probably think theres more bad than good, which i really couldn't argue w/. if you are a fan though, you'll most likely fall into the other side, w/ some even flat out loving it. in the end i could see it being easier to "hate" and more people hating it than people who "love" it. it's just, those who like it will like it, but i'm not sure too many of those will flat out love it.

let's get the bad out of the way. chris columbus is a fucking hack. this man's name should never have been mentioned while thinking of people to direct this film, let alone actually
allowing him to go ahead and direct it (the same can very much be said about the harry potter films as well, though we'll delve into my unknown hatred for columbus later). he takes source material that should have been treated in one of two ways, and decides that a third, far worse option if available to him. the two ways this movie could have gone would be to make it chicago style. setting it up as almost an incredibly elaborate stage version. something that strayed very little from the original style and format, but expanding in ways that film would allow to create for a richer experience. either that, or they could have stripped the singing entirely, using it (if at all) as an actual soundtrack played behind the film, and shot a movie that had characters and a story that is very deep, emotional and pretty important.

instead chris fucking columbus decides he's got a plan. he decides he's gonna make this a "musical." now before everyone gets all worked up and says, "but it is a musical, dick", let me finish. it is a movie musical. it is not the musical rent as seen on stage. the play is just crammed w/ emotion, which is amazing for what it is. the movie is what you would expect from a movie musical. it's cheesy as hell. that's the biggest complaint, and the easiest way to sum up the bad aspect of this movie. it's so incredibly fucking cheesy, in a way i do not remember the play being at all. as if that weren't enough, columbus seems to think that everyone watching the movie is a goddamn retard, and feels the need to blatantly spell things out for you. an example would be his love of cutting montages into songs for no fucking reason at all other than that he's a shitty director that can't capture what's actually happening, or should be happening, to the character at that time. he does this in "one song glory" and i swear to god if he were sitting next to me when i saw it, i would have punched him right out of his seat. he just flat out butchers most of the movie w/ his utter lack of skill. and what that does is just suck all the emotion and feeling out of scenes and songs. it's pretty fucking bad.

w/o dwelling on the bad, that pretty much sums it up. i could probably go on, but it'd just be more examples of the same. that's the bad though, and trust me, it's not all bad.

the one good thing columbus did do was to get the original cast together for this film. sure people (myself included) can point to their age and how they just don't really seem to fit the characters too well, but when the rest of the film ends up being worthlessly directed, you seem to care far less about how old the characters are. and man do they know their characters, as well they should, but it's just really fun to watch them be roger, or mark or maureen, etc...fun until chris columbus decides he's got some "ideas."

as if the original cast wasn't enough, you wouldn't believe that rosario dawson doesn't suck in this movie. it's by far her best work. that may have to do w/ how little actual acting and line reading she has to do, but it works for her. for a minute i was almost convinced she was hot too, but that's just another testament to how well she fits into this movie. her voice is so close to the original mimi as well, that at first i seriously didn't believe it was actually her singing. that was a real surprise that she wasn't sucking, so thanks to her for that (though not so much thanks for undoubtedly sucking in a movie i'm looking forward to more than rent).

and then there are the actual songs themselves, which, if they're not the number one reason you're there in the first place, i'm pretty sure you just got lost on the way in. and they are fantastic. as good as the original broadway soundtrack? eh, sometimes. sometimes better, sometimes not so much. but it really doesn't matter because it's just a great soundtrack w/ a great fucking cast of voices, that no matter how hard chris columbus tries to fuck up the singing (and trust me, he does), it's just not possible. in fact, the soundtrack to the movie is probably better than the movie itself. though i don't think you'd be picking up the movie soundtrack w/o being a fan of the play, and i'm sure i can't talk you out of seeing the film if you're a fan of the play, but that would be my advice. if you're interested.

p.s. idina menzel is a fucking standout in this movie. her voice is amazing, and possibly more prominent in this version than in the play, and she's a super fox. she's also funny when allowed to be, and i think that "take me or leave me" might be my favorite overall "scene" in the whole movie (which is odd beacuse it's not my favorite song). i think it could have been because that scene wasn't actually part of the play, so it seemed less odd overall. and it was might have been the funniest. it also helps that the other new chick, tracie thoms, has an insane voice as well (and she just "knocks it out the box" in seasons of love). i cannot imagine why idina isn't a more famous film actress, though my lady is quick to point out that maybe she just wants to do stage. ok, sure, but come on. she seems like she could so easily fit into romantic comedy, or an old school/wedding crashers comedy, or even action films. and she looks like jennifer garner and nelly furtado had a kid, which is apparently a-ok w/ me. that's one of those relationships where i don't know who the lucky one is, as i'd have sex w/ both taye diggs and idina menzel. though i always say it's harder to find dudes as hot as taye diggs. man this got gay real fast.

man, now i'm all confused. what's happening? i don't know. this is a late post tonight, because of a sweet fucking evening driving around boston. i had an audition at 7:15. got to boston late in the first place because of two accidents on 93, then i'm pretty sure that construction removed the road i was looking for. so once it got past 8 i figured i might as well pack it up and head home. so a nice drive into and around boston for no particular reason tonight. i did get home just in time for lost though. and man, i was like, ok, kate, stepdad problems, i got it. that sucks for her, but come on, i mean, ana lucia, the "tailies" and all, let's get to the good stuff! and good stuff we did indeed get to! i mean, in an almost "holy shit!" kinda way. and i "called it", pretty much all that happened tonight(or at least all that mattered), but goddamn was it awesome to see still.

locke was the most important character on that goddamn island to me, throughout the show so far. but man, for the last few episodes, and now into this episode, i think it might be eko now. i cannot fucking wait for his episodes, and even if those are slow coming, seeing "coming up on lost" or whatever the fuck the scenes were at the end of tonight's episode, eko is about to make this show crazy go nuts. and it could not be more awesome. michael and walt was just...wow. i was thinking that might happen, but to actually see it happen was awesome. so very awesome. and if you were as fucking psyched about that episode as i am, as well you should be, you'll be super excited to know what "coming up" means JANUARY FUCKING 11TH! lost is gone from now until the new year and then some. what the fuck?! i mean, seriously! what the fuck?! that's six weeks away. six, long, painful weeks away. i understand that less people will be watching tv over the coming weeks, christmas and all that shit, but i am not one of those people. what's nuts though, thinking about the wait, is that after the events of tonight, you'd expect big things to start happening immediately. and if they do, that'll lead directly into february sweeps, which should lead to even bigger things. the wait is going to fucking suck, but once lost does return it should just about blow the ass out of my tv and brain. hopefully i'm rocking hdtv by then, though if i am, will i really be able to handle lost in hd? let's hope i get to find out.

ok, this was one crazy post. crazy in that i had no idea i had anything to say tonight, but there it is. and it's pretty haphazard and all, but it is there, and it should make sense in some form. now i'm off to make me a chicken salad sandwich. delicious. enjoy the last couple days of the week here, of what was a seemingly super fast week.

stahl

a monday full of nothing

2005-11-28T23:38:00.000-05:00

hey hey hey, and howdy do. hope everyone is recovering nicely from whatever thanksgiving type activities you found yourselves engaged in this weekend. i personally recovered by sleeping til damn near 5 pm today. what a day it was. hence the late post. and as i come over here to post, i start to think, what the hell am i gonna chat about today? i mean, there really hasn't been a goddamn thing of super interest that's happened.

i mean, i've got great stories to share, like the one about the congressman admitting his guilt (shocking), a few no brainer inductees to the rock and roll hall of fame (if anyone actually cares) and then there's the one about the girl who died from kissing her boyfriend. it should be known that ladies, god will strike you down if you whore it up. or, if you're oddly allergic to peanuts to some sort of insane degree. but one way or another, he will getcha!

today, i suppose, is as good a day as any to air some grievances. or, more to the point, burning feuds that i'm aware of, but sadly may be the only one aware of them. i've noticed how little i've hated on people/things so far in this blog. well, todays the day that all changes. hopefully i'll have some sort of specifics to give right now, but chances are good it'll just be me yelling like a madman for no reason. either way it should be fun, so here we go...

gamespy.com is the worst fucking gaming info website on the internet. sweet fuck. it is just a worthless piece of shit eating up webspace for no reason. i go there out of habit still, nightly, looking for some sort of info on ANYTHING. instead, nightly i get NOTHING. go ahead and click that link there, and check out their big fucking "line in the sand" bullshit. go ahead. enjoy. the fucking xbox 360 came out a week ago. review copies of games have been out for weeks. but hey, don't let any of that make you think they've got their reviews done. also, don't let the fact that they are, by definition, a website devoted to video games and, in turn, reviewing them. please, don't let that kinda "little stuff" worry you. they'll get to it when they get to it. and they'll be fucking damned if things like "demand", or "timeliness", or oh, i don't know, "doing your fucking job" get in the way of them delivering the best product they can. which i suppose is a great way to go about doing your business, creating the best product possible. the only problem w/ that is that once gamespy gets their fucking shit up, months later, their writing, analytical skills and discerning tastes make for the worst goddamn reviews/articles/"jokes" you can find on sites of this nature. so kudos to you, gamespy.com, for really taking a stand and drawing that line in the sand, and in no way making excuses for your horribly shitty site.

while we're on video games, lets move from review sites to that which is the "webcomic." sure, a webcomic can be of any genre, but i tend to mostly see/read those about video games. in fact, i'm not honestly sure i could even think of a non gaming related one off the top of my head. but that's not the point here, the point here is that ctrl+alt+del is the gamespy.com of gaming webcomics. holy shit, i seriously don't know where to begin. i happend across this site, ah...let's say around a year ago, at least now. i think that penny arcade linked to it, and at this point i cannot even begin to imagine why. other than to maybe give a newer site a chance at succeeding and throwing a few hundred thousand readers it's way, i can't figure it out. it's one of the few black eyes in the history of penny arcade. to even mention the two sites in the same sentence feels wrong.

see, the thing penny arcade does, as well as others out there, happen to be funny. and then to top that off, well drawn. the combination of penny arcade's awesome strips, and it's hilarious and often times informative "news" posts make is one hell of a site. "cad" does neither of those. this asshole who runs the site, "tim", has a fucking tin ear for dialogue. and not in a george lucas way, where yes, it's fucking retarded and sucks, but damn it's attractive to look at, and at one point something good actually came from this. "cad" sounds like someone who thought they were funny in highschool, went to college and arrived the first day w/ a new "nickname" that "all my friends call me." he then proceeded to hang out w/ a bunch of weird kids, of which he was the funniest, which isn't saying much. somehow he ended up deciding that was enough to make a career out of it, and here we are. and it's as if the strip itself isn't funny on a daily basis, he so often drags these "storylines" of his out over fucking weeks. what was shit to begin w/ but something that you could glance at and move on, now becomes a task that you have to stick w/ for weeks at a time until he finally unveils the "punchline." it's just god awful. then his posts are the stuff shit is made of. lengthy, whiney, unfunny groupings of text. it's like the strip, only w/o pictures to look at, and, you know, more shittier. yes. more. shittier.

the art itself isn't terrible, just not up to par w/ the rest of the strips, out there (again, penny arcade, pvp, applegeeks). and if you're gonna do "original artwork" then fucking make it original. if you learned to draw by tracing gabe and tycho, stick w/ a sprite based comic. and maybe you hadn't noticed, but penny arcade realized div wasn't funny quite some time ago, so feel free to cut loose zeke at any time. hell, feel free to cut them all loose. or find someone who is moderately funny. or at the very least write strips that don't go one more than three strips. it's called cutting your losses. chances are it won't be funny everytime (or anytime in your case), so make it short and sweet and move on. sadly, his utter lack of imagination seems to keep him from being able to think up more than one topic a month. solid work. be sure to catch up on this blockbuster event happening now before it goes away, sometime next march. a love story that has apparently turned into a robbery of sorts, i don't know. it's just awesome. i also think it may have been going since august. that's quite the estimate, i know, but something really makes me want to say august. and it's not like there's some sort of system launch or anything like that, full of new games and "next gen." but no, you go ahead and get us ready for what i'm sure will be one hell of a "winter-een-mas" (or whatever the fuck it's called, pretty sure that's it though) novel this year. keep 'em coming, it's all gold.

now, i know, i'm gonna hear about how i'm just helping him out by still going to his site, and mentioning it's name and all that shit. and trust me, i don't want to do it. but this fucker now has the audacity to go ahead and try to line his pockets and stroke his ego to a degree than i cannot accept while sitting idly by. this assfuck is setting up a (surprise!) penny arcade style "expo"/function. now this i will not link to, though it's shouldn't be hard to find your way to it if you so desire (shouldn't be, but probably will be after a day on that well managed site). sure enough it will be a "sellout" because come on, he's selling 750 total tickets. 750!! total! and that will allow him to be "blown away" that "so many of you" want to spend time w/ him. yeah, we got it. "so many" people "love" you. amazing. i could sell 750 tickets to a fucking bris, and i'm not fucking jewish! i'm not sure if that made any sense, but it sounded good in my head and i'm sticking w/ it! and i'm cutting my losses and moving to the next statement! anyway, i just cannot condone this gathering of his, even though it's pretty much down the street when compared to other events like this. hell, this jackass is apparently down the street. you would think him being in (i'm not sure he's from, so much as he's in) connecticut would earn him some points in my book. it did for about a week. now it angers me even more.

so that's that. and i know i brought up penny arcade a few times in there, but please don't get confused and think i'm angry that he's "not penny arcade." that's not the problem. the problem is that he's "not good." at all.

man, that really went on there. that's because i've been wanting to mention it for weeks now and i just kept forgetting. that shit has been marinating for some time now. but that's all, for now...

aight, well, that took much longer than expected. i've got lots more fuckers to shit on, so stay tuned for that. coming up, danza, chris columbus, billy bush, some other fuckers i can't think of right now. but for now, enjoy that. hopefully something of interest will happen in the coming days so i can chat on that, instead of driving myself nuts over these shitty sites. keep shit tight!

