Goddamn Brownies

There is something that happens in Men's Rooms everywhere that some are not aware of. Most of the clueless are women, who never spend time in there, but I've talked to a few guys who have never seen this. I'll let Butters from South Park explain:



If you still don't understand from the crappy picture, or have never seen him do this in South Park, I will give more info. Often times little boys (Kindergarten to 2nd Grade) will walk up to the urinal, drop their pants to their ankles, hold the shirt up with both hands and piss away. I remember seeing this in elementary school and thinking it was funny then, but occasionally I have seen it in public places. About a month ago I walked into Target and against the urinal wall was a kid doing this very act. I had to go in a stall to pee because I thought I'd laugh if I stayed near the kid.

I really don't remember ever doing this myself. I guess it is always possible, but I think I would remember urinating with my bare ass exposed in public. I do remember the awesome urinals at my elementary schools. They were blue and had a point system. It was like the skee-ball scoring system with each ring increasing in point value up to a 50 point bullseye. I searched online for a while for a picture of one of these, but I could not find one. Maybe I'll head back to my old school and see if they still have them. I can hear it now, "sir, why are you walking into the boy's room with a camera?"

This is something I bitch about an awful lot, and it will probably happen with every idiot I run into while watching a film. Tonight I went to the Magnolia to watch the AFI Film Festivals Midnight Shorts program. These are all genre shorts and the place was packed. Since all films are up for an audience award the crowd is given ballots to rate the seven shorts.

This woman and her husband sit down to my right and it soon becomes apparent that I should have told her the seats were taken. Evidently their attention span/memory is not that great because instead of waiting until the end of the program they had to rate each entry as it ended. We are all in a blackened theater so this involves a tiny flashlight. It is incredibly annoying when people check their phone while watching a movie, just imagine that with a fucking flashlight! After two instances I thought she would get the idea when I put my hand up to block the light. She even went so far as to apologize, but that did not stop her.

I was going to say something, but I really did not want to start an argument while I was trying to enjoy what was on the screen. I let it slide, but next time something like this happens, and I'm not wearing a press badge, I might have to kill.

Today I had lunch at Chipotle. While I was sitting there with my burrito and copy of the Quick I saw some hot sauce leaking through the tortilla. A couple of bites later I realized it appeared to be blood. I checked the burrito and it was only in one spot. There had been a very crunchy (read, burned) piece of chicken that kind of nabbed by gums. I checked the inside of my mouth - nothing.

As the munching progressed there would be a new spot of the red on the burrito. Then I noticed my beard had a bit of hot sauce taking up residence. That must be it. Nope. Fuck it, I just kept eating. Once I got to my car I looked in the mirror to see if I could locate the culprit, and I did. It seems there was a small part of my chapped lips, from being out in the rain all day Wednesday, had cracked causing a tiny bit of blood.

It was nice to find the root of the problem, I was beginning to thing my lunch had the stigmata.

The AFI Dallas film festival is already underway. Tomorrow I go to pick up my press pass and I'm going to make it to a couple of films over the next week. The one I'm most excited about is definitely Grace, which I'll be catching tomorrow at midnight. Aside from going to the theater to check out the flicks, I have a couple of screeners to watch before interviewing the filmmakers behind them. Tonight I watched the first of the two, a documentary called Zombie Girl The Movie.

This doc follows a, then, twelve year old girl named Emily Hagins around as she makes her first feature length film, a zombie effort called Pathogen. I met Emily and her mother, Megan, at Fantastic Fest a couple of years ago and they are really cool people.

After watching this I cannot help but feel like I waste my time. This girl was juggling school and making a feature, practically by herself. At that age I remember just wanting to play video games, skateboard and goof around. Once people find something they really like to do they wish they would have started sooner, I know I do. If I would have gone straight into the film production world directly from high school, or even college, I cannot imagine where I would be in the industry. That does not mean I would really be in LA or NYC as a big shot, but I would be much further along in the field. Luckily, Emily will not have this problem.

I highly recommend you try to find time to catch Zombie Girl The Movie either tomorrow night, or Saturday night in Dallas. For other screenings check out zombiegirlthemovie.com,and Emily's site, Cheesy Nuggets, has all the info on Pathogen and her new film The Retelling.

