Washington Capitals Report (4/28/09)

Winning a first round series?

This is not the Caps that I knew.

Washington Capitals Report (4/27/09)

Damn you! Why in the world would you do this again? It was bad enough last year but twice in a row after you raised expectations?

This Week In Entertainment (4/27/09)

The summer blockbusters are upon us. My Pick of the Week is X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The X-Men movies have been fun, so hopefully this one doesn't turn into a Quest for Peace.

I usually avoid Blu-Ray, but I just wanted to poin out this first season of Star Trek: TOS. Remember, Star Trek preaches about a socialist, utopian future but charges 130 bucks per season. Also keep in mind that blu-rays hold up to five times the storage capacity of a DVD, yet you only get one season here.

Star Trek fans are idiots. (No, there's no link here.)


Out on DVD is The Loony, Loony, Loony Bugs Bunny Movie, another blast from my childhood. And by movie, I mean clip show.

I don't know what this show is about, but if it's a show about rookies, shouldn't it only have one season?


On the Wii is the tie-in to the Wolverine movie. Why do these always suck? I'll never understand that.


Also on the Wii is a "game" that I thought was already available for WiiWare. If you like aquariums, this is for you.

One last game for the Wii is Tournament Pool. Now, I want a great pool game for the Wii. That's why I was enthusiastic about Wii Play. However, I doubt any of these pool games will be any good without the Motion Plus. I wish Sports Resort was out already.

Earth Day??? Feh!!!!!!

Earth is trying to kill us, what with it's global warming, earthquakes, rabid squirrels, man eating plants that come out of green sewer pipes, etc.

Why in the holy hell have we given Earth a special day when all it's trying to do is kill us??? We don't have Hitler Day!

This Week In Entertainment (4/20/09)

Hmm, this is a slim week. I'll guess I'll make a Wii racing game as My Pick of the Week. I'm not a fan of racing games but I like the way Wii Mario Kart handles and this game seems to be more of the same controls-wise. Hopefully it'll include the mp3 player option that Excite Truck had.


In theaters this week is Mike Tyson. Before you decide to run in the opposite direction, I mean it's a movie about him. I wish there was a trailer where he promised that this movie would eat your spare cash or something.


On DVD is Caprica, a Battlestar Galactica movie. The most I ever watched of that show was a couple very shakey minutes. Sorry Enterprise haters, but no matter how bad Star Trek can get, at least it doesn't make me nauseous.

Just a friendly reminder that a prequel to our franchise is coming out soon, ok?

And if you didn't get that reminder, here's another. Has Hugh Jackman had any success outside of the X-Men movies? I'm curious now.

...But really! (Britney's career seems to have gone from Hollywood in-joke about her virginity to being an in-joke herself. If there's anything else I've missed it.)

I'm sure 60 Minutes is talking about memes.


Out on the DS is 101-in-1, another collection of mini-games. If the video game industry banned mini-games for a year, would it survive? Don't forget that Nintendo isn't the only thing that has this problem, even if they have it worse than others.

Washington Capitals Report (4/20/09)

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff....

Speaking of Madden

Here's a NY Times article about Madden retiring. You can't help to notice this little sentence. Emphasis mine.

Unfortunately, as the national voice of his sport, he was more the mouse who didn’t roar but played it safe, by punting most controversy, like other champion American pitchmen, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

Unfortunately? UNFORTUNATELY? Do we need yet another talk about steriods? Is the writer mad that Madden didn't turn off a lamp for one broadcast? Wait, there's more!

Admittedly, no laws are broken by the failure to use a platform for social good, but Jordan and Woods over the years have been called out for never speaking out, risking their corporate appeal. Why only athletes? Why not men like Madden?

Because Madden is a fat, well-off white guy who eats mutant turkeys*? What is he going to talk about, the poor in Africa?

"Put down your nachos, folks. I'm going to talk about a subject that's near and dear to me. See this country? See this country I'm drawing? BOOM! Right here is a famine. Now let's watch it again from a different angle. BOOM! See how hard the place has been hit? The hunger is leading to some tough-actin' subtractin'! ... Thank you."


* - Let's not forget that his job is to give commentary for a sports game. You know, sports? That thing that people watch because they want to get away from important things? Why do I feel like I'm talking to a five year old?

I may have finally learned to appreciate John Madden.

John Madden is going to finally stop wasting the air waves with his bloated praise for all things Cowboys after this season. That would be good, except he may be replaced by smug know-it-all Chris Collinsworth. I've hated him since the Cowboys-Skins game where the Redskins got killed and Collinsworth laughed gleefully after Patrick Ramsey tossed a desperation pass that was intercepted.

Yeah, the Redskins sucked during the Spurrier era, but can't commentators be neutral? I expect local radio commentators to root for a team, but I can't stand it when national commentators do. The same went for Dennis Miller, who ticked me off when he shouted "How bout them Cowboys!?" after the Skins fumbled a MNF game away.


I swear, I spend most of my time hating the commentators than actually enjoying the games. Besides the fact that the Skins (and all local Washington teams) suck, that's probably the reason why I've been losing interest in sports over the past several years.