stahl

thanksgiving 2, the aftermath

2005-11-25T14:39:00.000-05:00

what a thanksgivng that was. totally exceeding expectations. and trust me, they were very...low, to say the least. i was actually looking forward to the worst thanksgiving ever for me. luckily it turned out to be far from that, and actually a pretty enjoyable day. for starters, it snowed like 4-5 inches at my house. that was something to wake up to, and was just fucking beautiful. luckily it's still completely fucking freezing, and still a snow covered wonderland today. yesterday was also home to what may have been the best turkey i've ever had. my cousin really knocked that one out of the box, which is even more impressive since i've had him cook holiday meals before that were undercooked and beyond awful. i believe he hit up willams-sonoma to combine a few things, resulting in all around turkey goodness. now if only all the sides weren't a horrible mess of shit. next year...

hope your thanksgiving was equally tasty. if not i hope you have the pleasure of tiny little "baby" cousins, nieces/nephews, kids of your own, whatever. they can make anything interesting. i, luckily, have many older cousins who now had tiny little babies, each one cuter than the last. who's the cutest? well i'm not gonna say that, but i think we all know who it is. i will pass along this bit of info. one thing babies love? to be mocked. it's something most people grow out of, but before they can speak entire sentences, babies love to be mocked. in fact, if they're all loud and yelling for no reason, do a quick impression for them and follow it by saying, "that's you. that's what you sound like." that'll learn 'em real quick like.

did anyone else want to stab, in the eye, all involved w/ producing/annoucing the parade yesterday? on any network. cbs was a total fucking joke, w/ their announcers coming off like retarded monkeys. and nbc was no better, w/ katie couric and matt lauer spouting their inane babble, as they tend to do. but i would have taken that, painfully so, but still i would have taken their stupd shit over never having to see al roker ever again. i never used to have a problem w/ al roker before. ever since that asshole had his gastric bypass, and looks like a goddamn creepy puppet now, he's decided that he's super cool and people actually want to see him be a "comedian." al roker has probably never said a funny thing in his life, but to keep that shit up, looking like the freak show that he is now, it's just too goddamn much. wrap it up al roker, wrap it the fuck up.

to all those who ventured out today, thanks for keeping our economy afloat. personally i'm at least halfway done w/ my shopping ahead of today, and would have to be dragged out of the house to attempt to "shop" today. but goddamn, anyone who got the paper yesterday, and took the full two hours it took to look through all the flyers, you may have noticed some insane deals today. almost too good to be true, which it turns out it is, because no one could get in, find their stuff, check out and tracel to the next store in the time these "early bird specials" were running for. it seems you'd have to pick two stores you were most interested in and hope you got what you wanted at those two. anyway, black friday, gotta love it.

my cat is currently entertaning herself by walking on a plastic bag. seriously. i think she just likes the sound. and now she's plopped down and decided that's where she's gonna hang out now. crazy bastard.

now on w/ the real things. you may have noticed my love for penny arcade over here. well, i'd just like to send my congratulations to tycho and his wife who on tuesday brought home the NEW "tycho 360." now it's babies all around over at penny arcade. i'd say i can't wait for the site to go downhill w/ all the chatting about babies that's sure to happen now, but as we've established, a) i love babies, and b) there's already been plenty of baby talk, and it's been just as funny, if not funnier, than their regular stuff. today's post for instance. i should also mention today's cartoon is super fantastic, though having nothing to do w/ babies.

w/ one coming into the world, sadly one must depart this earthly realm, or something. and it seems that on this occassion it was none other than mr. miyagi himself. do i know "pat morita"? no, not so much. i hear he was on happy days, but i've never actually watched an entire episode of the show. i'm sure he did other things (one of his last works was for the entourage "lost scenes" that were on demand. his was prety hilarious, w/ gary coleman i do believe) but to me, and i'm sure at least one entire generation, he will always be mr. miyagi. or miyagi-san. your choice. 73 sure does seem to be too early to be dying these days, but it's possible there's a new daniel-san in heaven who needs to be trained quickly for the upcoming tournament. if so, let's hope he gives mr. miyagi less shit than that original whiney fuck.

borat has decided to throw his opinion in on the kazakhstan vs. ali g/sacha baron cohen issue. good for him. it's about time those kazakies (?) stood up to one man. tell the world borat, tell the world!

man, this texas/texas tech game is good as hell! that is all on that topic at this time right now here!

ah...other things? well, there's nick and jessica, the xbox 360 issues, some guy stealing legos, beckett to the sox, uconn winning the maui invitational, and of course, lost ruling. i think that's about it for now, i'll go more in depth on the beckett trade in my sox write up, that is FINALLY here this coming week. now i'm off to go enjoy a second thanksgiving dinner, just for fun, and i'll chat w/ all y'all fools next week. my final words of wisdom as i leave you...if you go out to the movies, and you have a chanec to see any of the fantastic releases that are very worthy of your money, do yourself a favor and see "in the mix." you will not be disappointed. or i won't be. one or the other. why not go and go and see it, just to find out who ends up disappointed? oh usher, you are something special. and thanks something to be thankful for! and i'm outta here! later.

stahl

happy thanksgiving

2005-11-23T22:52:00.000-05:00

howdy y'all, and other thanskgiving type sayings. just a quick little happy thanksgiving from me to you, as i "travel" and more so, forget that it's wednesday. hooray for me.

well, for those of you "in the know", you may have noticed the xbox 360 launched yesterday. and to those of you who got one, congratulations. hope that's working out just great for you, you son of a bitch. seriously though, you're a bastard.

man, this is an angry start. and sadly, it'll end just as sad. gotta get up shortly and enjoy that which is the day we give thanks. thanks for things. and also stuff. i'm sure you've got something to be thanksful for. personally, i've got a great deal, even more after yesterdays lovely news. i got offered this role i auditioned for about a month ago that's gonna be a pretty important bit of work. should hopefully throw me right into your living rooms sooner rather than later. so if you've got nothing else to be thankful for, feel free to be thankful for me, coming into your life on a much bigger scale very soon. making my penis not soft just thinking about all the thankfulness. and w/ that, i am out of here. friday will be a real post, hope you can manage the wait. later! happy thanksgiving!

stahl

blogging, in 3D!!

2005-11-21T18:09:00.000-05:00

man alive, if i start one more post out w/ some sort of "excuse" about the tardiness of the post, or the lack of a post over the weekend, or shit like that, i'm gonna punch myself in the balls. so, w/ that being said, none of what follows should be taken as an "excuse." it's all "fo' real."

i had an interesting/fun/different weekend this one that just went on by. that tends to happen as we approach the holidays. people who have either taken off to the outer reaches of these united states, or just generally "work" too damn much, are all around and available for chillin. w/ thanksgiving now days away, this was no exception. so a trip to the mall, some dinner and chillin earlier this weekend, and some late night chillin/gaying it up last night has me all full of...things. i'm not sure what, but i am filled up w/ it. tonight might be more of the same, but if not (and even if it is, just later on tape)...

medium in 3d! woo! now who knows if that'll actually pay off, but i am psyched to see exactly what they're planning and how it'll come off. medium was one of the best new dramas to hit the air last season, (along w/ numb3rs, and ah, what do you call it? ah...oh yeah, LOST) and this season it's just been continuing to get better. i've been pretty impressed to date, as it really, somehow, hasn't just been more of the same. and tonight should be an interestingly cool take on the show. that being said, if you've yet to, hurry the fuck out and grab a copy of this weeks tv guide to get yourself a pair of the 3d spectacles you'll be needing to properly view tonight's episode.

and while you're watching tv tonight, be sure to check out what might be the most craziest episode of prison break to date. this show is really something else. it's like a big hollywood summer blockbuster. but a good one. not just some shit slapped together that explodes, but something that explodes w/ characters/actors full o' charisma and charm. that's really what sustains this show, the actors, namely wentworth miller, and "sucre" (whatever his real name is). hell, pretty much all of the guys in jail keep this show afloat. it's only when they step out of the prison walls that the show comes to an abrupt and screeching halt. i could not only not care less if they killed everyone outside of jail, i actually find myself hoping every week that EVERYONE gets killed.

the show is wild and out of fucking control, never even trying to make sense. but when you're following along w/ the intensity in the prison, w/ the clock ticking over their heads every week as they get closer to breaking out, you just do not give a fuck that theres a five foot hole in some room that's seriously covered by a rug w/ a table over it. seriously. it doesn't matter! it's crazy! but as soon as you step foot outside and follow the horribly awful acting of michael's shitty son, and nick "creepy ass" severn, i just can't see it end soon enough. i hate them all. but because of my love for the inmates, tonight should be horrible, as someone should be dying. i hope, HOPE, it's the black dude, as his character has offered dick so far, and seems like he should be in the outside group he's so worthless to watch. because that would be best for the show, it'll probably be someone who sucks much less. although, this show does tend to give you what you want, and doesn't really fuck shit up just to be dramatic and keep you on your toes (24 style, which is no knock on 24). i'm just not so sure this show has the balls to kill of a main, liked character. let's hope it doesn't.

p.s. does it annoy anyone else that as much as the outside group sucks, they're also completely unnecessary to the story now? at this point the break is happening. fuck, the show is called "prison break." at first i understand pretending people care about trying to save michael, not knowing they'll actually break out. but it's not an inevitability. clearing michael doesn't mean a goddamn thing. the show seems to have noticed that as well, but instead of limiting their roles, they've decided that now, it's "bigger than michael", and are for some shitty reason after the vice president now. and let me tell you, that bitch, the actor not the character, is the worst of the bunch. she could not be more awful to watch. she's such an annoying twat, who most assuredly did not get the jelly.

hey, guess, what? tomorrow is the 360 launch! enjoy not having one, i know i will! to those who do manage to get their hands on one, let me know how it feels, to hold, to kiss...to love. tell me what games you got, how awesome or not awesome they are, and how awesome the system itself is. also let me know what you're playing it on, screen wise. i'd like to hear how it looks on different setups.

so i "got" "the movies" the other day for the ol' pc. yesterday in fact. that might have been a mistake. i mean, i have little to do in the first place, but i got even less done yesterday that i normally would. i think, all told, i spent about 13 hours playing yesterday. i went from the 1920 starting year to...oh, i don't know, i think i'm around 1960, 1965 maybe. i played until 10 am today. from about 2:30 am. it is awesome. that's the quick review. awesome. it's like the sims, but w/o all the usual shit that involves that i'm generally tired of. the graphics are more than decent for what the game is, and on top of that the game runs very well on a variety of systems. my system is no overwhelming powerhouse by any means, (3200 athlon xp, 512 mb ram, geforce 5600 xt) but has no problems running it. and running it very "high", or as high as this game allows.

beware before you start playing this that, if you do like it, and i'm sure you will, not only will you spend a huge amount of time w/ it, but you won't even notice that happening. all of a sudden it's four hours later. then 7. then it's fucking 10 am. try it out over a weekend, or whenever if you're like me and have nothing to do at all ever. i'm warning ahead of time though, that this game will take you over. at least to a certain point. where i'm at now, i'm not losing my interest, but i could see it happening. there's just too much goddamn stuff to take care of now, namely too many stars and buildings/sets. there's also a noticable lack of the "little people" coming into my studio these days, which is making it increasingly harder to keep my stars happy, when i can't bring in people to be a part of their entourage. hell, i had to convert my shittiest writer into an assistant for one director. also, my payroll seems to be climbing out of control, production is taking multiple times larger than it used to, and my stars have become whiney bitches. but, like i said, i could see myself losing interest. it hasn't happened yet. in fact, i'm fighting the urge to just save this post and jump back in, only to return 10 hours later. so the movies, highly recommended to anyone and everyone. you might want to "try before you buy" if you get a chance, a friend who has it or something, but i would assume that you would not be disappointed. and none of this mentions the part where you can actually make your own movies w/in the game. if that interests you then there's just no reason you shouldn't already have the game.

in case you haven't noticed, the maui invitational is underway. underway and rocking. be sure to stay up nice and late for uconn!

ok, i'm gonna go grab some dinner now, then i gotta run out to grab a tv guide and some 3d glasses, and maybe check out every store in the area to see just what their plans will be for tomorrows launch. either that or just play the movies til tomorrow. we'll see what happens. i'm off! later!

stahl

whoops!

2005-11-18T23:42:00.000-05:00

hey. how's it going? good to hear.

this is, by far, the worst fucking post ever. i almost forgot to post entirely. it's my mom's birthday today, and i got all wrapped up in that, am dead tired, and almost just went to sleep w/o posting. that would have been fucking tragic!

luckily, there really isn't dick going on right now. nothing to chat about too much. i know, i know, shopgirl review, some other shit i'm sure, but if i do it now, it'll suck dick. my apologies. i may get some energy later and maybe add to this, or maybe hit it up tomorrow, but for now, it's gonna be short and sweet.

for those who missed wednesday nights south park, wow. sweet dicks. either try to check it out any of the hundred times it'll be on this weekend, or go download it, and any other episodes you've happened to miss this season. because this was one of those "can't miss" episodes. you may have read any of the million articles about south park maybe "going too far" this time. a) they haven't, and b) good times. go check it, post haste.

college hoops is rocking and rolling right now, for all those who are unaware. now you know. if you watch nothing else, be sure to check out the maui (have i been saying malibu? i feel like i've been saying malibu) invitational starting monday night. arizona/kansas to kick it off? uconn/arkansas to follow? it's gonna be fantastic. go uconn!

for those who gave any attempt to purchasing an xbox 360 bundle from circuitcity.com this afternoon, i hope you enjoyed that clusterfuck as much as i did. at 2 pm on the dot the server went, "crunch." the bundles didn't even go live until 2:20. and from then on out, well, congrats to anyone who actually got through it. after an hour i was able to get to the first step of the checkout at best. i got there twice. and after all the effort i put into getting them to change their goddamn bundles...

Dear Customer:

Thank you for writing to www.circuitcity.com

This is regarding the information you seeked regarding the remote for
the Xbox360.