Just got back from working on What Not to Wear. Have been on this job for the past couple of days, and it was pretty cool. After we wrapped tonight, had some drinks with the crew and now, after a few Jameson and some Champagne, I'm ready for bed. Before I go I had two things to say:

1 - I saw a lesbian earlier while we were shooting that looked like Edward Furlong, circa Terminator 2. It was awesome, I wish I would have gotten a picture of her.

2 - The trailer for Where the Wild Things Are hit the interwebs today. If you haven't seen it, prepare to have your mind freaking blown! I'll embed it below, but I highly suggest you go HERE TO APPLE and download the HD version. Either way, watch it!

I usually do not judge people for their odd fetishes. If it floats your boat, great. Who am I to say it's weird? I'm sure I like plenty of weird things, which I will not disclose here. But on today's installment of "WTF?" on G4's Attack of the Show they discussed "masking" and I just don't understand these people. Watch:



I'm not crazy, right? This is a little off, yes? At least the hosts, Kevin and Olivia, were able to have a little fun of their own while donning latex faces.

After working an exhilarating day in the world of reality TV, sigh, I gave one of the guys a ride home. Somehow we got on the subject of strip clubs and I recalled my first, and only, lap dance.

This was at least three years ago and around Christmas. The girl I was seeing at the time and a couple of friends decided to head for The Clubhouse. It was ladies night so they got in free. This place is all nude so you can bring in your own booze. I like that a lot better because I don't need mixers and that small bottle of Jameson was just right. Because of the free women thing there were a bunch of very butch lesbians there. I thought men were bad! These women were hooting, hollering and slapping asses while never spilling a drop of their classy Keystone Light. Ha!

On with the story. My female companion decided to buy me a dance, and after much protesting I let it happen. There was just something weird in my head about a woman rubbing herself all over me while three friends watched. I was right. What an awkward song. I thought they had to keep their underwear on, but evidently this girl did not know it. Before long she was wearing nothing but her heels and rubbing her bajingo all over my leg. Hmmmm. I looked around nervously and my buddies were just watching. As if it were not bad enough already the girl reeked of baby powder. I really don't want to be reminded of babies when some girl is working her daddy issues out on my knee.

At least it was only one song, then I could get back to my real love of the evening - the DJ whose feathered hair, sunglasses and leather jacket proved he was stuck in 1988. Sweet.

Have a job this week working for an out-of-town reality show. After the last, horrible, reality job I did I swore this would never happen again. Months go by, jobs do not and here I am suckling at the reality teet yet again. A paycheck is a paycheck, right?

They told me that I needed to bring in a copy of my driver's license and social security card - eek! I have not seen my social security card in a long time. Luckily I have a U.S. Passport, which will also work, but I need to get a new card. This means going down to an office and probably standing in a long line. Ack! I guess I don't really have anything else to do.

With the Dallas film business so slow lately I have thought of looking for a part-time job or something, maybe at Central Market, but then when a film job comes along I'll be screwed. There are so many more things I would rather do than have a "real" job. I have been toying with ideas of doing some writing again - books, articles, whatever. If I decide to try and make a living on the side with writing then I'll have to find a literary agent, which seems like another headache. I guess if I'm going to try and accomplish anything in this I need to get off my ass and do it. I will, trust me, I will.

I finally got around to making some lovely Corned Beef Hash out of my leftovers from Monday. This is not the only way to make it, just a basic hash.

First start with 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. I used Cast Iron because of the size and the way it holds heat.


Add about a cup of diced onion and let them simmer/sweat until translucent.


Then add some diced (cooked) potatoes and Corned Beef, about 2-3 cups of each. When cleaning up Monday I separated a lot of the potatoes for this reason.


Spread everything out to cover the whole pan and let it sit for at least five minutes. Using a metal spatula I checked the underneath to make sure it was browning, then I turned it all over in sections and spread it out again for cooking on the other side.


Once finished put it on the plate with a couple of eggs, yes one of my yolks broke, maybe some toast and enjoy!

