Ticketbastard

     My plan was to buy my tickets early for a local show. That way, it is supposed to be $2 cheaper per ticket. But because Ticketmaster charges an extra $1.50 building charge and a $5.85 convenience charge, it is actually cheaper to buy my tickets at the door for the extra $2. I know it's old news that TM sucks, but I needed to rant a little anyway. I could send them an email, but they would send one back to me that says, "We make billions in revenue every year. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha."

What a bunch of rehabs.

Pet Peeve of the Day

     After the phone on the other end of the line rings and rings and finally the voicemail picks up:

"Hi, this is Bill, I'm not available to take your call. Just leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks and have a good day."

     Then, there should be a beep. But nowadays, 98% of all voicemail messages include instructions on how to leave a voicemail by some lady's pre-recorded voice. Something to the effect of:

[long pause]
"If you'd like to leave a message, speak your message clearly at the tone, then hang up..."
[followed by more boring instructions]

     DO THESE PEOPLE THINK I'VE NEVER LEFT A MESSAGE ON AN ANSWERING SYSTEM BEFORE!?
GOD I HATE THAT. I'm in a hurry dammit! But thanks for telling me again how to leave a message beeatch, I've only been doing it since I was 4.

Last Night

     On my way home last night, I listened to "November Rain" in my car.
Appropriate.

Sith DVD

     I just needed to make a comment about the new Star Wars DVD: Revenge of the Sith. Besides the great movie, there are some fantastic extras. Particularly of interest is the documentary on what goes into making 60 seconds of the film....WOW! Let me say it again, WOW! Wow. It takes them over an hour and a half just to explain what goes into making that 60 seconds. Imagine how long it took them to make it. I had NO idea what kind of work goes into a n effects shot that gigantic and grand in spectacle. I highly recommend renting this DVD just for this documentary. Even if you're not a Star Wars fan, film fans in general will be interested to see how it all comes together.
     I plan on writing a full review of the DVD's extras and specs on my movie blog. Also, you can check out the review to Episode III, which is my best (and longest) review ever written, at Moviepatron.

Idea for the Day

Want to see a health epidemic? Start wiping your ass with every dollar bill you can find, then put them back into circulation.

Funny funny.

Christmas Only Comes Once a Year...In September

     I know I say this every year, but once again the religious holiday season has started early for some retailers. I walked through Target a week ago, and already they had some Christmas decorations up. Fake trees filled an entire aisle. It's not even Halloween yet for God's sake! Hell, it's not even October!

     Again, I know it's said by me and everyone else around the water cooler every year, but still... it won't be long til they just leave all the lights and trees and what-not up all year long. Why bother taking it all down if you just have to put it right back up again in two months anyway?

     Of course, I'll be boycotting Target for the last two months of the year again anyway if they don't allow the Salvation Army to ring that annoying bell and ask me for money.

Gas Pump Voyeurs

     Why is it that everytime there is a story on any news program about the rising cost of gasoline, we are forced to watch new footage of people filling their cars with gasoline? Here's how it goes. First the corespondent begins talking about today's high gas prices, then we see several images, usually in this order: we see a woman from a distance standing by her car pumping fuel; then we get a close-up view of a nozzle going into a car and the lever gets squeezed; next it's usually a shot of the numbers on the pump going up and up. After that we see another shot of someone placing a nozzle in their car or SUV, then maybe, time permitting, another close-up shot of the nozzle being inserted or the numbers on the pump rising.

     Has anyone noticed this? It is basically the same shot over and over and over again for each of the various television news companies; only with different people at the pump. I'm starting to find it amusing.

Emmy's

Even though I watch very little fiction/entertainment TV, I do watch a little. And here are the people I'm glad won an award:

Tony Shaloub
James Spader
William Shatner....YES!
"Everybody Loves Raymond"
"The Daily Show" .. .. .. thank God Bill Maher didn't win. Hmm that last statement was funny.

