House of Flying Daggers or Time is Flying

Saturday night I checked out "House of Flying Daggers" with some peeps of mine. The flick was damn impressive to look at, with compositions reaching that of the fine oil painting. It made up for the overabundance of romance and lack of martial arts scenes. Don't get me wrong, the martial arts scenes that were there were freakin' awesome, it's just that I was expecting more. Another problem was that the subtitles seemed to not be able to convey adequately what was going on. I'm sure there was a ton lost in the translation... In the end though, the film is totally worth seeing, although I enjoyed "Hero"a little more.
January is already over and it just seems to have gone by so fast... I thought that being out of school would slow time down, not speed it up! Stupid life, slow the fuck down... I need more time to play video games and watch movies... that and get some sort of career type thing... Ugh!

Revelations or The End of an Era

I just found out that Rob has decided to enter the military (as a mechanic) and leaves Feb.6 for basic training. He's going to be gone for pretty much the next 45 weeks and after that will not be living in Winnipeg any longer. If he's lucky, he can get stationed in Shilo (near Brandon) and would therefore be able to return to the city on weekends to see the gang. This revelation has stirred up a melange of emotions inside of me. On the one hand, I'm happy that Rob is going to be getting the opportunity to do something that he enjoys but on the other hand, I'm really going to miss him. He's always been someone that I've gotten along with effortlessly. We share the same goofy and stupid sense of humour and have had some wacky adventures together. Severing the proximity of our friendship will only make those times come few and far between. Sure memories are great, but the knowledge that you can just call someone up anytime and hang out is better. I think I'm still in a little bit of a state of shock over the whole thing. I honestly didn't think that he was going to go through with it. I just kind of expected that he would follow in his father's footsteps and work for the city or something... I never thought that the gang would be broken. I know that sounds incredibly naive, but still... I'm going to really miss the way we would laugh at something lame until we cried... "Special Beam Cannon" and "Happy Stinky Poo" are the two most notable instances that pop into my head at this time... I almost feel like someone has died... I'm even getting a little choked up as I type this... Keep in mind that I am fully aware that life is about movement, not stasis and that things have to move on from where they were in high school... I just maybe sorta thought that I could get through life without having to alter anything that was good. Dammit, now I'm sad!
One thing about this whole situation is that it should give me a little more courage to take that big plunge into "the real world" that I've been avoiding for so long... Fuck, I didn't want to make this at all about "me." This was supposed to be about the friendship bond that I've shared with my good buddy Rob. He's the guy that turned me onto HapkiDo, we used to car pool together... I don't know if I would've had the courage to go without him... He's the guy that turned me onto guitar (although the lack of will to practice killed off that urge). Man... we've had some pretty great times and I don't that to end... Stupid life and forward motion of time!

Purple Rain Rocks Hardcore or The Punisher Kills Crime Dead

So I watched Purple Rain last night. I've been wanting to see it for quite a while and I must say I was hella impressed! The music scenes were awesome and Prince did a decent job acting. His facials were kinda pooey, but his dialogue delivery was a-okay! The thing even worked on a "film" level, as it had some actual substance. Oh yeah, and Morris Day and the Time were kick ass! The whole Marx brothers thing with him and his second was killer!
Speaking of killer, I've been playing the new Punisher game as of late. It's kick ass! If you like over the top violence and insane brutality then play this game! It's totally in the spirit of Garth Ennis's awesome "Welcome Back Frank" storyline. The thing is worth playing if only to see the Punisher jam a dude into a wood chipper!

25 Years Old or Krush Groove!

So I officially turned 25 on Friday... It's a tad scary to think that I've been occupying space on this planet for a quarter of a century... Then again, birthdays never really faze me. I ended up going bowling with a bunch of folks and fun was had by all. Over the past few days I've eaten out a ton, with stops at: Subway, Pita Pit, Kelsey's, The Old Spaghetti Factory, and Papa George's. It's adding up in more ways than one! I'm fat and poor!
I just watched the awesomest movie with Lee, Krush Groove! It was made in 1985 and chronicled the rise of the early rappers like Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, and the Fat Boys. Starring Blair Underwood as Russel Simmons it basically had short 5 minute acting scenes interspersed with performances. Man, 80's rap was SOOOOOO much better than today's crap. It was about fun and not macho posturing. The Fat Boys song about a 3.99$ all you can eat buffet rocked SO hard. Now I want to watch Disorderlies again!

200 Pound Glass or KOTOR 2

Yesterday I helped Dave and some guy with an install of one of Warren Carther's glass pieces. The thing was a huge 3 paneled curved glass thingy mounted about 12 feet in the air in a wall. Each panel weighed about 200 pounds and were about 7 feet tall and 2 feet across. It took a skyjack (that had to be modified to support the weight) with a custom wooden brace to get the things up there. I can't say that I was too much of a help in the grand scheme of things, but I did make 80$ and get some free donuts and iced cap out of the deal. I wish I'd taken a photo, cuz the finished piece was super impressive.
I've finally gotten into Star Wars KOTOR 2 after a delay due to game glitch. Continuing with the spirit of the first one, the game rocks hardcore. On the other hand, D&D Heroes is merely ok. Ryan and I were looking forward to playing it, as it was hyped as a game similar to Dark Alliance. While that is somewhat true, it seems to be slower paced and perhaps more geared towards the 4 player experience. I'll have to try it with some more people and see. I've also been playing some Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude while in the presence of other people. It's pretty funny stuff, if a little frustrating at times. Then again, it DOES feature cartoon nudity.