Just watched the trailer for an upcoming film with everyone's favorite nut Crispin Glover called The Forlorn. This is based on the true events of the Donner Party who, if you don't know, were California bound in the mid-1800s and resorted to cannibalism. Here's the trailer:



The film looks pretty good. I'll be interested to see a more truthful adaptation of the story. Not that I don't love Cannibal: The Musical, but it is a different cannibal and a comedy. I would also love to see a literal film translation of Sawney Bean, instead of just using the idea to create something a bit different (i.e. The Hills Have Eyes).

Basically, I just want more cannibal movies.

Tonight my parents and sister were in the area, having driven out to Frisco for some Ikea action, so they wanted to meet for dinner. Jenny and I were game so we had them come towards 635 and we would find somewhere in Addison. Mexican was the type of food wanted so we went to Cristina's, somewhere no one had ever been. The menu on the table proved to be quite entertaining.



Oh, where to begin? If you cannot read it, due to the poor cell phone camera quality, then I will give you the highlights. You can get over the choice to capitalize mostly just the first word of each line by enjoying a "Flavor margarita." If you want to know your choices "(it includes swirls midori and blue)," whatever the hell that is. If margaritas are not your drink of choice then try a mojito they are made "whit bacacardi limon." Some of the more grammatical type of errors I can see the possible problem. Maybe a translation error. What do you call from Spanish to English? Japanese mistranslations is known as Engrish, but Spanglish is mixing Spanish/English, or would it also encompass this type of error? "We love to see you back!!!!" Quite a sentence. It should also be noted I only noticed one error on the actual menu, though I was not looking for them. They had "skillet" replaced with "skiller." Billy, 1maybe you should look into being a freelance copywriter for Mexican restaurants.

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I would also like to mention that today marks the release of a new trailer online. This is from a children's book I enjoyed very much, and still like very much - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! Obviously the book is very short and would be hard to make a literal film adaptation from so the main character develops the new culinary weather system to help with world hunger. Still looks fantastic! The voice cast includes Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Bruce Campbell and Mr. T. First the Where the Wild Things Are one-sheet hits the internet and now this trailer. A good day. Enjoy!

The internet has been abuzz today, at least as far as the film community goes, with the release of the Where the Wild Things Are poster.



This live action adaptation is helmed by Spike Jonze and follows the classic children's story of the wild boy Max. I cannot freaking wait for this film. Everything released so far looks great, and hopefully there will be a trailer soon. Here are some other photos released so far. Save the date October, 16th for opening day. Eek!

Seeing as I play most all day tomorrow, St. Patrick's Day, I figured I would make some Corned Beef and Cabbage today. Here is the process from this morning.

First the potatoes and carrots were cut and placed in the pot. Yes there are a lot of potatoes, but I wanted to have enough leftover for Corned Beef Hash in a couple days.


Next I julienned one medium onion.


A mixture of a cup of water with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar makes its way to the pot.


A can of Guinness.


A little Jameson for the pot...


and a little Jameson for me.


Here is the Corned Beef Brisket rubbed with Kosher Salt, fresh black pepper and some Dijon Mustard.


The brisket joins the party along with the enclosed spice packet, a few sprigs of fresh Thyme and a Bay Leaf. The lid goes on, set to high for six hours. Yes, I could have done this on low for twice as long, but I would have to get up around 6:00am - screw that!


About two hours before everything is finished the cabbage is cut up and placed in with everything else. If you wait and put this in later the cabbage will have a slight bit of crunch to it still, instead of being mush.


Once the six hours are up the beef comes out and is wrapped in foil for about ten minutes to let the meat rest and the juices to distribute themselves. Once the resting is done carve, plate and eat!


Everything was delicious, and now I have leftovers for some hash and possibly a sandwich.

Earlier tonight I was watching The Big Bang Theory and Sheldon was telling Penny that he knows everything in the universe. Her reply was, "who is Radiohead."

This was, of course, met with a blank stare. I know this feeling, and something very similar happened to me close to ten years ago now.

At the time I was living with, and dating, Gwen in Arlington. For those of you who know her also know her son, Mason, was living in that apartment as well. He was probably two or three and we were all in the car. As usual, I was answering the random questions he would ask. He asked how I knew something and the conversation went something like this:

ME: Because I know everything!
MASON: Oh yeah, well who is Thomas the Tank Engine's best friend?
ME: Uh...

Gwen could not stop laughing and Mason joined in as well.