MN Sports: part Deux

My pick for the super-bowl this year:

The Vikings!

...
.


...

Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha. Uha uha ha ha ha ha ha.
awww....

Bweee hee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Aaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

whew.

chuckle...

mmgh.

huh huh huh hu hu ha ha ha Ha Ha Ha HA HA HAHA HA HA HA HA!!
Aha AHA AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!

MPhfff f f f f f Aha ha ha haha HA HA HA!
sigghhhhh.....

Why? Oh Please Tell Me Why!

     What is with this new format for the season 6 DVD set of The Simpsons!? They have been so nice looking on my DVD shelf. They are all the same size and basic design style. So what the hell is this?




     It's got a rounded top and doesn't fit well within my DVD shelf. It doesn't match the other 5 seasons even slightly. It's just annoying. Why would they do this? It would be one thing if they were all a different character starting with season one, but they're all the same, then they throw in this abomination. The ultra bright yellow doesn't help the aesthetics either. Great. Now I'm looking at the side of a nearly 2-dimensional Homer Simpson where my DVD should be.

Technology

     Went to Valleyfair (MN version of Six-Flags) recently. In the bathrooms, the normal blowers to dry your hands had been replaced by turbo blowers. Sweet! They dried your hands in like 10 seconds. I liked it. One guy was actually using it to dry off his kid's entire body who had been on one of those wet rides. And it worked!

     Second. Went to the local Cub Foods. It is brand new. Opened about a month ago. You do not need credit cards, cash, checks or even an ID. You can pay with you fingerprint. Scary man....scary.
Yes. You stick your finger over the sensor and it reads the contours, unique to you, in your index finger and debits your account. I am getting very old. Learn more at paybytouch.com

The Terrorists Have Won

     NFL opening day happens to coincide with the 4th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. The genius' with the NFL have decided to devote the halftime show to patriotism. How? By singing "America the Beautiful" etc to show their respect. Who have they hired to sing these great anthems of our country? Jessica Simpson and Nick whats-his-name. Is it Jessica Simpson's personal goal in life to destroy everything that was once good into a steaming pile of crap? So, like I said, the terrorists have prevailed.

BLACK CROWES TICKETS

THE BLACK CROWES

at

Historic Orpheum Theater

in beautiful

Downtown Minneapolis, MN

on

Sunday, October 9th

If you need or know someone who needs tickets, tell them to buy from me by clicking here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6556837405&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

The Crowes Return!

The Black Crowes Return!
(with Marc Ford!)


WHERE: Historic Orpheum Theater on Sunday, OCTOBER 9th!
Doors at 6:30pm / music at 7:30pm.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday (8/27) at 10:00 am.

Prices range as follows:
$37.50, $47.50 & $53.50

See you there!

Coming up on September

     The Twins just won their fifth straight. I hate to do this, because I'm ALWAYS let down by my hometown teams, but I'm starting to have faith that The Twins may squeak into the wild card spot and make the play-offs. I wouldn't bet the farm, but it's possible. We have the pitching, as long as the bats keeping swinging well, I may get to purchase play-off tickets again this year.

     In other news, Twins catcher/1st baseman/DH Matthew LeCroy will be at the Cub Foods less than a mile from my office tomorrow signing autographs at lunchtime. I may have to head over there and get my hat signed and grab some grub!

Mmmmmm...beeeeer.

     I don't know what I've been waiting for! Probably my favorite seasonal beer has been released; Samuel Adams Summer Ale. I don't know how long it's been on the shelves this season, but I forgot all about it. Now that it's here, I have purchased a yummy yummy 12 pack and will polish it off this weekend. It's been a long time since I've had more than 1 or 2 beers in a sitting. Should be relaxing and fun.