Please note that the offer is changing and as a result we will not be
including the universal remote control in the bundle. I hope that the
information provided by me is helpful to you.

fuckers. i go and get them to create a bundle that isn't as shitty and they can't even let me order a fucking system. or two. fuck you circuit city.

i'm thinking of maybe going to be an extra in a "HUGE BOLLYWOOD" film this monday and tuesday. it's in hartford, or east hartford, i'm not sure. i've seen both listed now. it could be cool. and hell, i've got nothing better to do. it may even be a couple hundred easy bucks to make, for those doing nothing else, or at least not leaving a job that would be paying more. i'm not sure on the pay, you should "inquire w/in", or something. for those interested in joining me, throw it on the comments or feel free to check one of the posts i was able to find first. it could/should be hilariously entertaining.

ok, that's all for now. feel free to check back in tomorrow to see if i've decided to post some more. or just check back monday, see how that went. and w/ that i bid you all adieu. have a sweet, freezing ass weekend.

stahl

post #153/360 on the xbox 360

2005-11-16T23:23:00.000-05:00

we're like...five days from the launch of the xbox 360. this is newsworthy.

that being said, after the release of many 360 launch title reviews in the past couple of days, my opinions have changed slightly. not on the system itself, and in fact i may be even more drawn to it's raw sexiness as a piece of hardware than ever. but the launch games have been moderately adjusted. this is how it goes down.

- Kameo

i can't tell you how disappointed i am to hear how short, and generally unchallenging this game is. the first attempt i had at the demo was shit. it was awful. i couldn't have been more turned off. but, like i said in the post about it, i went back and played it all the way through and was turned right around. after a full play through of the demo, all of a sudden the game had so much possibility, so much charm, and mostly, so much fun.

turns out the game clocks in at around 15 hours, if you're retarded. 10-15 seems to the general consensus. that's awful, and pretty fucking unexcusable for a game that's been in development for three generations. we're talking like, 8 years now that this game has been alive. come on rare, what the fuck?

that alone is a turn off. i tend to really only look for games that are gonna give me over 20 hours, at least, in the single player. unless of course it's got a super deep and fun online component that's worth playing. kameo does not. a co-op of the same game. now trust me, if i'm gonna play this game, it's gonna be co-op w/ a buddy. there is absolutely nothing wrong w/ co-op, and it should pretty much be in every game. but it's not gonna make me want to play the game again and again, day after day.

it also turns out that "powers" kameo has tend to be worthless. or at least some/most. it seems that unless you're forced to use a certain power to do something in the game (such as climb an ice wall), you end up sticking w/ one character that ends up being more powerful, or easier to use than the rest. i could see this happening in the demo. the rock dude kinda controls like shit, the ice guy should be strong but really isn't, and going underground w/ the flower, popping up and punching was much cooler. if the dinosaur was in the demo, well, i'm sure that wouldn't have been much of a contest. the dinosaur is in the actual game. who, oh who, will i play w/?

none of this is to say the game isn't beautiful, cause it still is. or that it's even a bad game. if i'm a teenager, on the younger end, a kid or a parent of a kid, then i'm absoluetly picking this game up. it's just what the doctor ordered, or some less stupid saying. it's zelda-ish, which is always good, but it is far from zelda, which is not. but the kids don't know, and it's not too difficult. so pick it up for the kids and never worry. but goddamn, if i'm dropping $600 to pick up the system, 2-3 games and at least one extra controller and a charge and play kit, then i want to make sure i'm gonna get my money's worth from my software. and that leads me too...

- Call Of Duty 2

hot damn. playing this demo all the way through was fantastic. exciting, well paced, diffcult enough, and just immeasurably playable w/ the 360 controller. a button for everything, and every button in its place. or something. turns out, it's the game to beat at launch according to the reviews. which would be hard to argue from what i played, and knowing it's got a big, beautiful online aspect.

i'm assuming the graphics have been cleaned up a bit since the demo, and even if they haven't, they were still pretty great. again, the smoke being a real highlight. but the gameplay was so intuitive, and the scenario was so fucking frantic and just flat out crazy, it was a real fucking good time. now take that, put it in your house, w/ all the levels, online play, and (if you've got a 5.1 setup) what is apaprently the best sound in any 360 game, if not any console game, well that is good stuff.

not much more to say here except that call of duty moved up from being "probably" purchased to an "absolute must have." so far it's looking like call of duty 2, project gotham racing 3 (i'd chat about it, but there's nothing more to say, it's fucking awesome) and perfect dark zero. i do find it odd that there are ZERO reviews of perfect dark so far. everything else is out and in reviewers hands, at least the big stuff, and perfect dark has yet to be heard from. i'd also like to see condemned reviewed shortly.

sadly it seems all the sports games suck. and by suck i mean, not worth paying more for on the next gen hardware when you can get a better version of the same game on the current consoles. not only that, but you throw those regular xbox games into the 360 and you've got a better looking version of the game instantly. are the 360 graphics really worth picking up an inferior game, that's about 20 bucks more expensive for? i don't think so. that is of course my buddy picks up madden or live, and wants to play online all the time, and refuses to play call of duty or project gotham because i keep handing his ass too him. he'll learn all too soon the same happens in madden...or live. so slow...

have i mentioned my beard?

i know some baseball stuff has happened this week, but i'll hold off on it until the sox write up i'm gonna do either thursday or saturday. so don't you worry about that.

let's do this weather man review. bottom line...awesome. i love nic cage and michael caine, so it would seem a no brainer, and it really is. it's not as good as the other black comedy/dramas/off beat movies, specifically american beauty (the best movie of this generation?), or even this years jarhead. but it is really worth seeing. great performances all around in this one, and a really good, realistic, and enjoyable (to me at least) story. i like to keep from ruining things, so i won't go too in depth, but there are some really strong laughs in this movie. it is really funny in that everyday oddness sort of way. and it's also extremely touching, w/o feeling like it's being cheap and trying to pull on you. it's just a portrait of a man, going through a tough time in his life, dealing w/ it horribly, but trying his best at every turn. the more i think about it, the better it is too. i highly recommend it to anyone, though i'm sure plenty of people will pissed that nothing explodes and it tells a story. if that's not you, don't worry, go see it.

shopgirl on friday.

i seem to be running short of ideas at this point. which is too bad because gooddamn, i could have sworn i had far more to chat about. i do know that (fingers crossed, and i hate even saying it right now because fuck my ass, i don't want to jinx it) i may have some pretty big/great news in the coming week or so. hopefully. friday should be a balls out, 2 the limit edition, so tune in! it'll be awesome! later!

stahl

more eddie

2005-11-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

howdy ho y'all? i know today's post is "late-ish", and there was no "supplementary post" yesterday, like i thought there would be, but i really wanted to let that eddie post get as much time at the top as possible.

just a quick note on that, to bring this whole post down before it even gets going. raw this week was quite a show. not so much for the in ring stuff, though that was pretty good, but for the eddie tribute stuff. and that was all pretty touching and emotional and all that stuff, but also odd as hell from time to time. you would think that such a loss would have a severe impact on the wrestlers and crew, and that really seemed to be the case, even more so than i would have thought. batista was notably a mess, which was an odd site to see such a ginormous man just losing it. kurt was also a wreck, as was big show. hhh even lost it. and that was really nice to see, as much as anything in that situation can be nice to see. i thought it was great that everyone was just really so hurt by this, that eddie really was that kind of a guy, and he really touched everyone top to bottom. it was a really great tribute to, what was seemingly, a great man. the video to johnny cash's version of hurt was also a great touch. they have some of the most talented people in the wwf when it comes to video production (just take a look back to that wrestlemania video w/ the austin/rock match and limp bizket's 'my way' playing. i hate limp bizkit! that video was the best ever!). but it was really great to see them make such a touching, and hardly, if at all, exploitative.

but i think the oddest thing of the night, and the thing that rubbed me the wrong way the most way rey fucking mysterio. i don't think he could have come off as a bigger asshole than he did monday night. this is a guy who was supposed to be one of, if not the closest person to eddie in that locker room, and what i saw was just a fucking shitty little prick. and no, it didn't seem like he was having a hard tiem dealing w/ it and just couldn't express his emotion, everything about him and his video and in ring appearance seemed fake and contrived. he could not have acted like a bigger asshole, in my opinion, and i just couldn't believe he was actually coming off like that. shit, even if he and eddie weren't close, the only reason rey continues to have a career in the wwf is because eddie fucking put him on his back, carried him through a horrible fucking feud that never made any sense, only to let rey win every fucking time. every fucking time! as much as that shit irritated me at the time, watching eddie degrade himself for rey every night, knowing that that's pretty much how he went out, that's just fucking terrible. sure he was fighting w/ batista for the title. but tell me you don't fucking remember that horrible shit w/ rey's fat kid more than anything else eddie has done in the last two years? just fucking awful.

and to top it all off, what the fuck is on rey's face? that shitty fucking 'stache and goatee? what the fuck is he doing? i used to be (years ago when him being a wrestler made sense) a huge rey fan. i would love nothing more after this shit than to see him fired immediately, or at the very least, buried in the roster.

fuck you rey mysterio.

ok, that's it for this post. it can't be a part of the regular one. so you go ahead and be posted, and i'll calm down and chat about things that aren't so depressing.

stahl

p.s you might want to keep that fucking mask on for good. that bald spot should be reason enough.

eddie guerrero, 1967-2005

2005-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

i didn't want to put this into my main post, where i thought it might either get lost or just kill the entire thing, but i didn't want to let it go unnoticed. sunday morning eddie guerrero was found dead in his hotel room. cause of death is still unknown, and likely won't be for weeks. you can read the article for all the things i would have said anyway about the events, i'd instead just like to take a sec to remember eddie.

as an huge wrestling fan, or a huge wwf fan, i knew of eddie guerrero, but didn't become a fan of his until he came to the wwf. but once he did, it took minutes for him to stand out. through all the years that he's been there, and all the wrestlers that have come and gone, eddie has remained, and will remain, an all time favorite. he was one of the best i'd ever seen, and could seemingly have a good match w/ just about anyone. his in ring skill was among the best, but his mic skills were even better.

eddie the character, "latino heat", was one of the most fun things about wrestling. he had a hard time getting over as a heal, like your austins and the like, because he was just so goddamn good in the ring, and so goddamn personable outside of it. even when he was trying to be "bad", he'd have that eddie smirk on his face, and people just wanted to love him and laugh along w/ him. the man had so many catch phrases, so many trademark ways to cheat, and everytime, every single time until the day he died, i'd laugh like it was the first time he'd done it.

smackdown has become a pretty big train wreck since the brand split, between lack of talent and poor creativity amongst the writers. but eddie was always there every thursday, and even if the rest of the show was completely worthless, eddie's parts were always more than enjoyable. the man was funny as hell, which i think batista commented on tonight during raw. everything he did, he did it in a way that was just so fun.

it's incredibly hard to believe that this actually happened, and watching raw tonight was hard to accept. in this business too, where no one is ever fired/hurt/dead, i just keep expecting that he'll make his huge, triumphant return at survivor series or some other pay per view. it's gonna be hard to see that not happen.

as much as i'll miss eddie the wrestler, i can't imagine how hard this must be for his family and friends. i mean, i feel the loss, like i knew him personally, which i did not. and to hear his story of addiction, to overcome all he's overcome to this point, wife and three young children, at the best point in his life. it's a terrible loss to all involved, and my deepest sympathies go out to his family. hopefully they'll be able to hold onto the "good times", and remember the man they loved as they try to get through this.

i know i'm skipping past loads of things to say here, but, feel free to add your own thoughts. for more info as it becomes available, and for a great bunch of pictures and thoughts on eddie's career, check out wwe.com. i just wanted to get it out there, and say a little something. so thanks a lot eddie, for all the entertainment you provided, and for just generally being awesome. we'll all miss you both in and out of the ring. hope you keep entertaining on the flip side.

stahl

p.s. the regular monday post follows below.

oh shit, david spade shops at the mall?

2005-11-14T22:30:00.000-05:00

late post again today, i know, my bad. but, it'll be a busy week of posts, so check back daily as i should be (hopefully) getting all of that stuff out that i've been chatting about lately (a thing on the sox, nes 20 year anniversary, some other shit i'm sure). but first today's goods.

now anyone who watched the steelers/browns game last night may be thinking the same thing as me. imagine if reuben droughns was on a good team. my god, he is good. like, better than advertised. that guy is a truck w/ a one hell of a heart. or one hell of a set of legs. his legs just do not stop moving, and the extra yards he ends up grabbing because of that are impressive. it seems what he did in denver was no fluke, and i would only imagine that as the browns get better, so will droughns and his numbers. that being said, while the browns are terrible, they're actually not "bad." you can see the foundation being set, and the plan to move forward. as soon as they get braylon edwards in there full time, even trent dilfer (who might be the best available qb to play for that team. his experience, leadership and team first attitude should be even more important to their future than what he actually does on the field this year) should be able to make this team into a playoff contender.

that's not this year though. this year, the colts still look like the team to beat, but goddamn should the rest of their season be fun to watch. at cincy this week (more of a litmus test for cincy), the steelers (game of the season? if big ben is back...), at the jags (one of the more underrated/least talked about teams in the league), the chargers (lt!), and at seattle (overrated, but finally their chance to get to the superbowl w/ this ass nfc). anyway, that alone should provide for some good nfl viewing. and the bills won this week, so the dream stays alive.

to all those who don't know, which i'm not sure how many people that may or may not be...might i recommend making a trip on down to your local best buy on a sunday afternoon. at least at my best buy, they've got a nice leather couch and chair setup in a living room type formation, plopped in front of a 60" sony dlp tv. normally best buy seems to show this promo footage on all their tv's. but on sunday, fantastically lovely sunday, it's the nfl sunday ticket. if you don't have it yourself, hell, if you don't have a 60 inch hdtv, check it out. i just happened to stumble across this yesterday, and oddly enough they had the bills chiefs game on. so i plopped down and enjoyed the majesty that is high def football. my lady's parents have high def football, but not the sunday ticket, and only like a 30 inch crt screen. it is not as cool. and if no one is watching, there's a remote so you can feel free to put on any game. it is kick fucking ass. i'll probably see you there next sunday. go bills!