Karaoke Revolution or MTS Centre Madness

Had a blast playing some Karaoke Revolution on the Xbox last night. Although we had to play ghetto style with the Live headset instead of a mic, it worked out pretty well anyway. Erin cleaned up and has an insane singing voice! The rest of us were chumps compared to her! The whole pitch level thing was odd at first, but makes more sense as you go. Fun times!
Went to a WWE house show today in the new arena. All I can say is wow! The MTS Centre is super awesome! Too bad the WWE sucks boners now. The whole show seemed to be in slow motion and all of the guys were running on fumes. The whole atmosphere was one of being tired. No really huge pops, with the exception for Chris Jericho. Flair seemed to get really mad when people chanted "you screwed Bret" at Shawn Michaels. He took the mic and said that Bret Hart was a wannabe Ric Flair and that the WWE would never come back to Winnipeg if we didn't show more respect or some such blather. He was seemingly out of character, unless his new character is Bitter old man Flair. A WWE house show is very much a waste of time and an afterthought. They never really try hard and nothing really happens, even though a title did change hands today. In that respect ECW was light years better, because the wrestlers always gave 100%, no matter the show. Ditto with most local wrestling, you never really see people dogging it like you do in the WWE. The day wasn't a total loss however, as the new arena really won me over!

Miles of Nothing or Freedom Time

Wow, I haven't been doing much of anything this week. Work, watching movies, playing the occasional video game... That's about it! Next week I start the class at the WFG, so hopefully that'll start some sort of movement.

The Rise and Fall of ECW or Memories and Inspirations

I hung out with Lee tonight for the first time in a long time and it was fun. He finally got to give me the xmas gift that he'd bought (and vice versa) and it turned out to be "The Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD. I was pleasantly surprised! Erin was up for watching it, so we all sat down to 3 hours of an absolutely riveting documentary. The thing was insanely detailed and incredibly fair. It covered the entire life of the company and did so by showing both the good and the bad. It was seriously one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, and easily one of the best WWE DVD's ever (right up there with the Ric Flair set). The ending was super touching and sad and very nearly brought a tear to my eye. The talk of how Paul E. fought tooth and nail for his dream only to have it die and how you always need to tackle challenges with pride and strength was inspiring and emotional. The thing made me think of my life from 1997 to 2001 when I was super into wrestling and all the baggage that went along with that faze of my development. It also made me remember that it was wrestling that brought Lee and I together as friends. Happy nostalgia. The best part was, Erin liked the movie as well! She didn't know a damn thing about wrestling, let alone ECW and was glued to her seat the whole time. If that isn't the highest compliment you can give to a documentary, I don't know what is...

New Years Catch Up or The Killer Elephants

Well New Years Eve proved to be a chore, as there was snow everywhere and travel was nigh impossible. Not being able to go to Kenora for the Cabin party, Erin and I decided to remain close to home, especially after I got stuck on her street picking her up. We stopped in at Kostas' little gathering, as I hadn't seen Matt and the crew in many moons. They pretty much did the same thing they always do, sit around watching something (or channel surfing) and chatting. It was fun for a bit, but we decided to stop in at Ryan's after 12:00. There we watched some Pee Wee, played a tournament of NHL 2K5 (which I won, as always) and drink some beverages of alcoholic content.
Since then, I've been on the go a lot... Went to Brad's to check out his new 52" widescreen TV (which was freakin' amazing... and doesn't make me and my 32" TV feel inadequate at all), played some Clue, tried out X-Men Legends, watched "Demolition Man" (which Erin and I were shocked to find contains Stallone's manhood!), and watched a truly terrible Thai movie called "Killer Elephants." The back made it sound so good too! It proclaimed Elephant style Kung Fu, only to actually contain guns and a story that made no sense! That was truly an hour and a half of our lives we will never get back....
Oh yeah, and my mom got mad at me for not going to the funeral of someone that I went to elementary school with. There was a guy with CF in our school and he just recently passed away. I never really knew him in the first place and had not even seen him in the past 13 years, but apparently playing soccer and hockey against him a few times meant I should be there. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I think a funeral is something that is meant for people who were close to the person. A celebration of someone's life and time for remembrance is only really useful for people that knew them. Otherwise, it's just a church service... That's not to say that it's not a sad situation or anything, because the man had to live with a terrible disease and apparently was able to really enjoy what time he had, but I don't really feel that it would have been fair for me to be there, after all, not only had I lost touch, but I was never even in touch in the first place. I think that putting aside a few minutes of my day to think about what happened and collect some thoughts on my own is equally as meaningful and valuable.

Maybe I Do Have a Soul or More Snow

Today I watched the saddest and most touching episode of Futurama ever... I dare say that it was one of the saddest and most touching ANYTHINGS that I've seen in a long time. It was the episode "Jurassic Bark" and it made me cry. It's been so long since I've done that, that I assumed I'd lost the ability to do so... Thank you Futurama Season 4 for letting me know that I do still have some semblance of a soul...
Wow, another blizzard type thing! What a way to start off a new year!