Fucking kids.

Again I slacked and did not get a blog up yesterday. We had eight hours of playing and after getting home my computer was acting up. Being tired I just said "bah" and went to bed. Please forgive me.

Before our last four sets of Celtic insanity the crew went to eat at On the Border in Arlington. The bathroom was a high priority on my list so after ordering I went posthaste to make waste. (Ha!) Public bathrooms are not a big problem for me. Most people hate using them, but I would rather drop a deuce in a stall somewhere instead of someone else's home. I have even gone so far as to make up an excuse to leave when I have just started dating a girl and crap at the nearest gas station/grocery store. Pretty lame, I know.

One of the big problems with public restrooms are one of two things - cleanliness and supplies. OTB's bathrooms were in decent shape, but having been burned by the no toilet paper thing before I now always check ahead of time. One stall had nothing in the dispenser, the other I could see a small roll so there I sat. As my time was drawing to a close I realized this TP roll was inaccessible. These particular dispensers are the kind with two rolls and you slide some panel and the second roll comes into play, but for some reason it would not slide.

What to do? I could get up and hope this bathroom had paper towels (I didn't notice when walking in), but that could pose a problem if they didn't. Not to mention making an odd conversation starter for anyone who might walk in while I was en route. If there was a hand dryer then it would be all for naught, or really messy. My only choice, and what I did, was to break the dispenser. Yeah this sucks to do, but if they checked the damn bathrooms more this would have not been an issue.

What interesting story do I find from Reuters when I get home tonight?

"Vampire" unearthed in Venice plague grave

It seems they found a female skeleton with a brick lodged in her jaw. This was done to keep her from feeding on plague victims during the 16th century. This is a very interesting aspect to the beginning of the vampire mythos in the world. Between the tales of blood drinking (which have been around for ages), Countess Bathory, the disease porphyria (where subjects are extremely allergic to sunlight and are healed by ingesting blood)and now these findings it is easy to see where the vampire came from.

It is a very interesting story about how these "shroud-eaters," as they were called, were perceived by gravediggers during the plague years. Read on for the full scoop.



By Daniel Flynn ROME (Reuters) - Italian researchers believe they have found the remains of a female "vampire" in Venice, buried with a brick jammed between her jaws to prevent her feeding on victims of a plague which swept the city in the 16th century.

Matteo Borrini, an anthropologist from the University of Florence, said the discovery on the small island of Lazzaretto Nuovo in the Venice lagoon supported the medieval belief that vampires were behind the spread of plagues like the Black Death.

"This is the first time that archaeology has succeeded in reconstructing the ritual of exorcism of a vampire," Borrini told Reuters by telephone. "This helps ... authenticate how the myth of vampires was born."

The skeleton was unearthed in a mass grave from the Venetian plague of 1576 -- in which the artist Titian died -- on Lazzaretto Nuovo, which lies around three km (2 miles) northeast of Venice and was used as a sanitorium for plague sufferers.

The succession of plagues which ravaged Europe between 1300 and 1700 fostered the belief in vampires, mainly because the decomposition of corpses was not well understood, Borrini said.

Gravediggers reopening mass graves would sometimes come across bodies bloated by gas, with hair still growing, and blood seeping from their mouths and believe them to be still alive.

The shrouds used to cover the faces of the dead were often decayed by bacteria in the mouth, revealing the corpse's teeth, and vampires became known as "shroud-eaters."

According to medieval medical and religious texts, the "undead" were believed to spread pestilence in order to suck the remaining life from corpses until they acquired the strength to return to the streets again.

"To kill the vampire you had to remove the shroud from its mouth, which was its food like the milk of a child, and put something uneatable in there," said Borrini. "It's possible that other corpses have been found with bricks in their mouths, but this is the first time the ritual has been recognized."

While legends about blood-drinking ghouls date back thousands of years, the modern figure of the vampire was encapsulated in the Irish author Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula," based on 18th century eastern European folktales.

Source: Reuters UK

Being a fan of anything horror related it is hard to go anywhere without someone mentioning Stephen King. He has been a staple of the genre for many years now and has done his share of good work. My only problem with the man lies in his inability to write a decent ending. Pretty much every novel he writes just seems to fall apart when you get to the final act.