have i mentioned i have a beard? because i do. and it's fairly rocking. it's a full...18 days of a beard at this point. i'm pretty impressed by it. which is what makes it all that much more odd that this weekend i was (yet again) mistaken for david spade at the mall. as you can see by my profile picture (good looking, no?), i do resemble him slightly. ever so slightly. i suppose. if you're drunk. and blind. but there i was, at the mall, making people think i was david spade. that is quite the kick in the balls, no matter how much people try to pretend it's not. the exact quote, from one kid to another, being, "i know, i was like, 'oh shit, david spade shops at the mall?'"ouch, my pride.

the huskies tip off friday night! woo! 11:30 pm on...espnu. who the fuck gets espnu? not me. so sweet. thankfully though, they start the mailbu invitational on monday, and that will be covered by espn and espn2. i'd also like to mention at this point that husky blog sucks dick. it seems to be mildly informative (we'll find out more as the season goes on) but they "claim" to have a podcast. i've got a subscription to said podcast sitting in my itunes, having not been updated since august 29th. what the fuck? that podcast is also all of seven minutes long, covers women's basketball as well (what?), and the dude sounds like he's functionally retarded. so husky blog jackass, if you can't keep up your podcast, let me know, and i'd love to take over. i suppose i'm mostly mad because i want to listen to it, but am unable to because he sucks at podcasting. both in actually taking the time to record it, and the quality of the podcast. so please, allow me to help you. it'll be much better because of it. the site is good for a laugh though, because it links to alumni nba players websites. and those are fantastic.

i got a chance to see both the weather man and shopgirl this weekend, and both were pretty great. i'm gonna hold off on "reviewing" those for now, since i've already gone on for quite a bit here, but i'll do them wednesday and friday. let me know which one you want to hear first (all of those who aren't reading this at all).

i wanted to make a note on the xbox 360 live service that i forgot to mention the other day. i mentioned how great project gotham three was in the online department. specifically it's "gotham tv" aspect. it appears (and i knew this last week, just forgot to mention it) that that's built into live itself. so this is a feature that can easily be implemented into any and every single online game on the xbox 360. once you see how great this feature is in pgr3, you'll be dying to see it in every other game. hardware claims and sony fanboys aside, this is the system to beat in the next generation. it may not look like it at this point, graphics wise (which can easily be argued), but sweet jesus is this one hell of a piece of hardware. i cannot see anyone being disappointed w/ this system by the time the ps3 hits (and yes i'll buy a ps3, that's what i do. but i have a ps2 too, and it sees barely any action. i see a similar thing occuring again), w/ only the revolution being able to have a shot at being a better system (crazy controllers? who knows, it may work again!)

i also played metroid prime pinball for about an hour at target yesterday, racking up a high score to behold (five million something on tallon overworld). and it would have been higher, but i kinda crapped away my final few balls because my lady was "ready to go." you know what i'm saying. i also did the job of the fucking retard working the electronics section while i was there, answering a wealth of xbox 360 and ds questions while i played. target has apparently very, VERY low standards.

so it's like...some amount of weeks/days to christmas. i don't know numbers (or numb3rs if you prefer). let's just say six weeks. or...41 days? sure. anyway, the point being not only have i started christmas shopping, but i've gotten a good deal done so far. i'm blown away, cause that is not so much my normal schedule. i'm sure i'll end up running out last minute to finish, no matter how early i've started, but so far so good. and i hate to get all "serious" up in here, but it's a time worth getting serious for. not only is it the time of year for shopping and giving to those you know, it's about helping those you don't as well. and i know, many of you may have been helping those you don't know throughout most of the year w/ the hurricanes, tsunamis, general hellhole things have become, but i hope that won't keep you from doing what you can this holiday season. be it cash, or donating old clothes and jackets, dropping your loose change into a salvation army bucket, toys for tots, hell, at your job, at barnes and noble, working a a soup kitchen, whatever, i just hope you'll give what you can.

a fantastic charity, going towards children's hospitals throughout the world now, is penny arcade's child's play. this is the third year child's play has been helping out the kids, w/ this year being it's biggest yet. you can see which hospitals they're working w/ at their site, and check out the scope of this enormous charity. i should (if things work properly) have a banner or two on the site throughout the season. so please, check it out, donate a few dollars, buy a toy or video games for some very deserving kids.

and w/ that i'm off. looks like a long week ahead, but keep in mind, it's a short one next week. so, look forward to that. and turkey. and football. and seeing crazy family members you don't see normally for a reason. later!

stahl

let me conversate, better yet, regulate

2005-11-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

what a day, what a day! let's try to knock this out so i can go knock myself out and maybe get in a little nap before it's out for the evening. i had quite the morning/day so far, in that i'm awake and have been since about 8 am. that's not normal for me. so as much as you may try to get to bed early when you've got to wake up early, if that's not your normal schedule, man does your body not give a fuck about you and your early waking up ass. so i tossed and turned until about 5:30 am before finally falling asleep. then it was up at 8, driving into boston for a too damn early in the morning audition, then the long drive back home to connecticut. i am tired.

unfortunately, there's just too damn much to talk about. the biggest though, to me as i come home this afternoon, is that fox just keeps on being the "best in the biz." yes, fox has decided to cancel what has been called "the best show on television" (yes by me, but i'm pretty sure others said it as well), arrested development. this angers me in a way tv has not been able to do since the first cancellation of family guy (another picture perfect move on the part of fox).

best case scenario is that hbo steps up and grabs it, which i would almost assume would be what happens. since people pay for hbo, ratings mean dick to them. sure they use them to see just exactly who's watching what, but ratings don't set their advertising rates like the networks. hbo gets it's money whether you watch it or not. hbo also LOVES to win awards, and arrested development shares that interest. it seems to me that this is a perfect match. perfect i tell you. though it wouldn't surprise me to see fox, "fox it up" and kill it off for three years and then bring it back realizing people actually wanted to see it. jackasses...

goddamn, i am seriously pissed about this. kitchen confidential is also getting the axe, which is too bad because that wasn't a bad show by any means. it's hard for any show to get ratings though when it's been on every night of the week while also disappearing for weeks at a time (arrested development), or when it just flat out goes missing for months (kitchen confidential). but that fox, they've got a plan. they're not held afloat by american idol for nothing!

on the plus side, 24 is back shortly. maybe jack can fucking infiltrate fox this season and get the terroists out of the scheduling department. hurry jack! the future of arrested development is in your hands!

speaking of terrorists, and this is meant to be completely serious, how in the hell does al qaeda have this many suicide bombers? i mean seriously, where do they keep bringing these guys in from? what IS the deal? christ almighty (seriously), are these fuckers on monster.com?

i mentioned kansas and it's abundance of "good ideas" the other day, which i would have thought was the best story out of this weeks elections. but slow down, i think we have a tie. yes, mr. quotes himself, pat robertson decided it had been awhile since he was full fledged retarded on tv, and said things such as this. what a hilarious douchebag. the kansas thing, ok, upsetting because it's real, and they're serious. pat robertson though, very serious, but not at all even close to real, and in turn very entertaining. so i suppose kansas holds onto the win, for now. your move mr. robertson.

i just wanted to mention a couple of things about the xbox 360 i neglected to mention the other day. first of all, try to get in your demo time w/ it all at once. looking up at that fucking screen at that horrible angle will give you quite the stiff neck. so it's good to get it all done at once, have one stiff neck and move on. trust me, as psyched as i am for the system, once you play through the demos once, and maybe check out some videos, there is no reason to go back to it at all. this isn't like the n64/mario 64 setup back in the day. there is nothing to keep you coming back, which is not to say it's not cool and the games aren't cool, it's just not very deep. and it's also not a 3d revolution you can't get enough of mario 64 style.

do be sure to check out the videos while you're in the demo though. specifically the project gotham 3 video. i mean goddamn. i've been playing that series since the day of it's release as "msr" for dreamcast, and it's been fun since day one. sure after a while it gets a little old, but fuck, what doesn't? and the online play in pgr2 cut back on that greatly. so naturally, next gen graphics, more better online play, fancier cars, should be good right? much like the system itself, in which i think i'm more psyched for the system than any of the launch titles right now (again, there are a lot of great games at launch, i'm just so into the system itself), project gotham 3 looks like it may be more fun to just watch and not play.

now i'm sure the game is awesome to play, it always has been. i can't wait to play it, it's towards the top of my launch list. but the "gotham tv" aspect of it, or watching others race online, is fucking amazing. if it holds up as they show in the demo, man, people are not gonna know what to do w/ themselves. not only are the graphics seemingly the best of any launch title, and just flat out fucking gorgeous, the tv presentation is absolutely insane. not only can you choose which car you want to follow, but you have your choice of what seemed to be at least four or five cameras to watch from. to watch from each car. low angle, in car, chase, all the "standards" you would find in replay mode. now live. on every fucking car. and then, the flat our coolest camera of them all? the helicopter. it seems there's a fucking helicopter following each car and providing a live "news feed" of the race. it's unfuckingbelievable. you also get a super cool screen that shows all the camera angles at once, allowing you to choose from the shot you like, rather than having to cycle through w/ a camera change button (which i'm sure is also available).

who knows how much of that will actually make the final cut, but i'm pretty sure it's all of it and i am psyched. that shit is sweet. super sweet. that video alone moved pgr3 WAY up my list. it's a top three, w/ it, call of duty and perfect dark all being pretty interchangable. and kameo is trying to bumo its way in. i only wish i could take a hands on look at condemned, which looks like it'll either be super fucking fantastic, or a huge piece of shit. there seems to be no in between w/ that game. i hope it's got a downloadable demo on live. goddamn there better be downloadable demo's at launch. not that i'm gonna be there at launch, i'll be around come christmas, but there just better fucking be demo's.

it seems so far, so good. no teams seem to have an interest in either a) acquiring manny at all, or b) dealing w/ the demands the sox have for a trade. so woo. let's hope the sox don't fuck this up and trade him at all, or get less than he's worth (which is seriously any trade involving him. they don't know what he means for that team, and won't until he leaves and we lose not only his numbers, but most of papi's as well, as no one fucking pitches to him. and then the rest falls apart was well).

mid season nfl mvp by the way, steve smith. if you've yet to see a panthers game this season, you're missing out on quite a lot. not only will they be heading back to the super bowl this year (unless the giants are actually good for real, which i still doubt highly), but steve smith is making plays like nobodys business. and they have him listed at 5'9" no less. so he's probably about 5'6". but he doesn't seem to be aware of that, and is just fucking sick. so congrats to him, my first ever blog, mid season nfl mvp. feel free to print this out and hang it on your wall steve. it's as good as cash in some places.

speaking of awards, i wanted to mention that as the year winds down, you'll all be treated to my "year end award show." or whatever name i decide to actually give it. we used to do this on our radio show back in the day, and now i've got an outlet to start it back up again. game of the year, movie, tv show, hero, cd, "toy"/gadget, things of that nature. basically whatever i can think of. it'll be good stuff. so something to look forward too. (also, nes 20th anniversary piece, red sox "report" and anything else i've promised will be here NEXT WEEK! tune in!)

and that's that for now. have a kickass weekend, enjoy the cold, and i'll see you all on monday. later.

stahl

let's give this another shot

2005-11-09T16:02:00.000-05:00

ok, so i'm sure you read about my attempt to post on monday night, let's hope that doesn't happen again. fingers crossed because this is gonna be one post covering both days topics. or what i can remember from both days. let's see exactly what that is...

i went to a packed showing of jarhead on friday night, and man alive, what a movie. if you read about how i was anticipating this movie, you know of my love for the director, sam mendes, and a few of the actors in there, namely peter sarsgaard and chris cooper. my biggest concern going in was about jake gyllehaal's ability to act, at all, and just how much could he/would he fuck this thing up?

turns out, not at all. in fact, jake gyllenhaal blows this fucker out of the water. he is impressive in a way i had no fucking idea he could ever be. you don't so much see jake, nor do you entirely see "swoff", but you really see a version of jake stuck in this situation. and that was something i really didn't think he was at all possible of doing. i'm not a fan of him or the other films he made to date, even the entirely overrated "donnie darko." but he absofuckingloutely shines in jarhead. w/o giving too much away, the "attempted murder/suicide" scene following the sausage fire is the high point for him in this movie, and he just absolutely kills that scene. it's such a long, drawn out scene, w/ so much required in it, and shockingly enough, jake just brings the whole thing to life in such a painful to watch, yet unable to turn away type of way. i'll never think of jake gyllenhaal the actor (at least for his next few films) the same again, and might even be on the verge of looking forward to a "jake gyllenhaal movie."

the same can be said for the rest of the cast. peter sarsgaard is as awesome as ever. chris cooper is far more limited than the original advertising suggests, maybe three scenes total, but i'm thinking two, yet he's still awesome in his limited exposure. jaime foxx continutes to pretend he can act when he feels like it, this being one of those times. he's fucking fantastic as their staff sergeant. and that kid from friday night lights is in here, and awesome again, as i thought he was in friday night lights. i said this in the monday post, but i wouldn't mind making a movie w/ him. and not in the super gay way that that sounds like, though if that were the case, so be it i suppose. but he really seems to be setting himself up to be a bigtime actor/movie star in the coming years.

all i've heard so far is rave reviews over the performances in the movie, that seems to be understood by all. what i don't seem to get is the negative comments i'm hearing about the movie itself, basically for reasons boiling down to it not being an entirely different movie. again, w/o giving too much away, people seem to be upset that it's a war movie w/o action. no shit. it's not an action film. it's not a "war movie." it's a movie about war, and about what it does to those involved. it's got an "action" scene or two, but that's not what it's about. i've also heard people angry w/ same mendes for not making a "political statement" in here. that's also ridiculous, because it's something that doesn't need to be done. this is a movie that goes out and takes one mans first hand experience and transfers it beautifully from page to screen. it doesn't force any extra "war is bad" ideas on the audience, because it should be something readily apparent after watching what swoff and the rest of his group go through throughout this movie. it's never pretty, it's never fun, and it's something that should be an eye opener as a real look at what is going on w/ our troops. from basic training to being deployed over seas, the physical and mental fuck that they are forced to endure. the lies and conditions they have to have to face and deal w/. it's a dark and horrible story that needs to be told and seen/heard, and no extra bullshit was needed from sam mendes. he just stood back and shot this movie as awesome-ly as he always does and the audience should be able to determine that which they're seeing isn't fake, and isn't a good thing.

