Keepin' it Real by the Pool

Best iPod Dock for the Money

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big spender. And usually that means I end up with a lot of cheap shit. But the iStereo is one of the best buys I've ever found...and it works really well. Most good iPod docks cost upwards of $100-$150 bucks; at least anything that has decent speakers in them. No joke, the iStereo is $25 at Walmart.

I've had mine for over a year now. The remote broke quickly, but the sound still rings true. For the price you can't go wrong.

Cleaning up the neighborhood!

So my neighbors have finally been evicted or the foreclosed on - whatever happened, they've been gone for the last couple of months. Regardless, they left their house trashed. The front door his half painted, the screens are mangled, and the lawn resembles the set of The Predator. Today, I grew sick of seeing it.

My first mission: Stealth lawn mowing. Okay, fine. I wasn't that stealthy. It was the middle of the day and people were all over the streets because the parade just ended. I mowed my planting strip and looked over at theirs. The weeds were laughing at me. And in Spanish too. I couldn't understand what it was saying, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't nice. So I emptied my mower bag, pinned my ears back, and blew through their planting strip too. Then I tackled their front yard. No one jumped me, so I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear.

Mission two: Repaint their jacked up red door. I think I have the same color paint in my garage. It would literally take me five minutes too do. I just don't know if it's legal. I think mission two requires a little more planning.

Day Three

The P90X dude is a major blow hard. He's not very motivating and loves to hear himself talk. I can see myself doing this on mute as soon as I get all of the rotations down.

That said, I also think these workouts are pretty sweet. They're have a good pace and you feel the burn by the end. The one thing I will say about Mr. X is that he does have a good mantra. All you have to do is try and success will follow. That's not verbatem, but you get the idea. Effort leads to motivation. Motivation leads to improvements. Improvements lead to results.

Pans Ho that was good (That's Oh Snap backwards). I should dance around in front of a camera and listen to myself talk. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Q90Y. Same workout, better host.

The Fridays :(

There's nothing worse that an unproductive Friday. They usually follow Thursdays that are jam packed with down to the wire gettin' it doneness. The days that require the come-from-behind creative brief rewrite minutes before the client arrives just to spend the rest of the day combing over the final product. Your minds all geared up. You're ready to rock'n roll. Then Friday rolls around and the energy's gone. For whatever reason, nobody's peering over your shoulder, counting down deadlines, or cracking whips. The clock becomes the enemy not for lack of time but for excess.

And so I wait...Try as I might to be motivated, to trudge forward alone and without direction, I end up sitting and waiting instead. Tic...Toc...Tic...Toc. Damn you Friday.

Before and Afters

I received the P90X series from a friend. Yup, the workout videos that a dude can do without feeling...you know, less than manly. Let's just say strip tease aerobics is more for viewing and less for doing. But I digress.

Getting back on track. You've seen the infomercials. Before P90X - Loser flabby pants. After P90X - Rock hard all-star. So I was a little excited. Gonna change my life and stuff. I got out my camera and took my before pictures. What a douche-baggy thing to do. I don't know why it is but it is. I felt like I was taking part in child porn - all sad faced with my shirt off.

Granted, since having kids I've softened up some. I didn't get fat, but I definitely lost my college definition. I was a damn model for crying out loud. And now I'm taking before pictures for P90X in my home office. Wow.

We'll see how it works. Check that - we'll see how I work. I'm the one that has to wake up at 6 a.m. to listen to some dude yell at me on TV, which wouldn't be bad if my kids would actually let me get some sleep at night. Bu that's an excuse and I'm done with those. After pictures, here I come.

...I'm only on day two by-the-way.

The New Me

I want to dig back into my sadistic self. I let it be for awhile but am getting bored with the result. This will be my fresh start to honesty.

Check out my latest work.

Pass the Popcorn: Milk

After my sister-in-law said that Gus Van Sant's Milk changed her life and made her cry for hours afterward, I had to give it a go. Cry I did not, and my life did not change. Sean Penn did an amazing job along with the high power supporting cast. It's a good movie but not life altering. Enjoy reading about the "Twinkie Defense" once it's over.

