Ramblings (Sitting On My Ass Edition) + Christmas List Updated

What's going on kids? Yeah, nothing much here either. But I will try to fill in some white space with some words.

I spent a very nice Thanksgiving up in Ojai with the Anne Marie, the Heilveils, four dogs, and another creature that was apparently a dog, but really looked like a breeding experiment gone awry.

What does it say about me that I get along better with those older than me than I do those my age?

When does being young at heart turn into simply being immature?

They demolished a house across the street so they can build a new one. Of course they are doing all this during my current opportunity to sleep in all the time. There is also dust and odd smells constantly entering my apartment. Last night I was overwhelmed by diesel fumes as a semi truck was left idling for about half an hour.

This Facebook thing is working out much better than myspace ever did. Not only did I find fellow high school president/vice president running mate Craig Keim, but Brent Underwood as well. Brent Underwood! Growing up before my parents divorce we were the dynamic duo. We went to the same school and church. My Mom adored the hell out of Brent. Brent has the wonderful distinction of being at my last birthday party that ever involved people outside my family. Below is a picture documenting the event. Brent is on my left. We both had a lot more hair back then. Yes that is a cake with a bunch of army men on there and it rocks. I have no idea who the other kid is removing the army man. Those were some good times. Brent also has a blog that is now linked om the left.

Oh! I picked up Rock Band. Because I am poor I only picked up the game and not the whole package. With the Xbox 360 you can use the Guitar Hero guitars to play Rock Band. This is a good thing because I'm not a fan of the Rock Band guitar I tested at Best Buy. The Guitar Hero 3 wireless guitar is the best by far. How do they compare you might ask? That's a good question. Guitar Hero 3 is a more polished Guitar Hero 2. Obviously it is focused on
delivering the guitar god experience. Rock Band is built to be a mulitplayer game. To achieve the full enjoyment of the game you should play with four friends to play guitar, bass, drums, and singing. This leads to the game being a little lacking in single player. It's not till the last tier of songs that playing the guitar becomes a challenge similar to Guitar Hero. This though isn't exactly a deal breaker because the presentation of Rock Band I think trumps Guitar Hero. I really like the visuals of Rock Band. I love that it gives you a fairly in depth menu to design your own character. Guitar Hero has pre-designed ones that you get to select and some you unlock. Maybe I'm just a little pissed that GH3 didn't include my favorite character from GH2. I love that the crowd in Rock Band sings along with you during the choruses and at the points where a crowd would normally join in. It all blends to create the feeling of being a band on stage. The songs are also a bit more accessible. For example, Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" would be boring playing it on Guitar Hero. Add a few friends though and it becomes a blast in Rock Band. Rock Band also comes out on top for me a little because of the songs you can download. Rock Band already has over 15 songs you can download from artists ranging from Metallica to The Police to Creedence. There are another 15 or more scheduled to be available in the next month. I know this sounds a little like I'm putting down Guitar Hero 3. I'm not. I love Guitar Hero 3. There are just some things that Rock Band does that I would like to see in Guitar Hero. In a way Guitar Hero is for the hardcore, while Rock Band is a little more for the masses. Now I just need to buy the drums once this strike ends and then recruit some people who aren't embarrassed rocking in view of other people. I will say my favorite moment between both games is playing Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time." I get goose bumps playing that on Rock Band.



What else to talk about? Hmm...

Hollywood people seem to be cautiously optimistic about the current negotiations that began this week. I would say I am cautiously pessimistic that the strike will end soon. Can someone be cautiously pessimistic?

I will go ahead and admit now that I really liked No Country for Old Men. I even liked the last thirty minutes that left most people grumbling.

I guess I could do my Christmas list. So you non-family readers can simply stop reading now.

How about a guitar? Acoustic or electric (Fender American Stratocaster.) New or Used. Wait! How about money for a guitar? I don't want to haul a guitar on the airplane.

Xbox 360 Live Points

Mass Effect

Shirts like this or this. (Side note: Damn that model's hair!)

Cardigan like this. I will also accept one in a navy color.

Crew neck sweaters in charcoal, navy, hunter green, or brown.