so, a very strong recommendation for jarhead. like i said, something that needs to be seen.

i loved watching the pats take it monday night. the pats are a shell of what they have been, and the colts are a dominant team, possibly even moreso than the pats of the past few years have been. the colts d is impressive, but the pats NEVER had an offense like the colts have. as much dick sucking as the press would like to do w/ tom brady, peyton manning is the best quarterback in the league and has been the entire time the pats have been making their run. if the pats had peyton they would have been an even better team. peyton just picked the pats d apart downfield all night, as he should have, and it was a fucking pleasure to watch that shit happen. the excuses were flying around the way on tuesday, but the bottom line is the pats are fucked, and the colts are one of the best teams this league has seen in years. i can't wait for weeks 11 and 12, at cincy (who the colts should have their way w/, but should be a good test to see just exactly where the bengals stand this year) and home against the steelers (w/ big ben all back and ready to go, this could be the best game of the year).

does drew rosenhaus live w/ t.o. these days? i mean, has anyone ever seen an agent spend so much time w/ one client?

while we're on the nfl still, this is one of the greatest stories i've ever heard, ever. not only should these girls not have been fired, but they should have been promoted, and should teach a class to anyone who wants to learn how to be so awesome.

ok, arrested development apparently did beyond horrible in the ratings this week. and that's fucking bullshit. there is no better show on tv. not network, not cable. not a better comedy, not a better drama. i love a whole lot of shows, and many are favorites of mine, but none are on the same level as arrested development. scrubs and family guy may be about the only two shows that comes close in my mind to arrested development on the comedy side of things, and then the dramas, well, theres lost. and maybe svu. i watch and like a whole lot of other shows, but every week (or whenever fox decides to actually put it on) arrested development delivers laughs like no other. the show is not only original in the television landscape, but somehow is able to stay original w/in itself. how that's possible, i don't know, cause you would have seriously thought it wouldn't have been able to sustain one season of madness, let alone keep getting better into season three, but it's a fact. check your gut. if you're not watching arrested development, do yourself a favor and borrow seasons one and two on dvd from a friend (or go out and buy them, you won't be disappointed), then go download season three up to the most recent episode. then join us (us being those who are smart enough to realize that this show rules) in watching monday nights (again, when fox cares to put it on) at 8 pm. best show on tv.

ah fuck. now i know 've had a whole lot to say so far, combining two days of posting, but there was much more.

for instance, peter gammons nailed it (as he tends to do) last night when discussing the al cy young award. not only did colon not deserve to win it, he shouldn't have even gotten the most votes by a starter. johan santana was far better than him all season, w/ much better numbers. then, as a sox fan no less, mariano rivera was better AND more important than either of them. hell, mo should be heavily considered for al mvp, more than a-rod. no player on the yankees was more responsible for them getting to the post season than mariano rivera, he was their mvp, and one of the most valuable players in the league overall. the al mvp is still ortiz (duh), but mo had one hell of a fucking season, one which the yankees would have finished in third in the east w/o.

as far as manager of the year goes, both went to the more than deserving winners.

yesterday was election day, at least in some form, across the country. for the most part it seems that everyone and everything held as it was. new jersey and virgina keep their democratic governors, and texas continued to rule in general. i've said it before (this week no less) and i'll say it again, the south NEVER disappoints.

do not miss lost tonight. if for some odd reason you do not watch lost, quickly follow the same instructions for arrested development and join in on the best drama on tv. hurry up, you've only got...four and a half hours (seven and a half west coast!) to squeeze in, ah...something like 30 hours of show. hurry! run!

let's wrap it up w/ some video game chat. i did go and play some xbox 360 the other night, and that was pretty awesome. i played through the call of duty 2 and kameo demos completely, and was more impressed w/ each after that.

it took almost half an hour to start playing though, unfortunately. i got there and there was already one guy waiting to play it, w/ two walmart guys buried in the display case trying to get it to work. half an hour later the rocket scientists realized the system wasn't actually plugged in. yeah. seriously. but then my new buddy, james, got in and started playing king kong. i think the demo for that looks better than the pc version, spefically the kong model. it played pretty similarly, replacing the mouse scroll w/ tapping the a button to break out of the t rex's grasp or to smash it. i checked it out for a few minutes and enjoyed it like i did on the pc. i did die once getting to the second set of t-rex's though, and pretty quickly, which did not happen on the pc. so i'm not sure if the difficulty is turned up on the 360 demo, or if they changed how much damage kong can take, or how he takes damage.

a small piece of king kong news as well. go check out the new trailer. i saw it before jarhead this weekend. the goddamn trailer brings a tear to my eye its so amazing looking. all that had been shown before this was on the island, and i wondered if it could keep up w/ the awesomeness once it got to new york. it seems that won't be an issue.

call of duty is just so fucking immersive. i mentioned it last time, but the scale is huge, just so much larger than what we're used to on the xbox. it's really fucking impressive, and i was pretty dissappointed when the demo level was over. only because it was really that fun, and i would have loved to have blasted through the whole game in that sitting. a must have at launch? probably. most people tend to be fans of the shooter genre, and it is not the same game as perfect dark, so i could definitely see pickig them both up and playing them at the same time, while not feeling like you were just playing the same thing and having the same experience. i think/hope the demo will get tweaked a little still, as it looks like the edges were slightly rough and the textures could be bumped up a bit. but other than that it was pretty awesome. played very well, looked pretty awesome (the smoke being extremely impressive), and was just fun. so far so good i say, and highly recommended that you at least play through the demo entirely. it should take you no longer than 20 minutes, and you shold get a pretty good feel for it after that.

the same can pretty much be said for kameo. in fact, i didn't know you could control changing your character, i thought the game did it based on what situation you were in. but after about ten minutes into that demo, you get full control of it, and that's where it really shines. i said the demo sucks before, and it does because it wastes ten minutes getting to the point where you actually play the game they created. but once you're there it's pretty great. the camera is slow as hell, and it's possible i missed that one of the shoulder buttons centers it behind you, but that would be about my only real complaint. if the camera, controled by the right control stick, were more responsive, it would have played even smoother. aside from that, once you get control of the real game, just about everything becomes a puzzle of sorts. certain enemies can only be defeated by one of your characters powers, and certain paths can only be opened using a combination of the two. i'm a big fan of the weed guy. that seemed the most creative and fun character to play w/. i would absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for that zelda type experience. this is not zelda, but similar enough in theory to enjoy that way. it's kinda like a banjo kazooie meets zelda sort of game. that is, if it's level based, which right now it seems to be. but very kickass. i think i'll probably be getting it. i'd say, go to walmart, let someone else dick around w/ the game until they run into the guys who run underneath the steal domes, then casually say, "hey, mind if i give it a try?" then never let anyone else touch it until you go through the rest of the demo, and then hit up call of duty. sounds like a plan.

and since i was at walmart, i spent half an hour after playing w/ the 360, playing metriod prime pinball. i can only say it so many times, but that game rules. if you have a ds, there is no reason to not have that game. if you like pinball and don't have a ds, this is a VERY strong reason to pick one up. i need a ds. i hear target has a pink one, though their website refuses to show me.

and that's that for today, and monday. longest post ever? i don't know, we'll see. for now though, ah, um...posts! woo! later.

stahl

a lifetime of tardiness

2005-11-08T00:21:00.000-05:00

fuck my ass. seems that this fucker decided i signed out somehow, and signing back in forced me to lose my entire post. awesome. i had a whole thing written up. a chat/review of jarhead, an expression of love for arrested development, a hilarious joke about the patriots (hint, see monday nights box score), and a mention of how i was off to go test the xbox 360 at the super walmart for some late night fun. and being as i'm off to do that, sadly this is the whole post for today. i think maybe i'll come back and try to recreate the post tomorrow, so check back on that. but for now i'm off.

sorry blogger.com seems to fucking hate me, but, who, or what, doesn't? anway, have a rocking day, later.

stahl

i'm apparently gay for the theatre

2005-11-04T03:48:00.000-05:00

how's everyone doing on this kickass friday? at least on the east coast it's pretty kickass. shockingly warm weather after some brutally cold and wet shit we've already had to start dealing w/. though the fuzzy caterpillars in maryland say it'll be a mild winter. i'm not so sure i'm buying it. i say we're in for a year of grazy go nuts extremes. this is my belief. though thinking about it earlier i thought to myself, self, what if last winter was the start of this crazyness? i mean, maybe someone hasn't informed mother nature herself of the modern calendar we here in the civilized world (i'm looking at you china) tend to follow these days. maybe she's all, "oh, well, october to october." and if that's the case, i say listen lady...you just...knock it off. we got enough crazies professing their own madness 'round here these days, you just get in line like everyone else and go january to december like a sane person!

i can safely say that was not how i intended to start this up today! calling out mother nature. seriously though, huge, monster winter i think. record snowfall throughout most of the northeast last year. more this year. so smoke on that...nature.

anyway, on to the "real" stuff i had intended to chat about. you may remember i cut my post a little short the other day. i did that because what i was gonna keep chatting about had very little to do w/ nintendo or the red sox. well, this may end up talking about both of those things again, but i'll start w/ the other stuff today. so here goes...

so i keep seeing all these rent commercials these days, as the film version comes out shortly, and it brings up that "age old" question, what the fuck is w/ making movies out of plays? recently theres been the box office/critical success of chicago, the film version of the play of the film the producers, as well as rent. now, i know there've been others, i just seriously can't think of anything right now, and have no desire to actually look it up. but here are three plays that have been wildly successful on the stage, and risk so much by taking themselves to a new format.

theatre and film could not be more different, both in presentation and "acting." for instance, there is no acting in rent as a play. seriously, i've seen it, none. even when they're not singing a specific song, shit is "talked" pretty sing-songy. not to mention that no one out of the first few rows can see anything but the actors movements. faces are fairly useless in a prodcution like that. then you take that idea and concept, condense it to fit the time structure of a film, but somehow add "more" to fill out the actual idea of a film, all the while attempting to make the same product. it's an interestingly odd idea, and one that i'm not entirely sure will work w/ rent.

i saw chicago the movie, in the theater, and had to keep reminding myself it was a film and not a play. the way they went about creating that film had me holding myself back from standing and applauding after every number. it was a great fucking movie, and a great accomplishment. the producers should have none of the problems one would associate w/ bringing something from stage to screen because it's actually a fucking move in the first place. but rent falls squarely into the chicago camp. it's a musical production through and through. i'm almost certain that it could be done the way that chicago was done, and i'm almost certain that that's not at all how they went about making it. first of all, hiring rob marshall (director of chicago) to direct would have been a huge step towards success. they choose instead to get chris fucking columbus to direct. for those of you unfamiliar (feel free to click the link) here's a quick rundown of chris columbus' career...home alone, home alone 2, mrs. doubtfire, nine months, STEPMOM, and the first two harry potters, which i didn't realize sucked as much as they did until i saw three and saw what a director w/ eyesight could actually do w/ that franchise (speaking of which, kudos to you warner brothers on the new director. four weddings and a funeral? mona lisa smile? yeah, this should end well...).

rent is fucking wonder to see on the stage. seriously, a fucking wonder. you cannot imagine (unless you've seen it, which you probably have and now i look like a dick) what they can do on one stage w/ no set changes or anything. it's simplicity makes it larger than life. which is why i'm so confused over this upcoming movie. not only that, but making the movie at this time, after the play has been out for so fucking long. it's still in action, so it's not like they're "bringing it back." but at the same time, it's not new and exciting to the world at this point in time.

but then i think about the people who haven't seen it. i'm not talking about you lazy bones, the fucker who has the chance to go see it but won't get off their lazy ass to do so. i'm talking about the people that live in idaho, and kansas and the like, but moreso, about the people of the future. i'm talking about using film to document history. and i think this play is an important part of it's period in history, something that should be documented so that i can show it to my kids when they get old enough for such a thing. i mean hell, it's not like it's fucking cats and it'll still be playing in 20+ years. so i'll just reach into my dvd collection, whip it out, say hey, see this, imagine that...but better. a real fucking easy solution here would be to just film the actual play, but that wouldn't cost like $100 million, or make sense at all.

so, to summarize, i've got my doubts about rent the movie, and plays becoming movies as a whole. i'll reserve judgment until i see it, but i'm not overly sure the reason of it (especially w/ rosario dawson in it. yeah, she's proven she can act. right? hell, can she even sing?). i do think/hope it'll be a nice compliment to the play. like the soundtrack. but w/ pictures. moving pictures. and i'm sure i'll cry like a fucking woman all over again. thanks a lot rent. jerk.

man, that just went on, huh? that escalated quickly. thankfully no one killed anyone w/ a trident. now what the fuck else was i gonna talk about? i know, you would think that was it, but no my friends, it was not.

i can add this in while i think. i saw a teaser for 24 the other night, and sweet jesus was that fucking awesome. i mean, come on! jack is back! you don't know jack! or something! goddamn i love that show, and i cannot wait for this new season. jack is dead to the world! is he gonna be able to operate even further above the law? is that possible? do i fucking care? no! let's get it on! 24 for everyone! exclamation points as well! enjoy!

hmm...well, i can aboslutely recommend you go see jarhead this weekend. i know i'll be. no need to see a review, i'm pretty sure that movie cannot go wrong w/ me. sam mendes? peter sarsgaard? chris cooper? dear god where do i sign up? hopefully i can squeeze in the weather man too, because these are two of the movies i've been most looking forward to seeing all year. i think only king kong remains on that "absolute must see" list. for me at least. i know my girlfriend's varies greatly, but they're not films i'm not looking forward to seeing. at least most aren't. i am very fucking interested to see the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, just to see if it actually works. for those who have seen the bbc version, you know what i'm talking about.

fuck my ass. i cannot for the life of me remember the other specific thing that was on my mind. shouldn't have passed it up the other day. or should have at least made note of what the fuck it was at the end of the post. i'm good like that.

ok, i'll just put the wraps on this bitch for the day. it's been a lengthy ass post anyway. for those of you in the northeast, again, enjoy today. and saturday. quite possibly the last "nice" weekend of the year, so live it up. and look for that nintendo post, and red sox post, coming soon! seriously!

oh shit, before i take off, this should probably be up at the top of the post, but do yourself a favor and read about michael brown's utter ineptitude if you have not yet done so. you could seriously not imagine that one man could do so much damage. but yet, there it is, literally spelled out. an impressive job "brownie." jackass. just how much he himself fucked up, even more than previously thought, should wipe some of the shit of of bush's face. but then again, brown was just another buddy who got an entirely undeserving job in a position he should have never been anywhere near from "le president."

yeah, it's french. sometimes i remember pieces from of it from high school. in this instance, the word "the." it's a gift. and w/ that i'm out. have a kickass weekend. miss me terribly. later.

stahl

Happy anniversary...Nintendo?!?