Pass the Popcorn: Movies I skipped in the past because I thought they would suck.

Open Water 2: Adrift - A-Suck. I knew it would. But I was bored, and it was worse.

College - Wow. Awful. I guess I went to the wrong college. I didn't realize so many girls had fake boobs and were willing to run around naked all the time.

W. - Better than I thought it would be. I'm not left or right, so my views on W aren't swayed by affiliation. I actually think Oliver Stone held back. Surprising.

Defendor - Pretty good but a little slow. The story was missing some needed momentum shifts, but the ending was in line with how I typically end screenplays. So I approve.

The iPad sales beat early iPhone sales

Well I would hope so. With the technology, interface, and expectations already proven by the iPhone, it only makes sense that the iPad would have a greater immediate success. It will be more impressive if it can prolong that success. Being a luxury item that goes beyond a cell phone but falls short of a laptop, makes it a more vulnerable. The real test will be at the 1 year mark (once the early adopters have all bought). Don't get me wrong, I still don't see it failing. I'm just not blown away by the early numbers.

I've been so swamped at work I don't even have time to complain about being swamped. I guess that's a good thing. At least I'm working, right?

Here's a quick and dirty list of my favorite childhood movies.

1. Better Off Dead
2. Red Dawn
3. The Ewok Adventure
4. Three Amigos
5. Silverado

Pass the Popcorn: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

This one's short and sweet. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs has some great comedic moments but ultimately, was a little to gluttonous for its own good. The plot follows a failed inventor who tries to impress his dad by making something useful. His one success turns rain clouds into food that falls from the sky. Cute at first but after an hour an a half, I actually became a little disturbed. I mean really, who wants to eat ice cream off the pavement after it's been walked on. By the time this movie was over, I had a stomach ache, and I didn't even eat anything.

Pass the Popcorn: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson's latest foray into the absurdly entertaining came in the form of Fantastic Mr. Fox - a stop motion animated feature based on a book by Roald Dahl. In a era that's ruled by computer generated characters, this little caper film took me back to my youth when special effects were more special despite being less effective. The script has Anderson's trademark quirkiness in every scene but stays safely in the shallow end, which will probably help attract a slightly younger audience.

Fox definitely has a charm about it that's worth watching. The story doesn't feel as complete as most of the Pixar types but that's probably because we're used to watching cartoons that deliver acts 1,2,and 3 wrapped in a bow.

My Oscar vote for UP still remains, but Fantastic Mr. Fox has easily moved towards the top of my animated feature list. I think Wes Anderson is at his best when he's not trying to out do himself and more focused on escaping into the fantastical - probably why I enjoy Life Aquatic more than his other films.

New Tiger Ad

Check out the new Nike/Tiger ad. It's pretty good. At first I thought it was trying too hard. But the more I thought about it from Nike's perspective I realized the appropriateness of its tone. The ad uses the voice of Tiger's late father to talk about lessons learned. More so, I think it's comparing Nike's relationship with the superstar to that of a parent. Perhaps Nike wasn't angry, just sorely disappointed.

I bought the new Train album and the new Barenaked Ladies album because both bands remind me of being cool in college. I listened to them and realized both albums largely suck. Now I'm beginning to think I actually wasn't cool in college either.

The only league where I don't get paid to win is the one I won. Go figure.

Autos and Automatics

I knew fast cars led to urban drag racing and unruly kids. I saw The Fast and the Furious just like everybody else. But mob-like crowds at the NYC Auto Show, really? This year 4 people were shot leaving the show early Monday morning in Times Square. Go figure. I guess the debate of Fords over Chevys has heated up since my day. MSG should be embarrassed that there's not that much passion behind any of the sports teams that play in the Garden. All joking aside, it's sad and ridiculous. Today's youth need to quit pretending their lives are the latest release of Grand Theft Auto and grow up. It's a shame and depressing at the same time.

Nike Air. I knew there was something different about those shoes.