I'm still debating on this whole vest making a come back. So I tentatively ask for this.

You know I kind of like the new 80GB Zune. One with one of those Zune original designs would be a nice added tough. But I will also accept an 80GB iPod classic or 16GB iPod Touch.

I guess that's about it.

I guess that isn't about it:

Here are some DVD's:

Duck, You Sucker 2 Disc Edition
The Third Man Criterion Edition
Ace In The Hole Criterion
Spellbound Criterion

Some PSP games:

Crush (If you can find it)
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow

Nintendo DS:

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Finally a little lo-fi:

A Diana+ camera with film

Lomo Smena 8M camera with film

Ramblings (Why Edition)

Why does Netflix guess that I will rate Fantastic Four's: Rise of the Silver Surfer 1 and 3/4th star yet when I actually rate movies I am limited to only whole stars?

Why hasn't science come up with a better way for the common man to do laundry? Haven't we been waiting an hour for the laundry to dry since the 1960's? In forty plus years we haven't come up with a way to at least shorten that time?

Why did I decide to wear a sweater today? It is unseasonably warm outside.

Why do they even bother assigning jury service during the month of December? I got a notice stating that I have to serve starting the 17th of December. Yeah, that's not going to happen.

Why did I replace my nicotine addiction with Guitar Hero? I thought for sure it would be replaced with food so I would gain at least 100 lbs. It's one o'clock and the morning, and I'm right now thinking I could squeeze in a couple plays of "Cliffs Over Dover."

Why can't I think of anything that I want for Christmas?

Why can't I get past this absurd sense of being polite? If I was Jack Bauer, the world would have been destroyed because I wouldn't want to interrupt Chloe and Edgar bickering at each other.

Why does it itch?

Why would anybody want to sign A-Rod? You might get what you pay for, but you also can't get anything else to compliment him. Unless you are the Yankees or Red Sox.

Why am I always scared I will miss something?

Why can't people stop talking and enjoy a little silence?

For Those About to Rock We Salute Jiff

Well That Didn't Last Long (Update)

Earlier tonight CBS told out show to layoff all the assistants in the writer's department. They are going to try to keep us on as PA's for a few days a week. My thinking is that I'm already ahead of the curve with this extra week so I might just give those hours to those who need it. Which means as of now I am without a job. I'm not that concerned because I have enough to last till January at least. My concern is that this strike is nowhere near ending. The producers and writers aren't even talking now. I understand that the writers deserve a piece of the new media pie, but this pissing match everyone has gotten into is helping nobody.

CBS has changed their minds and given us next week to work as well. So one more glorious week! Also, I was able to get to the last tier in Guitar Hero 3 last night on the hard difficulty. It was one of the proudest moments of this year. Then I attempted Metallica's "One" and failed the song three seconds into the guitar solo. Talk about deflating. But one more week of work!

Let Me Try Something Different...

Instead of posting tracks of new music I like, I'm just going to post the album cover.
Clearly, this will be all you need to educate you on your next music purchase.

Strike Update!

Here is what's going down. Monday morning the writers will be on strike. What does that mean to me? Well, it's not that bad because our show still has shooting to do. Everyone is still employed till we are finished shooting which should be around the end of November. They didn't have to this but they are keeping those of us in the writers' dept. around. We will be helping out production where they need us. So, I have a job for month longer than I thought. I assumed that once the writers' went on strike we'd be out as well. But the mayor called and I got a month's stay of economic execution. Actually it 's not even that bad, because I kind of prepared for this to happen. Now I have an extra month to save even more. Still if the writers and producers don't come to some agreement during November, I will be out of job as well as 10,000 other people in this town. If nothing happens in November I suspect it will be a long time till everyone comes together in agreement. With the actors and directors contracts up in June 08, they might wait till then and have at least the actors and writers unified. But really nobody has any idea on when whatever is supposed to happen is supposed to happen. The good news is I got an extra month to work, and this strike will help me and others down the road who are pursuing a career in this crazy business.

I'd also like to welcome back Friday Night Lights. Tonight's episode was fantastic from start to finish. It's the first episode this season that could compare to any of last season's. Just stellar stuff.