2005-11-02T18:32:00.000-05:00

how such an important event has gone seemingly unnnoticed throughout "the world" is beyond me, but, it is true. the NES is 20 years old. 1up did a great week long piece on it, covering the history, the games, and the cultural impact. at least to some degree. it's not the be all, end all on the subject, but it's far more effort than anyone else put into it, and it's definitely worth a read.

being 20 years for the system means that next easter is 20 years since i've had a nintendo. time truly does fly, but that is one of the earliest, most specific memories i have. i had to ask my dad about it last night to make sure i hadn't made it up, as tends to happen when you think you remember things about your childhood. i grew up w/ an atari 2600 my entire life up to that point, all five years, which i loved and throughly enjoyed. but getting a nintendo was just about the biggest thing that had happened to me. popping in mario and just being blown away by what was happening on screen, and in my hand, was an experience i surprisingly haven't forgotten. and to see just how sleek and futuristic the nes looked, well, you could tell the 80's weren't fucking around. nintendo may be one of the few things actually worth while that came out of the 80's. and by that i mean things that were cool and remain cool because they are cool, not things people thought were cool, realized were horribly shitty, and then some fucks who were born in 1989 or later decide that they "remember" how "awesome" the 80's were and try to bring it back in all it's shitty glory.

and let us not forget duck hunt, which seriously almost resulted in many broken tv screens at my house. my sister seemed to think that the only way to actually play it was to hold the gun directly against the screen. on top of that, when she fired you would almost swear she was shooting a real gun that kicked on her, because her hand would snap forward and smash the gun into the screen. needless to say, she did not become a rocket scientist. though if your kid comes home and plays duckhunt the same way, you may know who his/her teacher is.

and that fucking dog, who you, for some reason, couldn't shoot. what an asshole he was. and as much as an asshole as he is in general, that's just a whole new level of asshole to a five year old. yes, i've never shot a gun before. i've never played a game of this level before. i'm fucking five, stop laughing at me you fucker!

one of my favorite things about the nes was that, eventually, everyone seemed to have one, but no one ever had the same games. sure there were the standards, like the mario games and zelda and the likes, but then the rest of the collection was always different. so going to a friends, cousins or uncles house would result in this great opportunity to play something new and different. or to continue playing that crazy game you started last time you were there. for me, at my uncles house, it was jaws. and always jaws. i'm not sure i ever got more than half an hour into that game, but i'll be damned if i wasn't drawn into it's incredibly odd mix of collecting seashells and running from a fucking shark. what a weird game that was. and my cousins were all older than me, and one group of cousins was three brothers, so they had quite a few games. all the nintendo classics were played over there, like kid icarus, metroid for the first time. and my buddy who had the powerglove for no fucking reason whatsoever!

i think i may put together my own little nes retrospective, games i loves, games i hated, over and underrated games. things like that. but i'll put that in a special post in a few days, maybe even tomorrow. in light of this 20th anniversary, i've broken out/plugged in my nes, snes, n64, and dreamcast which was connected to the rest. i've had some lovely "classic" gaming. try it yourself, i guarantee you'll find something to latch onto, if not many games as i have. for now though i'd also recommend checking out this list of the worst nintendo games you've played. it's not a list i entirely agree w/, and it's not exactly a list of games i think were even played (who would fucking buy jeopardy? and marble madness is a fucking gem that just couldn't be played the way it should be on that type of system/controller), but it is a fun read and takes you down a nice memory lane stroll.

as i feared the other day, though hoped against hope, theo epstein did not re-sign w/ the red sox. and the sox fall into complete disarray. such a hugely important off season, and somehow we've decided to make it as impossibly difficult to deal w/ as we can. go sox, go. and theo claims that it wasn't lucchino that forced him to leave, and i'm sure it wasn't entirely their relationship, but as always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle of all of this. take all the theories and reasons that people are throwing around (his working relationship w/ lucchino, his desire to have more power and to speak directly to john henry, more money, lack of privacy in boston, more overall respect), combine them and you've got theo's thinking. it's just a fucking shame we couldn't have wrapped this up a week earlier, before josh byrnes left for arizona. that full red sox "report" is coming soon, i promise. i've got to get it together before more shit hits the fan.

i'll wrap this up for now, since it's a little late to begin w/, and i may as well save myself some stuff to chat about friday. i don't want to have to think of new things all the time, i'll just limit what i say this time. clever...anyway, happy november, break out your old nintendo and enjoy the good times. later.

stahl

HAPPY HALLOWEINER!

2005-10-31T03:58:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

let me hold some candy. seriously.

stahl

p.s. today's regular post is right under here. enjoy it's halloweenie super size.

p.p.s. even though that looks like it could be me 20 years ago, it's not. just come kid who came by my way a couple of years ago. sadly (and creepily) the only halloween-ish picture i've got on my computer.

i'd like to blame the pats but...

2005-10-31T03:53:00.000-05:00

*a bills tirade is to follow. for those of you who could give a fuck, feel free to skip right past it. i'll let you know when you can join back in.*

the bills either just flat out fucking suck or are competely fucking retarded. we're just getting right into it today, because sweet fuck, the bills are trying to kill me. their big sunday night game, and they decide to not execute at all. at fucking all.

i'm not talking about individually, because willis mcgahee and eric moulds had fantastic games. willis tends to do that at least once a month, so that's not too much of a surprise. but the bills have seemed to forget that eric moulds is even on their team over the last few years. so to see him being highlighted as he was, it was pretty awesome. to see that he was the focus of the passing game, and then to watch the bills not actually take advantage of that, well, that's where the loss came in. i said last week, the pats are easy to beat these days. GO FUCKING DEEP. what do the bills do? anything and everything but. two times (TWO i tell you!) they threw the ball down the field. and what happened those two times? the first, a ball that lee evans just never seemed to get moving on for an imcompletion, and had he actually been moving, it would have been underthrown anyway. the second, oh, just a 55 yard touchdown pass to the man himself, eric moulds. two shots, one touchdown. i'd say that's a pretty effective rate. apparently the bills didn't think so.

i just seriously wonder what the fuck these assholes (mostly the coaching staff) was watching on the tapes this week, because to come in to face the pats, have your running game being as effective as it was, but never be able to actually put points on the board w/ the run. and instead to resort to these short to medium length passes, that work well enough for what they are, but also aren't putting points on the board. throw the goddamn ball down the motherfucking field! you have two more than capable receivers who can get the fucking job done! let them do it!

i mean, it's not like we're working w/ some shitty receiving corps here. moulds is a hall of famer, and lee evans is certain to be at least be a pro bowler. the passing game the team is choosing to use just absolutely limits what those two can do, and makes them less effective as well. fire that offensive coordinator immediately! seriously, he is fucking killing me/us. what a cock.

and then of course there was kelly holcomb's insanely beautiful fourth and seven w/ the game on the line and two minutes to go, let me throw a two yard pass to a dude who is fucking covered and will most certainly be brought down immediately. yeah, that was the best right there. that didn't just crush my soul at all. what an asshole.

bottom line, bills double up the pats in time of possession in each half. they take a HUGE 3-0 lead into the half. then they proceed to lose by five, somehow finding a way to completely negate the pats inability to defend down the field. awesome work. awesome fucking work.

now the rest of the nfl...

i'm talking to my giants fan buddy the other day, and asking him how in the hell it was possible that the giants were about to be 5-2 and in first in the east? he too had no idea how it happened, but it seems the giants are for real. at least in the awful nfc. i would not be too surprised to see them make it to the superbowl, though i do assume carolina will pull it all together and show that they're the best team in the nfc by then. it's impressive to see eli progressing as quickly as he is. no doubt plaxico burress is a huge reason for that, but still. if he can be anywhere near as good as peyton then this whole, "trade away the franchise for eli" move may end up being worth it.

speaking of which, is there any quarterback that is more fun to watch than peyton manning? most of you will immediately scream vick, but i say no. vick's highlights may be fun to watch, but man does he not entertain me on every play. watching peyton work is a joy, and a fucking privalege that you should all be taking advantage of while you still can. he is one of the finest, smartest, most under control i've ever seen. as gay as that all sounded, i'm not sure it was gay enough. i love peyton manning.

and then some other shit happened. oh yes, somehow the niners AND texans, wait for it...WON. both teams, same week, nay, same DAY. they should still both be kicked out of the league for sucking so hard.

*and that's the end of that chapter*

hey! welcome to today's post! it has nothing at all to do w/ football! in fact, i don't even know what football is. seemingly neither does the offensive coordinator of the bills. whoops! my bad. moving on...

the rest of my sports opinions looks like this today. uconn is ranked number 2 in the country preseason. that's pretty awesome, especially since they'll be playing w/o a head for the first semester. i can only assume that the voters are looking at the whole season in this poll, and understand the impact marcus will have when he returns. i'm just so pissed that they won't be at 100% going into the maui invitational. that's gotta be the best field for an early season tournament ever. i'm just hoping uconn can pull off an "upset" or two. either way it might be the best set of games you'll see until the conference tournaments start.

now the last thing i've got to say about the world series, unless of course someone asks me about it again. i can't believe i forgot to mention this, but here it is. jermaine dye somehow grabs mvp. ok, whatever. it was a lot like last season, where the winner just ran over the loser, but no one really stood out because everyone pretty much did well. and not that i'm saying he shouldn't be mvp, or this guy should, but man, that series was all about juan uribe for me. that kid became a star in my mind. if he would stop trying to hit the ball farther than he's even physically capable of w/ every swing, and in turn start slapping the ball the other way, down the lines, then we're looking at the next great shortstop. his defense is just pehnomenal though, and any mistake he may make getting to the ball, sweet jesus does he make up for on the throw. he's got the kind of arm of tha makes you really feel sorry for the first baseman. or worse yet, the second baseman who has to take that short turn on the quick double play. ouch dad. i don't know if there is anyone in the league that throws as hard as he does. infielders at least. it's like having bobby jenks' arm at short. uribe made that series that much more enjoyable, so thanks for that juan. now if only we could get you out of chicago?

theo remains unsigned, though today is the day. depodesta getting fired by the dodgers makes me worry a bit, but i'm still pretty certain theo will still be here tomorrow. the manny thing, though not unexpected, is quite worrying though. especially since the sox themselves seem really pissed that word got out on that.

i finally touched an xbox 360 yesterday. it was lovely. unfortunately i spent about five minutes w/ it, and that was hardly enough. the controller is awesome, as expected. it feels so much lighter than the controller s for the xbox. i'm totally psyched. i only wish the demo system allowed you to go into the "guide" (i can't remember if that's the actual name for it, and am way too tired to care right now), and let you fully use the guide button. it all feels fantastic so far though.

the demos on the system, as you may be aware already, were kameo, call of duty and king kong. i've played the king kong pc demo, so wasted no time there. don't take that as any sort of knock on that game. i've played the hell out of the pc demo, it's awesome and i can't wait to play the game and see the movie multiple times, but time was limited. i spent about 20 minutes waiting to get on the system, watching all the kids before me play call of duty. there's really a lot to like there. the graphics looks like they're running on a high end pc. not exactly what everyone seems to be expecting, but to say that's not a huge step up from the xbox, that would just be retarded. the demo itself looked like the graphics were a little old, at least i'm hoping they were. i would assume the retail version will be cleaned up a little bit more. textures looked a little lacking, especially on your hand, which is constantly holding your gun, so it'd be nice if the thing you saw 100% of the time looked great. explosions were good looking, but the biggest thing i noticed was the scale. it's just so much larger than what you're used to on the xbox. it makes it a lot more hectic, and a lot more awesome. it didn't "blow me away", but it did impress. i'm still really looking forward to picking up call of duty.

so when i got to the system, i kicked back out the menu and selected kameo. i was actually looking for perfect dark, because i thought that was supposed to be on there, but i guess i'm just an idiot. apparently, unbeknownst to me, the people in front of me had all been playing the same game of call of duty. they had been playing for some time taking turns, and were making progress of some sort. needless to say they were not too happy when i quit the demo to load up kameo. eh, fuck 'em.

kameo as a demo sucks. horribly. it looks awesome, like rare games tend to do. it was probably the best looking of the three demos. but the demo itself tosses you into some level, somewhere in the game, as one of the thing kameo can turn into. it was interesting to see the different things she can be, but it sucked to be trying to play the demo, see how the game actually plays, and have no idea what was happening. you should pretty much be able to pick up and play a demo, and this you really can't. i fear it may turn some people off, because it's just not intuitive. i've been playing games forever, games of that nature as well, and i just couldn't get a feel for what the fuck was going on. the part w/ the dragon and the dudes riding it though, and getting knocked off of it, that was pretty cool though. all in all i still want to pick up kameo. i think what i saw got me excited for the possibilities of the game as a whole, but what i actually played was pretty fucking annoying.

so i didn't get out to see the weather man this weekend. looks like few people did. i've yet to see the first saw, so i'm not too sure about saw 2, but it did ridiculously well. in general $30.5 million would be awesome. at this point in time, it's just that much better. more surprising still may be the legend of zorro making $16.5 million. i know i saw the first one, i just can't even begin to remember the movie though. i assume the second pretty much accomplishes the same thing. though honestly, any chance to see catherine zeta jones, especially w/ that look she has in this role, oh man...seriously. seriously.