Despite his shortcomings I still hold a few of his works in high regard. One such story is It. I read the book in Junior High over the course of a week, and loved it. The whole spider thing is quite odd, but the rest of the story I loved. In 1990 there was a made-for-TV miniseries of the book starring, among many others, Harry Anderson, John Ritter, the late Jonathan Brandis, a young Seth Green and the wonderful portrayal of Pennywise the clown by Tim Curry. What a wonderfully creepy look Curry has as a clown with blood filled balloons.


Today it has come to my attention through many websites (Dread Central, Shock Till You Drop, etc) that there is now a director attached for Warner Bros' remake of It. Dave Kajganich appears to be a first time director, according to IMDb, and has only written a couple of things before, like the 2007 film The Invasion starring Nicole Kidman. Not sure how he will do, but it is not the director who is the cause of my uncertainty.

To begin with, they are going to place the story in present day. Of course! Why must every story take place in this time? Yes I know the book was present day at the time, but all of the stuff that happens in the past (the book jumps between 1958 and 1985) will all have to change. Are the flashbacks going to be around the time of the original's present day? Lame.

Another big problem with this film is the plan to go theatrical. Sure, I would love to see a faithful adaptation on the big screen, but this will not happen. How the hell can they take a 1,000+ page novel and knock it out in two hours? They can't. A couple of years ago there was talk that HBO was going to remake It as a six hour miniseries. This makes sense. This could fix all of the network friendly problems with the first filmed version, aside from the boys pulling a train on Beverly. I don't think even HBO would let preteen gang bangs air.

A story with as much involved as It needs more than a 90 to 120 minute running time. I hope this turns out to be somewhat watchable, but most every remake today is just full of pretty faces to draw a crowd. I'm just afraid of a cast full of actors from Gossip Girl, 90210 and One Tree Hill to litter the screen. Maybe they'll get Will Ferrell to fill the oversized shoes of Pennywise. Sigh.

Why the hell can no one at a freaking grocery store correctly sack the groceries?! Aside from Central Market and Whole Foods I never get anyone who knows what they are doing. Maybe I am just lucky at the couple of good stores, but they seem to be the only ones.

I bring my own bag to the store. Sure, I'm helping out the environment or something, but basically they hold more than the plastic bags and are easier to carry. When I walk up to the register I begin to stack my items on the conveyor belt in the order they would best fit in the bag. I have had the clueless put the goddamn eggs in the bag first! Is that not Grocery Sacking 101? Tonight the kid did put the half gallon carton of milk in first - on its side!

A couple months ago while checking out I realized I would need a second bag because I was buying too many bigger items. Right by the register they have them for sale, a dollar each. This goes first on the mini-Jestons walkway followed by the order in which the purchases should be stacked. Before she started scanning everything I haded her the one bag I brought myself. She opens it and commences to scan.

*BEEP*

One bag across the scanner - and she drops in in the other bag. What the fuck?!

I asked her what she was doing and she replied something to the effect of, "what do you mean?"
"I was planning on using the bag."
"Oh, you want to use it now?"
"Why else would I be buying it?"

I was greeted by a blank stare. Then the scanning/sacking process continued, poorly of course.

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I found a blog that I really enjoy and thought you might too. It is a New York based stand-up comic named Myq Kaplan. The blog is called Godzillionaire and what he does is combine words, like "Godzilla" and "Zillionaire," and write a short comment about them. Sometimes they are long, sometimes short but they are steadily funny and poetic. Here is the most recent post:

Analogy.
Jesus.
Analogesus.

Water is to wine.

Brilliant! Check it out, yo!

While hanging out in Fort Worth after practice tonight, Jan let me know that he has been disappointed in my last few blogs. Evidently the quality of topics have gone way downhill and he finds them uninteresting. To appease him I will now list some things I will cover in the near future:*

- Home Repair
- Complete Squirrel Annihilation and Recipes
- New Orleans in the Good ol' Days
- Self Foundation Repair
- Bathwater Drinking
- Benefits of a Milk Marinade
- The Word "Feck" and its Many Derivatives
- Fiddle Construction
- Why Contemporary Authors are Shit
- Nipple Size and Color
- Numa Numa
- Weed Whacking in Nothing but Cut-Off Jean Shorts
- Correct Pronunciation of "Mischievous"
- Neighborhood Watch
- Whiskey and Scotch
- Mobile Phones, Speakerphone and You
- And of course ... PRESSMEN

I hope this helps. Jan do you approve?



