Of Weekends and Legends

Another weekend has flown by and Christmas will soon be upon us. I have yet to purchase (or create) presents for loved ones, but I am working on something I plan on giving anyone who wants it. I'll wait for it to be complete before I ask if anyone wants it, simply because I'm afraid it won't be done before I leave for winter break.

My brother was kind enough to send me Super Mario Galaxy for Chanukah, so I have been playing that of late. A lot of fun and rather addicting, but I have a hard time finding moments to play.

Friday evening, (after I futzed around with Galaxy) Shannon and I basically hung out at the house. Made some dinner, caught up on some television and just relaxed. After driving all day, I really couldn't ask for more.

Saturday was spent drawing (for me) and running some other errands. Listened to some Ricky Gervais podcasts which made me laugh so hard I almost drove us off the highway. I can't think of the last time we laughed that hard. We caught I Am Legend that night and we loved it. A great blend of art house direction and big budget looks. Not perfect by any means (CG still looks like CG no matter how you slice it) but it was an extremely tense and (emotional?) distraction.

Sunday we complained about being lazy. We made a delicious breakfast (pancakes and eggs!) then tried to get out of the house. Went to Petco, saw some kitties (our weekend ritual) then tried to see how close we could get to the mountain range. Saw some huge houses, found a few parks, drove on the mountain then headed back. We lounged watching television, movies (Bewitched still sucks) and I drew a lot. That night we watched 30 Rock we missed that Thursday (it is quickly becoming my new favorite show) and Curb your Enthusiasm until we were exhausted.

I now have four days to finish the project, assuming I can do the copying, stapling and mailing on Friday/saturday.

I am looking forward to vacation. I fly out of LAX on Saturday and arrive in West Hartford on Sunday. Sunday I have lunch with family then drive up to Boston to spend Christmas with Shannon and HER family. On the 26th I drive back down to West Hartford and hang out with my family for the rest of the break. On the 29th we're going to see Sorkin's new play, the Farnsworth Invention and on the 30th I fly back out to LA. Brian and I are going to try to shoot some of "Keys," a sequel to Cloth and directly involved in Rhiannon Stories. Hopefully shooting that will spark some inspiration for the comic.

Of Movies

No Country for Old Men was incredible. Juno was merely good. Clerks 2 was not as bad as Shannon and Brian said it was (because there were a few moments that I sincerely dug) but it was still pretty awful. There was one line that I thought was brilliant, but it was so cliched and predictable. Where is Dogma Kevin Smith!? Where is edgy with a reason Kevin Smith?! Moving on.

I just finished blasting through the American Elf archives. Wow.

Also, 30 Rock has been really growing on me.

Of Weekends and Rolling Stones

Another weekend passes. Event-less really, but I will recant them to you regardless.

Friday night hit and I actually cannot remember what we did. Oh! I bought liquor and orange chicken to make (I've really been getting into cooking) so we delved into that while watching Angel. We finished Season one and made our way through Season 2. Saturday morning I woke up and gamed a bit while Shan slept. She awoke, I made up breakfast and we explored a bit. There's an old hardware store that is closing down and I hoped I'd find some cool steam punk stuff. To no avail. I did pick up a cool little mileage counter (I think) that I'll use for something. We then drove out to West Hollywood to Laser Blazer. On the way we saw kitten adoptions at the Petco and I swerved the car to park. There was an adorable little kitten that I wanted to hold, but lady Shannon wouldn't let me, afraid that I'd take her home with us. She was even named Shayna, a sign to be sure, as we were talking about how our old friend Mu Ge would mispronounce Shannon's name as such. Dejected, I drove us to Laser Blazer.

Laser Blazer had recently consumed Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash into it's store and I was curious. They have an excellent selection of DVDs, but I couldn't justify a purchase. Shannon got Dylan's doc No Direction Home. Then, for the first time ever, I got a Christmas Tree.

Sure, it was at Target, but a tree is a tree. Shannon bought tons of ornaments and lights and away we go! Headed home and set up the tree, put on Sufjan Steven's Christmas CDs and put ornaments on with Carter. I have never done this before; it was a lot of fun and quite the uplift since there were no chanukah swag to be found in Target and for once I was actually looking for it. The ornaments finished and Carter went out to a club. Made us some dinner, tried to decided if we were up to going out and figured we should stay in, seeing as neither of us felt up to braving the "cold." Threw in part one of No Direction Home, which was great, then promptly passed out.

