sfaJack

Soaring gas prices, rising grocery bills, and the mortgage crisis (equally fueled by shady lenders and stupid borrowers). These are things that people often cite when bitching about the DAMN BUSH ECONOMY. But at least it's comforting to know that the murder-for-hire market hasn't been hit with soaring prices yet... You know, there's probably someone out there that wouldn't mind if I got bumped off. God knows there are some days when sfaJill's bitching makes me think it wouldn't be so bad. But I think I'd be insulted if someone thought it was only worth $150 to have me killed. --------------------------- So while wasting some time browsing TSM yesterday, I clicked on mole's not-very-successful summer box office prediction thread. Being a semi-frequent movie-goer (though 75% of the movies we go to are not my choice), I thought I'd go down the list and see if there are any that I'm likely to see. MAY IronMan - Haven't seen it, but will probably Netflix it at some point. I'm not now and have never been a comic book guy so I rarely have much interest in these movies. It's supposed to be good though. Speed Racer - Haven't seen it, probably won't. I couldn't stand the cartoon when I was young; why would I watch the movie, especially when it sucks like this one apparently does. What Happens in Vegas - It's got Kyle Korver and Cameron Diaz in it and a stupid premise. No thank you. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - This one might be a Netflix rental one day, but I never read the book and, while I liked TLW&W ok, Narnia stuff isn't exactly on my list of "must see." Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Saw it (90% because sfaJill begged me whined until I agreed to go, 10% morbid curiosity). While the original movies are some of my favorites from my childhood, I'm not an Indy geek or anything. They're just good, fun movies that I've watched probably 25 times in the years since. That said, this is easily the worst Indy movie and I really wish I hadn't spent $9.25 on it. Sex and the City - I'll never see this one. And sfaJill isn't the slightest bit interested in it so I'm in the clear there. JUNE Kung Fu Panda - I'm never interested in stupid crap like this, but there are rumors that my in-laws want to take the 4-year-old nephew to see this. I'm already rifling through my rolodex of excuses to get out of that one because I know that sfaJill will want to latch onto that little family outing. You Don't Mess With The Zohan - You know what's funny? We saw a trailer for this months ago in the theater and sfaJill said it looked "funny" and stated she wanted to see it when it comes out. A couple of weeks ago, a trailer ran on TV and, after it was over, sfaJill asked "Who would go see that piece of shit?" I laughed. "You said you wanted to see it!" "When?" "We saw a preview at the movies a while back and you said it looked funny." "I did?!" "Yes." "Are you sure?" "Yes!" "Wow. I can't imagine what I was thinking." The Incredible Hulk - Didn't they just do a Hulk movie last year or something? Either way, I don't care much (that whole "not a comic guy" thing again) and probably won't watch it. The Happening - Pass. It's M. Night Shyamalan. I thought Sixth Sense was good and Unbreakable was pretty good. After that...not so much. Get Smart - I'm really, really looking forward to this one. I loved Get Smart as a kid, Steve Carell makes me laugh, and Anne Hathaway is one fine piece of ass. Plus, I've seen the trailer(s) several times and laugh each time. Can't wait. The Love Guru - WTF is this, an Indian version of Austin Powers? This is not gonna end well... Wanted - I haven't even heard of this one and know nothing about it. Thus, I am unlikely to see it. Wall-E - I'm sure I'll be watching this one at some point because sfaJill is VERY excited about it. I'm not so much but if it's half as much of an animated Short Circuit as it appears to be, it might be tolerable. JULY Hancock - Yeah, I'll see it. sfaJill loves Will Smith and keeps asking me when this is coming out, so...yeah. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D - Saw a trailer for this one before Indy 4 and my only thought was "This is stupid." So, no, I won't be watching. And didn't the whole concept of "3D" movies die back in the 1950's or so? Hell Boy II: The Golden Army - Nah. Didn't watch the first Hellboy and probably won't see this one either. A trailer for this one ran before Indy 4 as well and I wasn't impressed. The Dark Knight - Yeah, I'll see this one. Batman is the one "comic" that I'll watch any movie of. If nothing else, my one friend (who is a HUGE Batman freak) will drag me to it at least once. Mamma Mia! - Had to look on IMDB for this one. Does it really use ABBA songs to tell the story? Dear God help us all... X-Files: I Want to Believe - Nope. I never watched X-Files. Besides, hasn't it been like 10 years since it was on? Why make a movie about it now? Step Brothers - I'll see this one. I think Will Ferrell is hilarious, though I'm a little apprehensive becasue Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro sucked real bad. John C. Reilly and Ferrell were great in that Nascar movie though; hopefully, that will carry over to this one. AUGUST The Rocker - Dwight Shrute gets a leading role in a film? I'll watch, but it'll probably be via Netflix. The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - A Netflix rental all the way. The first couple of Mummy films were ok enough so I'll watch, but I'm not paying for it. Pineapple Express - I've seen three of the "Apatow" movies? Knocked Up (average), Superbad (funny, but overrated), and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (best of the three). This one looks like it could be good, but I think I'll wait for the DVD. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - Why the fuck did this one need a sequel? No thanks. Tropic Thunder - I'll probably see this one eventually. The team of Stiller, Black, and Downey Jr. should make for at least a semi-enjoyable movie. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Eh. I'm kind of sick of the whole Star Wars thing, personally. House Bunny - After looking this one up on IMDB, I've determined that, while it sounds stupid as hell, I might see it on cable or something one day simply because Anna Faris and Katharine McPhee are in it. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Never heard of it. A check of IMDB shows that it is something I will probably never see unless Scarlett Johansson gets nekkid or something.