to those who are interested, the 50th anniversary party was a rousing success. the 150 some odd people that were there all had an awesome time, myself included. i spent half of it playing w/ my insanely adorable little year and a half old cousin, and the other half inexplicably "dancing the night away." seriously. and for those who know me, that is odd. for those who don't, trust me, i do not take to dancing. the craziest part yet was that i was actually fucking good! seriously! i was rocking out. so much so that when i got home i thought both my big toes were broken, and i'm pretty sure my right knee is that much closer to needing surgery. but it was a par-tay, and i had a kick ass time.

for those of you who forgot to set your clocks back, well, it's a little late now. you may as well just wait til next year. way to go dicks.

and last but not least...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

enjoy, take your kids out, have fun, go out yourself, eat too much candy, watch some scary movies (or prison break, which is new tonight and might be kinda scary), dress up, whatever you do, just live it up. just remember, don't eat any of that candy before you get home. it may have razor blades or drugs in it. same goes for the unicef change you collected. hah, yeah right, like anyone fucking goes the unicef route. later!

stahl

i like dancing, and ponies, and getting my snootch pounded on friday night

2005-10-28T23:54:00.000-04:00

oh man, i'm just sneaking this one in here...

first of all, belated congratulations to the white sox. a far more deserving team than the astros, who took all of four games to prove just how overmatched the nl continues to be. i thought the astros would be able to grab at least one, but goddman, the chi sox were just relentless. from start to finish (minus the entire second half of the season of course) there was no better team in baseball this year than the white sox. and like i said before, as if their just being better than the other teams wasn't enough, they had a multitude of calls "go their way"/be made up entirely.

but in the end it wasn't a bad call that ended it for the astros. no way one or two bad calls, no matter how bad, could cause them to go what, 0-20 or so to finish out the series w/ runners in scoring position? just fucking miserable. and actually rooting for bagwell to win his ring, well, it was much harder seeing such "sucktitude" than had i not gave a fuck either way. so thanks a lot for your utter ineptness houston. you seriously went down like a bunch of bitches.

while we're on it here, for being "content" in chicago, and having won a world series a day ago, paul konerko wasted NO time filing for free agency. it may just be me, but i would assume there were quite a few other things that could have been occupying his time THE DAY AFTER WINNING THE WORLD SERIES! now i'm not saying he's out of there, but goddamn the sox (red, you know, the real sox) better have that goddamn check ready.

speaking of which, this theo thing certainly took an interesting turn today. cashman signs w/ the yanks for close to two million a year, backup plan josh byrnes takes off for arizona, and the sox won't have any new info today or this weekend. maybe they're spending the weekend setting up for the halloween party, or maybe he's already signed and for some unfuckingknown reason they're sitting on it, but theo is now officially it. so stop dicking around and announce his signing already. you're fucking killing me here. re-signing timlin though, very key, nice move sox.

a.j. price is done for the season, marcus williams is out for the semester. maybe it's just me, and maybe this goddamn thing has been dragged out for so long that i forgot what the hell originally happened, but man, i thought marcus was more involved in this thing than a.j. i'm thinking maybe the school told calhoun to pick one, and if so, wise choice. but that's to be expected, jimmy knows what the fuck is up. you don't get to the hall w/o knowing how to get your starting, all-american point guard out of jail. having marcus provides a much brighter outlook to the season, and i'm psyched to hit december now. uconn should be fantastic, but the big east in general is just gonna be awesome this year. i know everyone knows that, but i'm psyched about it. uconn is finally gonna be forced into playing a strong schedule. and pretty much any other big east game they throw on the air this year will be worth watching. good times ahead.

i played metroid prime pinball for the ds the other day at gamestop and boy did that kick ass. i wish i was able to turn up the volume, and maybe check the manual to see what the fuck is going on on each table, but even just picking it up and playing w/ no idea was awesome. i mean shit, it's pinball, how hard can it be to figure out? now i should also mention that i love pinball in general. i grew up w/ my uncle having two different machines at his house. i go down to the sharper image to play the lord of the rings table they have because it's the only one around (plus it fucking rules).

but man, the dual screens work really, really well w/ this game, and i've never noticed how well the shoulder buttons react, but you sure pick up on that in this game. it was one of the more enjoyable games i've played lately, and that was also w/o the packed in "rumble pak." there were only two tables available on the game i played, but the difference between the two was more than just a different background, which was also awesome. one table has the standard two flippers, while the other has a third on the right side in the second screen. very damn fun. the ds, in general, is looking very good these days. what i'm saying is i needs one.

big matchup sunday night for my boys, "los buffalo bills." what i love is that the goddamn pats and jets are ALWAYS on over here, every week. the only time i get to see a bills game is if they play one of those two, or they play sunday or monday night. so buffalo against the pats, guaranteed to be on local cbs sunday afternoon. but no, it's on sunday night on espn, taking away what would have been another bills game i actually could have seen. couldn't have put the bills and...the chiefs. that's a solid game. ah, fucking nfl scheduling and me liking a non local team...

so, stallone refuses to get the point, refuses to "stay down." honestly, i love rocky 1-4, and rambo i've got no beef w/, but theres a fucking line, and not only has stallone crossed it (rocky 5), he decided to sit back, wait FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS, and hope everyone forgot. well sly, i'm not sure i can forget tommy gunn and the street fight. i was pretty sure tommy bled his aids blood all over that franchise, thankfully, but it seems rocky has some sort of magic johnson magic. i wonder if that dude is still alive, tommy gunn/morrison. man heavyweight boxing has sucked for a long period of time.

BUT...the rest of boxing does not suck as much, most times, and the contender is bringing a set of fights to peter "the pride of providence" manfredo's hometown february 12. i've yet to hear what the card will be, or who manfredo will be fighting, but i'm hoping it's alfonso or joey. if not just sergio again, that would work as well. i'm pretty sure i'll be attending that, so look for me "ringside." i'll hopefully have more info soon.

ps, batman begins is just as good the sixth time (tonight) as it was the first five. god i love that movie.

i'm gonna try to get to see the weather man this weekend, but chances are good that's not gonna happen. this was supposed to be a quick post tonight, it is not. surprise. i've gotta get up and head on down near the "nyc" at the ass crack of dawn for a little audition, then it's hurrying back home for my grandparents 50th anniversary party. yes, it's sure to be the social event of the season. but, congratulations to them, if for no other reason than for staying alive to reach such a date. that's always an accomplishment.

my apologies again for the tardiness of this post, and how scattered this one feels. next week, well, you just better be ready for the awesomeness. yeah...

stahl

i'll be late for that

2005-10-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

look at me! a week into this damn thing and here i am, very late. so let's get down to business...

a shockwave was felt throughout the sporting community today. yes, it is true, someone in the wnba is a lesbian. i know, i'm sure you are just as shocked as i am. how will i piece back together this shattered perception of life i now hold? what's next, someone from the olympic softball team announcing she's a lesbian? a male gymnast being gay? a model doing coke? needless to say, my world has been rocked.

in all seriousness, sheryl swoopes has probably been about the only female basketball player i could ever get behind. sadly i'll never be able to get behind her...physically. mmm, sexy. anyway, people always called her the female michael jordan, and i suppose it was true at the time. but nowadays i think i'd be more likely to call her the female dwayne wade. though he himself is quite jordan-ish. so, i suppose it works. she is about as entertaining on the court as women's basketball can get. plus she's got that perfect basketball name, which i would question it actually being her real name. it just fits too well.

so, that's something i thought i'd never have to do here. or anywhere. talk about women's basketball. but, living in connecticut i'm sure it won't be the last time. old people and pre-teen girls sure do love it.

i'm late here tonight because i meant to type this up in the wee hours of tuesday evening/wednesday morning, but that goddamn game went on forever. literally. tonight seems like it's not gonna be interested in ending anytime soon either. it was a pretty great game though, despite the fact that the astros are fucking terrible. how they turned things around during the season and carried themselves this far in the playoffs is beyond me. this team can't hit for shit. their pitching is outstanding, but just take a look at clemens' record and stats this year. you can't put up those numbers and end up w/ that record.

seriously though, this team sucks ass. how they managed to not get the runner home from third w/ ONE OUT in either the eighth or the ninth, i can't remember, was beyond me. that was just impressively bad. and man, you know things just aren't going well when you hit the 14th and i've got no idea who the fuck this pitcher they're bringing in is. and that ended well. a lose is a lose, but christ, they should have lost by at least four, possibly/probably more if not for that amazing double play by ensberg and biggio. i mean goddamn, that was one hell of a play. if not for that, if that ends up being the double it should have been, there are no outs, and then a large three run shot to follow. a solid outing by assface astacio. or whatever the fuck his name is.

speaking of the game last night, was anyone else impressed w/ fox staying w/ the shot of astros manager phil garner screaming at carl everett in the fifth? i mean, i am not deaf, nor am i actually trained in lip reading, but it didn't take either of those "skills" to see garner just telling everett to fuck himself time after time. and then, you think it's over and they show a slow motion replay of everett in the other dugout telling garner he's a motherfucker and to fuck himself! now i've said a lot of things about fox and their ability to cover sports over the years, but any other network would have pussied out and cut away from that. kudos to you fox! you and your inability to produce live television.

i have still not won an xbox 360. i'm starting to get pretty pissed. i've got a fridge full pf pepsi products that i could give a fuck about. in fact, it seems connecticut isn't winning at all in this thing. every time i check the days winners, there are zero from connecticut. sadly, the one time i saw one from connecticut was yesterday, after i had entered 15 drawings. it just so happened someone from some other ass town in connecticut one a drawing i was in. that was a nice little extra kick in the balls this contest had yet to give me. so that was awesome. i'm just looking for a little love from these assholes by monday. trust me when i say no one who wins one of those would be more psyched than me. i am crazy. and, "cool." way too into videogames cool.

anyone else psyched about the next two weekends of movie releases? just one each week is "striking my fancy", but both are towards the top of my list for movies this year/season. the weather man this weekend and jarhead next. and i don't get down w/ jake gyllenhaal, but damn jarhead looks cool. and i do get down w/ michael caine and nic cage, so...yeah.

speaking of movies and michael caine, batman begins is even better seeing it the fifth time as it was the first. the two disc set is outstanding, w/ some of the coolest/best features i've seen on a dvd yet. there is just so much interesting info on the making of that film crammed into that second disc. if you've yet to pick it up, there should be no single disc set in your mind. if you've yet to even fucking see it, what the fuck? go now. seriously. as a batman fan, a comic book fan, a movie fan, or just a person w/ a moderately functioning brain, it is absolutely fantastic. i'd compare it to the others, but there is really no point in it. you just can't compare the first three, in any form, to begins. and four, "and robin", i'm pretty sure that speaks for itself. no need to continue.

my uncle apparently made it through wilma last weekend. though it seems they have no idea when they'll be getting power back, so that's cool. he and my aunt just moved down to florida in...august or september. so this was a nice welcome wagon. i'm just hoping, and assuming, that things are all cleaned up and ready for me to come down for spring training. i'm planning on making my first such trip and goddamn it'd be frustrating to wade through debris to get there. i mean, i'd still go, but hopefully florida will get it together by then. that being said, good luck and best wishes and all that to those down there.

well, brian cashman signed w/ the yanks today. i would assume that will be the thing that finally gets theo resigned, or cut loose, but i'd assume something will happen soon now. it'll be very interesting to see what happens after the world series ends as far as the sox are concerned. lots of things to get done this year. and again, i'll get my big sox update coming shortly. either on one of these "off days" for me, or this weekend sometime. trust me, it'll be awesome. something you'll look back on and go, "shit, that motherfucker knew what was up. too bad the sox did not."

a lot of sports today, and honestly, that's gonna happen. i'm down w/ the sports. when the 360 hits, a lot of 360 talk. when i get some big film news, for myself or in general, i'll chat about that. basically whatever is happening at the time will be what this is about. the world series happens to be in full swing, so, this is what happens. for those who are less than sports fans, my bad. it'll change day to day. and if this 1-0 score holds up, it could and should change drastically come next week.

my last piece of sports for today has to do w/ those beloved huskies. and trust me, once that starts up, uconn huskies hoops will be a HUGE part of this. anyway, a.j. price decided he was gonna go the marcus williams route and apply for "accelerated rehab." why he didn't do this weeks/months ago, i do not know, but at least it's finally a step in the right direction. i've got no idea what the hell is going on w/ a.j. marcus seems so much more together on this whole thing, maybe he's got experience, i don't know. but a.j. doesn't seem to be able to handle it, nor does his lawyer. so it'll be "intersting" to see what happens w/ that. and by interesting i mean horribly painful and just end badly.

ok, i'ma wrap this bith up for today. late as it was getting up, i'll keep from sitting here thinking of other things i wanted to mention. now that i think about it, friday could be late too. it's a "travel day", and i'm lazy in general, so possibly look for it on late thursday night or early saturday morning. til then, smoke a dick! or something.

stahl

let me hold a dollar.