Sunday. I woke up early, gamed a tad, made breakfast. Decided to go to the flea market across the street. We each got some awesome swag! Shannon picked up a new slick Smith Corona with 70's carrying bag while I got:

1. Nautical compass
2. Piano music for those Pianos that play themselves. They look like map parchment.
3. A golden pocket watch that doesn't quite work anymore, but was pretty cool regardless.
4. Two vintage Christmas ornaments.

Got lunch/dinner at Denny's (the first time in months) then drove to a Petsmart to look at adoptable kittens. This has become a new pastime. Saw an adorable half-Siamese, although he looked bored. Went to Best Buy to look for deals/Futurama movie. No go. Drove to Lake Street to walk around. We went into Penny Lane to rent some movies.

1. Futurama: Bender's Big Score
2. Surf's up
3. La Vie en Rose

We got home and made dinner, watched the Futurama movie with Carter.

What a disappointment. Funny, but not as great as I hoped. I'm extremely glad I didn't buy it. I'm sure a second viewing would make me feel better about it - the show is still far more clever than Family Guy. We then watched new Simpsons (funny!) and braced ourselves for Tin Man, which we hated. Tried to make it a drinking game (every time we rolled our eyes, take a drink) but we didn't have nearly enough alcohol. We couldn't even finish the drek and we were both half-watching it - Shannon was rocking the Sims while I hit level 21 with a troll. Still, the bed looked like a better place to be. Crashed at about 10.

Of Princesses and Paupers

I got home from Thanksgiving and Shannon and I immediately decided to see I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan "bioflick." The movie was quite good, though I admit I was confused through most of it. There is a great revelation moment at least halfway through that helped me understand the film, but on the whole it was exceptionally well done. While Across the Universe was made in the editing, the "jumping around in time" in "I'm Not There" was obviously a decision on the script level rather than post. All in all, good stuff.

Monday brought more work - a relatively easy day of getting lunch and running across town. During the day, the lady and I thought an evening date would be fun, so after work we met up on Hollywood Blvd at the El Capitan to see Enchanted. The tickets were way too expensive, but I decided to treat since the lady purchased Andrew Bird tickets that afternoon. There was no show before the feature (unlike the sing-and-dance we saw before Ratatouille) but after we found out there was an actual attraction.

Me: There's a thing after.
Shan: What is it?
Me: I think you can take pictures of all the princesses.
Shan: Skip it?
Me: Are you kidding? We are getting our goddamn money's worth.

The movie commenced and it was exceptional! The lost Golden-Age Disney film. Didn't take itself too seriously, was filled to the brim with references to past Disney films (my weak spot) and was just really entertaining. While there were one or two moments where I thought "...huh?" it was still way better than some of the Disney animated movies that came out in recent years (take THAT, On the Range!). Also, the animation? STUNNING. Even the CG stuff was stylized in a way that wasn't distracting. Disney truly has a hit on their hands.

Following the movie, I dragged lady fair to the Enchanted Tent attraction. Disney knows how to do it right. It was like going to a mini-Disneyland attraction! A man announced our entry, all the Disney princesses were dancing or standing at their own diorama. Video games (we battled it out on Guitar Hero 3), arts and crafts, actual costumes, photo references comparing Enchanted to every other Disney movie, princesses; a whole smorgasbord of kiddy fun. We walked around, gawked at how over the top it all was, then watched little kids run up to their favorite princesses (already wearing dresses) and hugging them as if they were real people. Adorable.

We left, exhausted and in good moods and caught up on Heroes. I dug the episode, but I wish there wasn't "one more episode." Rushing this season will hurt it in the long run, methinks. Spreading the season out would have been nicer.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a busy day. I would out of the office most of the afternoon evening, so exhausted I actually passed out at a red light. Shan and I went shopping then returned home to catch up on America's Next Top Model. Heather (the model with mild autism) almost got the boot but thankfully she looked so effing gorgeous that she stuck around.

First photo and latest photo:





Incredible, right? Heather is by far my favorite this season. Nerd, geek, good looking, awkward. I'd by lying if I said I didn't have a crush. Here's hoping she takes it. I always love an underdog.

Of Introductions and Conclusions

Well, I hope all of you enjoy the new site! It is quite delicious.

I have been working hard on uploading Nine Letter Word for everyone's viewing pleasure. Watching it brings back memories of summers past. I would love a chance to remake that sucker. Or at least rewrite it.

I have been working on a lot of writing lately (at least in my head). I've been working on a possible Dowd pilot, an Orbit pilot, the untitled Ghost Hunters feature and now Nine Letter Word. Lots to do!

I have submitted The Three Chances to Woo the Future Mrs. Dowd to a few festivals and I am simply sitting by the phone waiting to hear. You'll all be the first to know, of course.

I hope you enjoy the site and this post. I know I have. In spades.


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