*I realize this blog will only make sense to a small group of you. Sorry.

I am getting sick of apartment living. For the most part I have been pretty lucky when it comes to the neighbors I have. Sure, a ton of them are annoying and I don't want to talk to them, but they are usually pretty respectful about noise levels and such. Occasionally I hear some shouting for whatever reason, most of it is in the stairwell and the rest is on the sidewalk by any number of other residents here.

I am looking around and trying to get a rent house when my lease is up in a couple of months and a huge selling point will be the garage. Hell, I'll even go for a private carport. Right now I have an assigned spot underneath a carport but people are always parking in my spot. Alright, actually they have been good recently... until today. There is not much I can do. I could do what my across-the-hall neighbors do and have them towed. My luck is they will get annoyed and mess with my car or something. People are stupid and I wouldn't put it past them. I have to live around these people, I don't want it to be complete hell. I just left a not under the person's windshield saying, "these are reserved parking spots, please do not park here."

I thought that was a decent way to handle the situation. A couple hours later the truck was gone, and I parked in my spot. My assigned space is far enough away from my apartment as it is, I hate having to find a visitor's space even farther away. It would be nice to come home with a backseat full of groceries (no, that is not a euphemism) and take them from the garage to the kitchen.

Soon. Hopefully soon.

The Irish Festival is officially over. It is always a beating going to any big festival and dealing with the crowd. Everything went relatively well considering. I did have a few Disney World crowd/stroller flashbacks. Ack!

Today I decided to take Fulci for his very first festival. He was so good, I was proud. Behaved well with all of the other dogs, and did not pee inside. He even sat with Jenny for most of our set. Here he is with Jenny, Travis and Lindi:


I am pretty tired so I'll just leave you with a video of Beoga's amazing bodhran player, Eamon Murray, doing what he does best. Go n-éirí on bóthar leat




By the way, I HATE daylight savings!

This weekend is the annual North Texas Irish Festival. Dallas' Fair Park is overrun by Celtic music and crafts, along with people who are seasonally Irish (and the Ren-faire crowd). For all of the idiots out and about it is still quite a bit of fun usually. Caught the band Beoga tonight and their bodhran player is a four time world champion. Basically I feel like I should just give up now because I could never be that amazing.

The one group of people I cannot really stand or those in utilikilts. If you don't know what they are, here:


This is not a kilt. It is a skirt with pockets. These are not authentic to Scotland, or anywhere for that matter. Utilikilts are an American's creation when the guy made a skirt out of an old pair of military pants for working on his motorcycle. At least the people who run the company's website aren't completely delusional like their general consumer. In the website's FAQ they explain they are not "real kilts."

What really annoys the piss out of me is when someone wears one of the "It's not a skirt, it's a kilt" shirts with one of these bastard garments. I swear to Cthulhu himself by the time Scottish festival rolls around I will have made a shirt to wear that says something to the effect of, "Your utilikilt is nothing more than a cargo skirt."

Bah!

I had a thought earlier about friends, fighting and booze. From time to time things tend to happen in bars, or anywhere alcohol is involved. Someone has a few too many and crosses the wrong person. It could be the one with more alcohol is that wrong person, but not necessarily. This just escalates and before you know it - FIGHT!

My question is about one of your friends being involved in the heated moment. Sure, if your buddy gets into a fight you have his/her back. What if they are in the wrong? What if they are the one who is the drunk asshole? It is hard to say what is the right course of action here. I am going to stick by what I would want done if I was the offending person.

-Tell your friend to calm down because they are in the wrong.
-Tell the other party to let it slide.
-If the friend does not heed your advice and keeps pressing on the other party let them get punched like they deserve.

Yeah, if I was being that big of an ass then maybe I need to be punched in the face. This does not mean let me, or your friend, get the shit beat out of me. Let a hit happen then intervene. Just because they are your friend does not mean they don't require a "wake-up."

What would you do?