2005-10-24T16:33:00.000-04:00

hey hey, lets start w/ sports today, just for fun.

well, first and foremost, the white sox did it again. another phantom call goes their way, and in turn they go up 2-0 in the world series. when it comes to getting hit w/ a baseball, that call w/ jermaine dye at the plate was nowhere near close. i mean, even fox couldn't find a way to fuck up that call.

speaking of which, what in the hell is that ass k-zone ripoff they're using now? not only is it horribly incorporated into the broadcast, it's also entirely worthless and inaccurate. i'm not sure i've seen a single pitch come in anywhere near where they're showing these things on that shit box. it's as if the program is not actually connected to any cameras showing the game, and the guy running it is watching desperate housewives on his little portable tv in the corner or something. so every time it pops up he just quickly clicks his mouse somewhere on the screen and bam, "something" happens. ten years plus years of sports on fox now, and they love to keep mentioning it. why they do, i do not know, because it looks like a fucking fucking special ed high school class keeps putting these things together. both behind the scenes and in the booth. yeah, i'm looking at you tim mccarver. you dumb bastard.

so while the white sox are riding high on the magic of baseball, or horrible, blind umps, the nfl was just as crazy go nuts on sunday. the giants coming back to win anything? coming back to win against the broncos no less? the pack losing to the sexy vikings on one hell of a field goal? the texans and niners still being allowed to play in the nfl? the bills (goddammit) losing the randy moss-less raiders? hell, losing to the raiders w/ moss is still hard to do. especially after coming off of two HUGE division wins. and now, having a chance to be a half a game up on the pats, sitting half a game down going into foxboro to face the pats who are coming off a bye week? ouch to me. hopefully, sweet jesus, the bills can get it together enough that its very easy to beat the pats, these days. go deep often. as simple as that. the falcons exposed it big time two weeks ago, and the broncos just absolutely executed it to perfection. so unless the pats get an entire new secondary, it should just be holcomb to moulds and evans for 40+ yards all night long. and the pats themselves have been going crazy w/ the pass lately as well, so that should play into the bulls hands whose pass defense is top notch still, but for some reason have comepletely decided to stop playing against the run. ever. which is fucking awesome.

ah, too much to chat about in regards to sports. i really should pick this up to once a day, because the sports part alone is too much to squeeze into every other day.

to all those wondering, i have not yet won a goddamn xbox 360 from the lovely folks over at moutain dew. we're into the final week of their "every 10 minutes" campaign, and granted, i've only entered seventeen codes to date, but this week is where it happens. i'm heading off to the beautifully shitty super walmart tonight to pick up about 40 bottles of moutain dew/pepsi/sierra mist/cherry pepsi and see if this walmart has their 360 demo system set up yet. chances are good they do not. they do not do things overly quickly here in dicksville, ma. i love the idea of the super walmart though, because i'm a HUGE fan 24 hour establishments. and one of that size, w/ that much diversity in it's merchadise, well that's just a good time right there. nothing beats walmart at 2 or 3 am w/ no specific agenda. and while you're there to check out such an intersting situtation, the other people who are there are not. no, they're there because that's how they roll, and boy do they roll awesome. i would suggest you check it out if you get a chance sometime. it is seriously awesome.

speaking of late night shopping, christmas is right around corner. who's psyched? i know i am, both because i've got a shopping plan and ideas this year that should get me done well before christmas, and also because in a few short weeks the mall starts being open until about 1am, also for no reason. it's great because i think just the big stores stay open, filene's, j.c. penny and the like, but since they're on opposite sides of the mall, the whole mall itself stays open. most people go into one store, from it's exterior entrance and stay there for their one stop shopping. very few people venture out into the mall itself. but, me and my boy stabbs go pretty much for the mall part of it. wandering around a completely empty mall in the late evening w/ all the stores closed, can be one of the best parts about christmas. and this year i'm looking forward to it holding up again. it becomes even better if it ends up snowing the night(s) you go, and you have a kickass, dicey drive in.

for those of you not watching everybody hates chris, you should be. it's just a funny ass show man. if you enjoy chris rock, you'll love it. if you don't (for whatever crazy ass fucking reason that would be), you'll probably love it even more.

i had the pleasure of having one of the oddest auditions ever this weekend, which was pretty cool. and it went well on top of that, which made things even better. it's been a busy week w/ more to come on the audition front, hopefully some good news will come from it in the coming weeks. did i mention i'm a huge star? i suppose i could only keep that a secret for so long. ah well.

well, it looks like it's about to damn snow out there, which i've really got no problem w/, but at the same time it is october still. but i'm just gonna sit back and enjoy this winter. it should be memorable for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which should be some crazy record snow. that's my prediction. so get all your snow pants and boots ready, and your sleds all sledded up. and i'll be back w/ a better post than this pretty shitty one next time.

stahl

round two

2005-10-21T01:36:00.000-04:00

and i'm back! who the fuck would've thought? not only am i back, but, it seems i'm full of useless info, so let's get to it!

the penny arcade/jack thompson fussin' and-a fightin', or as i likes to call it, good times, continues. gamespot has some interesting information on the situation. it seems that a push is being made to have mr. thompson's license to practice law reviewed. they've got all the details, most of which i'm sure you're aware of anyway, but i wanted to comment on something not noted there or elsewhere to my knowledge. i understand the stuff he's written directly to penny arcade, and that it's a little less "official" than he would operate normally. what w/ the yelling and threats and all. but reading his most recent email, sent to "media outlets" and what appears to be the head of his governing body, just sounds like a dude "shooting the shit." almost as if he himself were writing some sort of "blog." it just comes off so fucking casual sounding. it just impressed me at how awkwardly insane he comes off in what i would assume would be his attempt to seem normal, victimized even. anyway, i'm sure penny arcade will have some better first hand updates coming today, so, enjoy that.

thurdsay and friday may be the most boring days in terms of sports since the day after the all star game. but at least then you were cruising forward, w/ the second half of the season coming at you, and trades and all sorts of interesting things happening. wild speculation like, will matt clement be able to keep it up (sweet jesus no), will renteria turn it around (also, sadly, no), can the yankees really keep sucking this much (yes and, no...and then yes again), just how much does pujols really love retard kids (seemingly more than one would assume), and what the fuck are the sox doing (god only fucking knows)? throw in nfl preseason and whatnot, and for a day of no games, and a sportscenter seriously loaded w/ wnba highlights, things moved along pretty fucking well. but these two days, the second or third boring week of the nhl, nba preseason that could not mean less, and heading into a world series that, while i'm sure it'll be played well and solid and shit like that, is significantly less interesting than last year, things are slow. painfully so.

i'll get on the sox big time one of these days, but i know it'll take up a lot of space and time, so i'll hold off for now. i will just say it's pretty awesome they continue to drag their feet w/ theo. though that renteria over orlando thing sure is annoying. and clement for 27 million fucking dollars. no, stop, another day i said.

just gonna go on record here, white sox in 6. i want the astros to win, but the white sox are just on a different level right now. and pettitte refuses to get it done. clemens will do his, oswalt will do enough for the entire staff, though his games still only count for one. not only are the white sox playing well enough to be better than everyone else, they've seriously gotten every single call they could possibly get this post season. not only calls they could get, calls that are possible to make and actually exist, shit was invented for them! i'm not knocking them, i'm past the damon check swing and the other call that i can't even remember what it actually was. they should take what they can get, and keep running to first on every strike out. but you can't beat a team playing as well as they are, and then possibly cheating on top of that.

but, like i said, chi sox in six, (cause i'm pretty sure houston won't fucking roll over and die, vlad style. good series dick) though i'm rooting for the 'stros. it's funny how clemens getting the fuck out of new york renewed my love for him. solid job of scouting talent there by the red sox, by the way. he certainly didn't have anything left after they screwed him over. the main reason i'm rooting for the astros though? jeff bagwell. it would just be so fantastic to see bags retire w/ a ring. there are few more deserving in the league than him. plus a home"town" boy, and an ex sox farm hand (i've got his brit sox card and i love it...sexually). jeff bagwell for president of my pants. plus he wears number five. i think that makes you automatically cool. it worked for me right? right??

ah shit, what else...oh man, i saw the greatest piece of journalism this evening. on...some show on abc, abc primetime i think, they done went out and topped datelines "white twin, black twin" story from last month. they had a charming tale about 13 year old twin girls who were doing their thing mary-kate and ashley style. had themselves a little cd, some sort of musicians, just pr/marketing gold. but wait, they have a message! a message of love? a message of staying up past their bed time? a message of boys? no, a message of the aryan race. no lie. you had to see it to believe it, and hopefully someone will torrent it, because it was awesome. apparently they've got a story about it on their site, but that just doesn't do it justice. feel free to check it out though, because goddamn, good times right there. i'm watching it w/ my lady, trying to wrap my head around it, trying to take it seriously, as i'm sure it was "intended", but it was just too funny. they people they interviewed, from the "movement", a classy bunch. and after a few seconds of trying to rationalize it, you just start becoming overwhelmed. there is just too damn much to find fault w/ to even begin to argue against it. and maybe thats their goal. to shock and confuse you so much w/ their "logic" that you just give up. and give up i did. and had any a good laugh from it.

my biggest problem w/ the whole thing though was that it was actually a story. a little known fact, there are some dumbass people out there. an even lesser known fact, even moreso in the south! the thing is, i'd never heard of this specific group, never heard of the magazine the girls were on the cover on, never heard of the girls, never heard of any of the people, bands or generally awesome people they chatted w/. and this i assume is the norm. no one had heard of these people, or ever seen these girls. but here comes abc, "outraged" that such a thing could occur. and w/ their outrage they bring cameras and national attention, futhering the cause of these jackasses in a way that they alone NEVER could. so, abc, kudos to you. this i did not know, abs loves hitler. who knew?

speaking of excellent journalism, if you've yet to check out the colbert report, run your little self on over to your choice of torrent search engine and begin w/ the downloading. whether or not he and the show can keep up this level of manic excellence is yet to be seen, but for now its working to perfection.

jesus, didn't i say this would be shorter? nuts to that. i'm not even sure i got it all out. maybe i'll start doing daily posts. maybe...maybe someone should start reading my blog first. maybe...worst case scenario, it gets my typing skillz (yes, w/ a z. that's how excellent they are) working, and the creative juices flowing. i can then turn that around and pretend i'll work on my scripts, but instead go enjoy some tasty cape cod jalapeno cheddar chips til i get sick, and watch west coast late night tv til i pass out. i'm good like that. until next time, ah...something or other. yeah...

stahl

and away we go

2005-10-19T03:50:00.000-04:00

holy christ, here comes the blog. the stahl blog. hey hey, ho ho! sadly i started this blog a bit too late, not in the general scheme of things, that's obviously apparent, but in the day. i'm winding down and my interest in this specific post is waning. which is close to wanging. which is cool.

i think the big thing happening here, in this blog, is the balance between reality and awesomeness. i'm gonna try to find the balance. it's all about not being a boring douche talking about the things in my life that no one could even begin to give a fuck about, while at the same time limiting the madness that occurs when i completely forgo discussing such things. stay tuned, as we all see if i can handle that kind of pressure.

uh oh! *spoiler alert!*

i'm just gonna go ahead and assume i can't, and this will end up being a disaster. but please, feel free to think otherwise, or just figure it out on your own. just try to act surprised when it happens, so i don't feel too bad about it.

whew, thank god we got that out of the way. i'm seriously attempting to make some sort of "real" blog here, and to hell w/ those who know me and will undoubtedly shit all over me for such a thing. but dammit, i am so fucking bored, and i've got a whole lot of shit to talk about. about a whole bunch of topics. i'd list them here, but if it's possible to talk about, chances are very fucking good it'll get mentioned at some point in time here. ah screw it, sports, movies, video games, tv, "pop culture", taco salads, music, the interweb, people i hate, news, hurricanes, "work", people i hate slightly less, ladies, dudes, and many other things.

as you can see here, i've choosen this format for my blog. i'm not exactly sure what that is, hold on a sec...ok, i forgot which template i chose. had to check. so as you can see, i chose this here, "cowboy" style becasuse, well, i don't know. i want to be a cowboy? a gay cowboy eating pudding? most of the others were pretty gay, and don't get me wrong, i love a good gay setup, but were either too plain or the text looked weird on it. i'm sure it'll change in time, but, ah, for now, its this chili's inspired, gay cowboy template. enjoy.

fuck my ass. somehow, someway, my post just ate shit and half of it is gone. this part here, "the good stuff", all was saved. woo, great. the whole horrible, boring explanation. the actual meAt of the post is gone to the interweb, never to be seen again. fucking sweet. and i'll be damned if i'm interested in trying to reconstruct it. but fuck, here goes.

this "jack thompson vs. penny arcade" shit is hilarious. i thoughly enjoy crazy people, and this has got that like little else happening right now. at least in my world. and i would have thought the whole "$10,000 check" thing would have been it. what can trump such a grand gesture? well, hows about a fax to the local police in an attempt to get the pa fella's arrested? now we're talking! bring on the crazy! who will strike next? how will it happen? i don't know, but damn am i enjoying it. and, even though entirely unrelated, the monday comic that went w/ those posts was the icing on the crazy cake. gabe is slow. good times.

how in the holy hell does john leguizamo keep getting work?

a couple of weeks ago, i was introduced to a site called pinkisthenewblog.com. i checked it out, and immediately was like, what the fuck? why am i reading this? this has absolutely nothing of interest to me, and i could only imagine no one else. so fuck that site i says. the next day comes along, as next days tend to do, and there i am, at pinkisthenewblog.com. and every day since, for abot two weeks now. that shit is addictive. and i've only been there for a short time, so maybe this is how the site goes, in some sort of bitch cycle, but the shit that's been up there the past few days has just been annoying as fuck. it's this dudes blog, so i totally understand he may want to vent and express the shit happening in his life, but it's gone well beyond that now. as of today he's on hiatus til god knows when, because he's just so stressed. so many things happening in his life, he can't handle it. i'm led to believe all these "stressful things" include his trip to la, where he was forced to deal w/ beautiful weather and attend meeting after meeting of people throwing offer after offer at him. ouch. then it was off to new york, where he meets madonna, which, based on his site, means quite a bit to him. how life can be so difficult, i can't imagine. i love the site, and i understand him venting on it and all. but vent and move the fuck on. i can understand all the options being a pain, seriously. having to try to choose the right one, that shit is tough, i've been there (what?), but it's now bringing down his site. and killing my buzz.

seriously though, who the fuck is giving john leguizamo money? to not act, ok, that i'd understand. to be in a film or tv show? and it's not like this er thing is the first thing recently, that jackass has been all over my tv for the past year or two now. what the fuck?

ok, i'm about to wrap this bitch up. one thing i'm trying to work on is the length of these posts. for instance, is this too short/long? i do not know. but i figure this is a good place to call it a night. i'll be back w/ plenty more. i also have no idea how long its gonna take to get someone to actually see/read this fucker. i can't imagine it'll be anytime soon. but, enjoy anyway. to no one in particular. so, i'm out! (that's my tagline. good? eh...comes at you real quick though!)

stahl