Sonic's "two idiots sitting at the drive-thru talking" are the worst.

David Carr's work ethic is/was somewhat lacking as well. Since he's left town, there's been several of his former teammates call him out on being the first one out of the locker room after practice instead of staying late for extra film study that is typical of most quarterbacks. Many of them doubt his heart was ever into playing in the NFL.

Heh. We actually once "lost" a pep rally due to the student body's lack of enthusiasm/participation the weeks before. The cheerleaders and staff were tired of us not cheering/caring, so they decided to pack it in one week and go down the road to the elementary school and give the pep rally there. From what I understand, the rally was a great success but failed to help the team avoid getting killed again that night.

I will not buy anything from Sonic as long as they are running those ads. Not that I buy anything from there, other than a cherry limeade every few months, but still. Point stands.

Not only that, but HE WAS A ROBOT THAT COUGHED AND WHEEZED. WTF??

Dude, seriously? About the only commercials that make me scramble for the mute button faster are those dumbass Sonic "two people sitting at the drive-thru" commercials.

I think that's it, more or less. It's definitely animated, and, according to my Star Wars uber-geek friend, it's very similar to the Cartoon Network stuff but not exactly like the Cartoon Network stuff. I'd never heard of it until that preview. I gotta give props to George Lucas though. That crafty bastard has found a way to make another hunderd million off Star Wars.

OKC is about to steal a bigger city's NBA team. That easily vaults them into the top 10!

For all the bullshit hype we've had to endure about his start, Joba could've at least lasted three innings.

Nothing, outside of a weekend trip to Dallas later this month. The wife wasted all of our money on a new king bed so between that and doing a few home improvement projects necessary to get the house ready to sell next year, we're broke.

Why do you care though? Did you get to go to the Super Bowl when it was here? Did you make any money off of it? Did it benefit you in any way at all, other than being able to say "Hey I live in a city that hosted the Super Bowl!"? Did you enjoy reading and/or listening to out-of-town reporters bitch about (just to name a few) our infinite number of unsightly topless club billboards, the shortage of taxi cabs, and the fact that they were forced to stay in a run-down La Quinta out in Missouri City because this city doesn't have enough "acceptable" hotel rooms? Why is it so important that Houston get another Super Bowl???

Right on, though you forgot the pumpkin train in left, the incessant noise that blares from the speakers before the game, between innings, and, occasionally, DURING the game (though that probably doesn't come through on TV), and the stupid policy of always having the roof closed if it's warmer than like 75 degrees outside. Might as well have just saved a $100 mil and built an actual dome since the only time the roof's open is early April, late September, and when Bud Selig says it shall be open during the World Series. The fans are the worst though. I was at Tuesday's 4-2 loss, and they had to be prompted by the "LOUDER" signs on the scoreboard to cheer for Valverde when Fontenot came up with 2 outs in the 9th. It's really pathetic. Kauffman Stadium is awesome though. My third favorite park I've been to.

Well, at least you get to see the Cubs (with Zambrano on the mound!). That'd be more than enough to get me to go.

I can't recall; did ESPN break in to show the final out of Anibal Sanchez's no-no back in '06?

Who didn't see this ruling coming? ---------------------- Then there's this couple that got themselves banned from cruising for the rest of their lives. I know that there are times when you just have a bad experience with the service industry. It happens, and sometimes it's not even the fault of your waiter (or whomever did you wrong). But if you've taken six cruises (all with the same company), filed numerous complaints during five of them (yet continue to sail with the same company), been compensated for your "inconvenience" (by that same company), and STILL complain about what a horrible experience you've had (with the same company), I don't blame them at all for banning you. Find another cruise line or STFU already... ---------------------- Back later with more...

You didn't buy 10,000 of those "Forever" stamps that are not affected by the rate increase? Some Jew you are... And go easy on the Post Office. Sure their delivery service is inefficient, their rates are way too high for what you get, and their workers are rude, slow, and incompetent. But without them, we wouldn't have gotten that fantastic story about how they delivered your mail to that broken down, barely-a-mailbox device on your street...