*By the way, none of this actually happened to me or any of my friends. It was just something I thought of while talking with Billy K and Jan tonight.

Yesterday one of my earbuds died. I have had this pair for a quite a while now and they were getting sketchy. It was only a matter of time. Since I had a few errands to run today, one of which was going to be sitting around while my oil was changed and I got new brake pads, so I needed some new earbuds. There is a Wal-Mart on the way to the place I was going. They sell iPods, so they must carry the Apple earbuds.

They had a bunch of iPod accessories, Apple branded, but no earbuds. I had to get something so I checked hear selection. Nothing really jumped out at me. I know a lot of people get fancy headphones, but the classic white ones are just fine for me. I figured I would buy a pair here to leave in my car, then go get the ones I really want as my main set. I settled on some that actually go in your ear canal. I see a ton of people with this kind, so what could I lose?

When I got to the counter in the Electronics department I thought I'd try and ask if they had the Apple brand white iPod earbuds. The woman said they did, and I said there weren't any out there, but she came out to check anyway. I'll be the first to admit I've searched for something many times that was in plain view, but I looked for a long while at their small headphone section and saw nothing. She went immediately to a white pair of some like I was about to buy and said, "here you go, they say 'iPod' on them."

I was polite and said those weren't them and I would just purchase what I already grabbed. On our way back she pointed at another random pair that said "iPod" but we just kept walking.

I don't expect much from people who work in most retail places, especially Wal-Mart. So it's really my own fault for asking.

By the way, they changed my oil but I have to go back tomorrow for the brake pads. As for the earbuds - I'm not really digging them.

Lately I have been going on walks. Exercise is a good thing, and this, along with eating a little better, will help me lose some weight. Now I'm not overdoing it with the exercise. Fulci (my dog if you don't know) and I have been traveling approximately two miles (sometimes more, sometimes less) and we try to go everyday.

The dog has a tendency to get really excited when on his leash and try to run or pull me along. All this really accomplishes is choking him. After getting tired of him spending half of the trip wheezing and not learning from his mistakes I decided to get him one of those harnesses. There were size problems, but once it was all ironed out he put on the new harness this afternoon and looked so cute. There was no coughing today, everything went smoothly. Well, almost.

About halfway through our route we stumbled upon to unleashed, roaming big dogs. One of them was a lab mix of some kind and the other a very fluffy St. Bernard looking boy. The boy part I know for certain because his balls were hard to miss. I knew this could be trouble and as soon as they saw Fulci to us they ran. At first all they did was sniff him, but it soon became hard to walk. They were each about four times the size of my little puppy and he would stop when one of them was standing before him. Once I heard the first little growl I just picked him up and kept on trucking.

They just kept following us. There was a moment when we were down the street from them so I put Fulci back down. As soon as his paws hit the pavement they were on their way back. Bah! The fluffy dog had a tag so after much wrestling I finally had it and there was a phone number. With Fulci in one arm, and the other dog's collar in the other hand, I somehow eventually dialed the number on the bone shaped tag. It was a Vet's office. Sigh. I told her I wasn't aware this was a business number. The tag did not look like a rabies medallion, it was shaped like a bone, the same kind on my dog. Not knowing the area code which was on the dog's collar I asked, "Where is the 907 area code?"

Alaska.

What the hell?! I told her I was in Texas and she was as shocked as I was. During the conversation the two tag-alongs ran off towards the nearby duck pond to rustle some feathers. We hurried off and they never found us. Why the hell would you not put your home or cell number on your dog's tag? What good is an Alaskan veterinary office going to do in Texas?

I really hate hearing spoilers about TV shows or movies. I'm sure most people do, but it seems increasingly hard to escape them nowadays.

I understand if a movie has been out for quite a while, and you have not seen it that is no one's fault but your own. People cannot get mad at someone for saying Bruce Willis has been dead the whole movie and is a ghost. You had years to see The Sixth Sense. When the movie or show is pretty new it is a different story altogether.

To avoid all the details you must stay aways from certain websites, radio shows or even reading some blogs. If I am going to talk about anything spoiler-like I will use the ubiquitous "Spoiler Alert" tags before I begin, and the "End Spoilers" once I have finished. Is that too much to ask?

