Sugar and The Wonder Years

Every Wednesday night while I was growing up, we went to church. There were a few things I missed out on, but none of them really that big of a deal. I remember my sister missing a softball game because someone was silly enough to schedule on a Wednesday night. But the biggest thing I remember missing was television. I remember my dad saying it was a conspiracy by the networks to keep Christians out of church. Don't know how serious he was about that one... Anyways, I remember missing shows like Head of the Class, but I really remember wanting to watch The Wonder Years. Every year or so, church would be cancelled on Wednesday, and I would catch a glimpse of this elusive show. We didn't have a VCR back then, and TIVO was over a decade away. So I missed it.

In an interesting twist, The Wonder Years will likely never make it to DVD. The show has some amazing music, and negotiating deals with the record companies at any time but up front is pretty much impossible these days. Enter file sharing. Apparently many others have had an interest in seeing this show, so a good effort has been made to digitize and share every episode. One of my housemates, AM, has managed to procure nearly 75% of them. We started watching a few days ago, and this show is as good, if not better, than I remembered all those years ago.

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I heard a pickup line yesterday that I think has become my favorite. It goes something like this - you hand a girl a packet of sugar and say, "Excuse me, Miss, I think you dropped your nametag." I tried it out last night, and got a very positive response from one of the girls in the house. :)

Entry posted by byscuits at 03:00 PM | Comments (4)

Favorite Movies

Every once in a while, I accidentally run across a movie I really like. I am not really expecting much, and am quite surprised when the movie turns out to have substance. "Matchstick Men" is one of those movies for me. It got me interested right from the start, and actually ended up being a good movie. Not "good" as in entertaining, but "good" as in the movie has a redeeming message. It has become one of my favorite movies.

So now I need all of your input. I would love to hear some recommendations of your favorite movies, especially the lesser known ones. My favorite movies of all time include Chariots of Fire, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and The Shawshank Redemption, just to name a few. And I would like to hear from some of you lurkers out there - those of you that read this pretty often, but rarely if ever comment (you know who you are. I saw one of you last night).

And the recommendations don't just need to be your favorite movies of all time, maybe just some that surprised you, had a bit more than you expected. If you could share a bit about why you liked the movie, without giving too much away, that would be really cool. But a simple laundry list would make me happy as well. Here is another of my recommendations:

Moonlight Mile -We find Jake Gyllenhaal living with his fiancee's parents, Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman. His fiancee has died, and the these three are dealing with the funeral, the wake, and a host of other related issues. I was immediately struck by the cinematography and the soundtrack during the first scene of the movie, where Jake's character is waking up from a dream.

The first time I saw this movie, I was surprised at how realistic the characters and situations seemed. After looking a bit more into the movie, I found out that these events were based off of the actual experiences of the writer and director, Brad Silberling, whose girlfriend was shot and killed by an obsessed fan.

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a performance that is one of his best, with certain scenes that remind me of his character in Donnie Darko. And Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman actually give performances that make me reconsider my opinions of them.

The fantastic character development is married with a plot that unveils itself slowly. It keeps you uncertain about your opinion of the characters and some of the choices that are made. You learn things about the characters while they learn things about themselves.

After reading reviews of Moonlight Mile, people either seem to love it or not really think much of it. But I say give it a chance, and let me know what you think.

Worst Airline - This trick, known as a google bomb, is inspired by my recent trip home. When people search for a certain wording combination, in this case "worst airline," google orders the rankings somewhat based on links it finds on the web. If enough people link aa.com (American Airlines) with "worst airline," then google will turn up as aa.com as the number one hit when people search for "worst airline." I know it isn't much, but it makes me feel like I am doing something. :) If those of you with blogs would like to help out, I would be most appreciative, as it apparently doesn't take much to set them up the bomb.

Entry posted by byscuits at 11:15 AM | Comments (9)

Back in Boston

I returned on Sunday night from a long 10 day trip back to Carl Junction, Missouri, the town I grew up in. I have been thinking a lot lately about moving back near home sometime in the next year, so it was good to be home for such an extended period of time.

I have been living away from home for 8 years now. While that is a long time, and who I am today has been greatly shaped by that time, I find that I am still much the same person I was all those years ago. I may have experienced many new things from Boston to LA, but when it comes down to it, I will always be a kid from a little town in southwest Missouri. I do not say this to label it as good or bad, but to tell how things truly are. Many things from our childhood effect us for our entire lives. Not really going anywhere with this, just thinking out loud.

During my trip home, I had another horrible experience with an airline, this time American. I won't go deep into the details, but the short story is that on my way back to Carl Junction, I had to wait through two mechanical delays, one weather delay, being sent to the wrong city, and then having my luggage lost. If you can at all avoid it, do not fly American or United. The sooner they go out of business, the better for the flying public. United (responsible for losing my clothes while I was on my way home for a funeral) has already declared Chapter 11 bankrupcy protection, and I have no doubt American is soon to follow. As a side note, American recently removed all Customer Service representatives. No kidding. There is no such thing as American Airlines Customer Service.

I have a good number of photos to process through in the next few days. I hope to have some of those ready to post soon.

Entry posted by byscuits at 12:40 PM | Comments (4)