I can't wait to be charged full price for a cut down season's worth of episodes on DVD...

But how do you know if Pie is any good unless you play him??? We've been hearing about the kid's potential for three years now--LET'S SEE IT. At his absolute worst, he'll probably give you about what Edmonds is going to, so why not play him and see what happens? The Cubs have scored more runs than any team in baseball so clearly the Johnson/Pie platoon isn't killing them. Why not let this pitching staff benefit from Pie's defense, if nothing else? Anybody who thinks that Edmonds has it over Pie there needs their head examined.

It's true that Perot won everyone's mock elections in '92, so maybe it's not that noteworty. Remember though that I was going to school in the very heart of George H. W. Bush country--we've even named our big airport after him and his Presidential library is 90 minutes away--so from that perspective, it was surprising.

Oh, God there used to be a guy kind of like that that hung out in our school's gameroom as well. Dude must have been a social retard or something because nobody was ever down there with him and I NEVER saw him playing any games in there. But, sure as hell, but he'd always stand behind me whenever I'd be on NFL Blitz or Golden Tee and either critique my playcalling in Blitz (constant long bombs/occassional "screen pass") or give advice on which club he thought I should use on Golden Tee. VERY annoying. I'd end going to shoot some pool by myself just to get the fuck away from him.

Junior high was 6-8 for us. It was not a horrible experience, though my extreme shyness made 6th grade tough because of the sheer size of my school was bascially tripled from 5th grade. My top stories from each year: 6th Grade: Sex ed was part of science class, which was taught by the rather attractive Ms. Humphrey. Ms. Humphrey's then-boyfriend, Darryl, was in the Army; we knew this because she had him come visit us when he was on leave from Iraq during Desert Storm. Anyway, during the lecture one day, the class clown, Daniel, raised his hand and asked, "Hey Ms. Humphrey, what does semen taste like?" After several awkward seconds of restrained giggling from the class and stunned silence from her, Ms. Humphrey said she didn't know. Daniel replied, "Oh. Poor Darryl." I think he got suspended three days for it. 7th Grade: I took wood shop as an elective. That was a big mistake because I don't have a single ounce of carpentry talent in my bones, though I was able to make my mom an easel to use in her classroom. A fight broke out in class one day. One of the guys involved got kicked out of school for a month and was threatened with arrest because he used a dowel rod to break the other kid's nose before the teacher was able to break them up. It was a pretty shocking moment. The thud sound made when he hit the kid's nose was pretty impressive. 8th Grade: The only really notable thing was that Ross Perot won our school's mock Election '92. I do recall the excessive torture of one of the nerdy sixth graders by a semi-friend of mine in gym class--tossing his clothes in the shower, towel snapping; that sort of stupid shit. Since I was a first period office aide, I got to escort former Houston Oilers' midget receiver Curtis Duncan to the gym for his anti-drug pep talk to the school. He signed a piece of copier paper for me, which I think I misplaced within a week. This was just days before their epic 32-point collapse against Buffalo.

Maybe Lou can't figure out whether to call him "Pee-ay", "Pie", or "Pee-uh" and this is his way of handling it.

Hey Czech, is there any buzz in Chicago about the Cubs being interested in bringing in Edmonds and demoting Pie? I saw that on SI this morning and threw up in my mouth.

So I was interviewed by one of the Houston Chronicle's sportswriters yesterday for a story they're doing about sports and the economy. On Wednesday, on his blog, he asked for reader feedback on the topic; specifically, has the DAMN BUSH ECONOMY affected your decisions to attending sports events, be they high school, college, or professional. My dad and I have had season tickets to the Dallas Cowboys the past four seasons. Other than most of the shitty preseason games, we've not missed a single game during that time. This season, we are not renewing our tickets. Our decision has nothing to do with the massive playoff disappointment of last year or ever-rising ticket prices ($130 a game this last year vs. $78 back in '04, our first year). Rather, with gas likely to be at or near $4 a gallon by the time the season starts and a decent hotel room now costing between $85-90 (as opposed to $60 back in '04), making 8-10 500-mile round trips to Dallas just doesn't make a lot of sense anymore. We've been priced out. Neither of us are very happy about it (and will probably kick ourselves if the 'Boys end up hosting the NFC Championship Game or something), but other than lay out a couple thousand dollars in travel costs (in addition to the tickets), we don't have much choice. Anyway, since the topic struck a nerve with me, I sent an e-mail to this guy briefly describing our dilemma and decision; he wrote back and asked if he could call me to do a formal interview on Thursday. I said sure and our game of phone tag finally ended last night around 6:00. During our chat, he said he's heard from several folks like me so there's no guarantee that he'll use our story, but I thought it was kind of cool to be part of it. sfaJill wasn't quite as impressed, but strangley had no comment when I asked if she'd prefer I have my name in the paper because it's in either the obituaries or the police report for slapping her around a while...