Things escalate to a different degree when you are dealing with something like Twitter. Tonight there were a few posts while someone on my Twitter list was watching Doubt. I did not get a chance to see this yet, and would like to be surprised. I don't know if anything was spoiled, but if I saw what I think I saw before I looked away then I'm annoyed. This is the same as someone not using spoiler tags on a message board. How do you protect yourself in a live atmosphere like that?

Alright this post is going to be about the TV show Heroes. If you don't watch the show, or have no interest, then you probably will not want to read this entry.

Ever since a few episodes into last, the second, season people have been blasting Heroes for jumping the shark, or just plain sucking. While I will admit the first season is still by far the best, all of this hostility towards the show is a bit unnecessary.

After the second season I was a little let down. The last couple of episodes were pretty good, but the rest was kind of lackluster. Then when the DVD came out I watched them again over the course of a couple of days and really liked the overall story. There were some really slow episodes, but watching everything together, without a week or more between episodes, seemed to make more sense.

Just because I feel this way does not mean it is a good way to handle a TV show. Unless you are only going to release a DVD and not air the show that will not work. Unfortunately having to succumb to the network's scheduling can really mess up a show. Having a few weeks off at random times, or some big event on another channel so they show a repeat instead of trying to compete. It is a flawed system, but what can you do?

The problems are not to be solely placed on scheduling, because some points in the story were a little too drawn out, uninteresting and/or unbelievable. The feudal Japan stuff really went on a little too long, and some viewers hated the whole idea. I am very forgiving most of the time when in comes to suspension of disbelief (I do enjoy Fringe, heh) so most of the big complaints with the time-traveling roll right off my back. The problems with Hiro's ability are understandable, but come on. This is a show about people with actual powers, how realistic can you be?

This season has garnered a much warmer reception from fans, but still people continue to bitch and moan. Overall, I am really enjoying the story. There are faults with directions some of the characters have gone, or the location of others altogether. Where the hell is Micah? We saw him in one episode, and his badass cousin is out of the picture this season as well. They hide too characters I really enjoy yet manage to bring the fairly annoying random Ali Larter character around time and time again. Another person who has gone way downhill is Claire. We get it, she is an angsty teenager. I keep waiting for her to dye her hair black and slit her wrists. I know she wouldn't die, but is there anymore more emo? I am liking Sylar more and more with each episode. I just wish he was in the show more.

Nathan has his government agency tracking down those with abilities, and for such an elite team they are pretty stupid. Take tonight for instance - back to Isaac Mendez's loft. If Nathan or HRG would learn anything from past experiences it is at some point people will return to that damn loft. Why don't they put this place under constant video surveillance? Why do people keep going there? Who is paying Isaac's rent?

Even though I become a wee bit annoyed with certain aspects of the show, I still enjoy sitting down in front of the TV on Monday nights to watch the newest chapter. What are your thoughts so far this season?

There have been many great inventions to bring us to our current state of technological bliss. One such device I have had the pleasure of using for the past couple of years is glorious box that is my DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

So of course Tivo has been around longer, and may be a better all around system, but it is not the one I use. DVR is included in my digital cable/internet package so this is all I have to base an opinion. It takes some time to set up all of your series records, or season passes, but after that everything is just there waiting for you. I remember the days of having to manually set the VCR, or simply press "record," for each program and using the same VHS tape all of the time. After a while there was quite a bit of distortion, not to mention the collection of multiple quick blips at the very beginning of the tape. I can go out and do whatever I want, watch a show at my leisure, fast forward through the commercials and keep or trash once I'm finished.

Another bonus is I can record something on my one DVR unit, but watch the recording on another one in my house. Not all services off this feature yet, but AT&T Uverse does and I'm happy with the results.

Bad things do tend to happen now and again. Most of the times they are because of stupid sporting events. Take tonight for example, I go to watch the newest episode of The Simpsons and what is on but stupid fucking NASCAR! The whole half hour is filled with the nonsensical past time of watching cars drive around in circles for hours. What the hell is that about? On the plus side, and another great thing about today's times, I can procure the missed show online. Thanks interwebs!

If only a DVR could know to shift the time when a game runs a bit long, or if the show itself goes over the scheduled time. I'm sure that time will come, I will be patient until that day.