Bill O'Reilly Ain't so Bad

     Because I'm a loyal Bill O'Reilly fan and I renewed my yearly premium membership at Billoreilly.com, Bill sent me a personal thank you note signed by him! An actual signature too! Not a fake photocopy....sweet! On top of that, he sent me a free lapel pin of the American Flag with the "no Spin" logo beneath. Nice!

Thanks Bill! Keep on rockin' in the free world!

R.I.P.

Peter Jennings (1938-2005)


Always my favorite of the "big three," - see you on the other side Pete. It is truly the end of an era now.

Audio Blog

Check my website Movie Patron for a very first ever AUDIO edition! Yay! Check it out.

Interactive DVD Menus...AAAAaarrgh!

     I've decided to rant about something that has bugged me for a while now. As you may or may not know, I'm a fairly impatient person. Whether that's a product of our "fast-moving" society or just who I am, I don't know. Part of what I love about DVD technology, is it's speed and simplicity; but of course studios have to make their products flashy and annoying...like Budweiser billboards. This is what I hate: overly elaborate and complex user menus. Long, drawn-out and completely useless animated menus. They're supposed to look flashy and fun, but all they are is annoying and slow. It's bad enought that I have to be force read through the FBI warnings in several languages; of which I used to be able to fast forward through on my VCR. Granted I can still do that on some of my older DVDs. But many of the new ones do not allow you to skip those. So anyway, after I get through reading the French version about how I will go to jail and how much money I will be fined if I hook my DVD player up to my VCR then sell the tape for $5, I have to watch a public service announcement about how bad it is for society and the poor Hollywood community if I download a movie on the internet. Not to mention how guilty I'll feel for committing such an atrocious crime. By the way, this is on a DVD that I bought and/or rented. Thanks for giving me an idea though. You mean I could've just gotten this mediocre crap-fest of a movie for free!? On the internet!? Why didn't they tell me so before!? So after all this general nonsense, I get to watch previews for movies that came out over 3 years ago. At least these I can fast forward through.

     So finally I have arrived at my destination...the main menu. But wait, what is this? My TV screen is flashing various parts(usually dramatic or funny lines) of the film in front of my eyes before I've even seen the picture yet. Also, is it me, or is this taking a really long time to get to the usual choices? Anyway, after finally seeing the building explode, the villain make some nasty comment regarding the plot of the film and our hero flying an airplane that he made from old parts from a Huey 370 and a '79 Ford Mustang; I finally see my choices on the side of the plane. How clever! So since I'm watching this movie with my latina girlfriend, I click my remote control on the language options icon. WHOOOOSH! The plane starts moving again and this time we follow along in a harrowing chase through the caverns of Necros and into the belly of the beast (which we're not even supposed to be seeing as it is supposed to be a major surprise antagonist towards the end of the film). So finally, after narrowly missing a giant stalactite, the plane containing our hero sweeps out of the opening of the cave with a witty remark straight from the film by the rear-seat passenger. Now we're back to themain menu again and all I have to do is click the "start movie" button. I do this as an amazing orchestral extravaganza begins playing and a witty line from the film is spoken, i.e. "If you're going to go that way, you should've brought the telescopic lens!" Well, that line in the film has just been ruined for me. Plus, all of these shenanigan's have taken approximately 2 minutes of my time on top of the 10 minutes of FBI warnings, PSA's and movie trailers. I am tired of this nonsense. Maybe it is a trivial thing for most, but for me, it is bonkers up the wall and through the roof! Just show me the menu with my choices and get on with it. I don't need all of these half-ass theatrics and sound from the movie that I'm about to see. I don't need to see the dramatic photo-montage of all the characters merging together in a blurry fashion that inspires awe and wonder at the greatness of Cate Blanchett and Jason Statham. In conclusion, stay away from any DVD that, on the back, says something along the lines of fantastic 3-D interactive menus. Just steal that movie from the internet; because chances are, the studio is trying to make up for something by incorporating these neat-o menus that make you think, "Wow! This is taking forever and I wish I could just start watching the film."