Tax Day!

Are you poorer now than you were four months ago?


(I have no idea if that joke works. It seems ok in my mind.)


Anyway, I hope you remember to get your taxes done on time and that your forms aren't screwed up. Enjoy the long waits in line at the post office if you haven't already turned your stuff in. Mine was done a couple weeks ago so I'm looking pretty good right now. I hope. Let's hope I don't have to write this blog in prison in the future.

Dear San Francisco,

I'm starting to doubt that you're the wackiest place in the country. Should I start making jokes about teeny Vermont or are you saving something big to shock us all with?

Come on, you're starting to live off your old glory. You need to stop acting so passe.

Let's Go Caps

The NHL playoffs start today and Capitals find themselves in second place in their conference. There opponent is the New York Rangers and for once, I hope they get out of the first round.

I haven't actually followed them this season and I'm actually scared to watch them this series, worrying that I'll jinx them. If they do make it past the Rangers, Coach Bruce Bourdreau is the man. The team has had a remarkable turn around since their poor start last year.

This Week In Entertainment (4/13/09)

My Pick of the Week is a game you can purchase even though there's an entire website just like it for free. The game is Mixed Messages, and it seems to play the same as Broken Telephone Picture. This is a DSiWare game.



Also out this week on DVD is The Spirit. Has there been a good movie that's been released during Christmas? It seems to be a time for awful movies. I'll always remember that they released that Pinocchio film around the season after Life Is Beautiful was huge.

More proof that they'll release any semi-successful show to dvd, it's Wings Season whatever and the COMPLETE series. Ah, who cares?

I like Leslie Neilsen and his spoof movies but I'm not sure that's enough to get me to see this spoof of The Exorcist. I mean, just think of the scenes they'll parody. Also, I don't have any memory of this movie even though it was released during the time of the Naked Gun trilogy.

Is it me, or does Whoopi Goldberg strike you as a person who got famous by stealth? I know I'm ignoring The Color Purple, but I can't remember her becoming famous. She just always was.

I actually saw a couple episodes of Malcolm and Eddie. Now I can't even remember if it was on UPN or The WB. (Although it seems to logically fit on UPN. The WB: Black people? ON MY NETWORK? )


Out on the Virtual Console this week is Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. This was an Earthworm Jim clone that seemed to be the right step for this series becoming respectible after the horrible Super Pitfall. I wouldn't know, though. 800 Wii poins.

On the Wii itself is an anthology of Samurai Showdown games. I can't imagine getting a game like this because fighting games are similar and take a while to master. I guess that's just me.

For WiiWare we have Party Fun Pirate. Really, the WIi needs less party games, but this one might not be a mini-game-a-thon.

King's Dominion 2008 Part 7

We're about to wrap up this trip.





So I'm walking with my sister with my stuff in my hands and we're about to call it a day when the sky becomes really dark. Before long it gets really windy and a storm breaks out. They start shutting down rides while crowds of people start heading to the exits.






Of course, I try to take a few pictures as we hurry along.








I think this was taken around the same time but things seem too normal.









It was pretty surreal for a few minutes. I forgot if it rained but I'm sure there was some thunder as we walked from the Water Works to the entrance of the park.






Things died down a bit by the time we got to the park entrance. I think we're waiting in line for the group photos from the beginning of the day.






Frankly this photo looks like it was taken in the morning despite the fact that this is the next photo in sequence.






This photo is so blurry that I'll leave it in despite the fact that that's our group photo. We have a magnet of this picture at home.






At this poin I was given a little time to hit the souvenir stores. I didn't quite shop in them as much as last time. I bought another KD poker chip, a slinky, and another KD t-shirt.






Some prize I saw while we were waiting in line for our photos.














Three more for the road!










So the day of wakka ended. I don't have any anecdotes about when we left or when we drove home.

This concludes my picture show for my last trip to King's Dominion. Next time I go I'll probably have even less pictures to share and less stories.

Tune in next time when I discuss a theme park I've never been to before.

King's Dominion 2008 Part 6

I started to look for one of my favorite parts of the park at this poin. Here I am next to the Anaconda again. I'm back at the Congo section.





I got a lemonade. I usually don't get lemonade but I tried the one they had here and it was great.

It still wasn't hot so I don't think the Coca Cola spray was on. Darn it.





One more for the road.








I'm still wondering around the park. Here's the newest ride of the park, at least last year. The Dominator has a cheasy name with a cheasy font. I decided against riding it because I had already reached my limit on roller coasters that day. Plus you aren't cramped safely inside a cart. Dangling your legs is probably a little scarier.

















I almost bought a pin with the Dominator's logo on it, but I felt it was silly to buy it after declining the ride.





Where are they?! I need my glasses!








This is a picture from late in the day. I got a call on a phone to come over to this ride. The group wanted to go on the Volcano roller coaster. I was told that we weren't going to be in the park for much longer.

For the rest of the day I went on old classic rides that I love. I went on the swings ride. I went to the former Yogi's Cave just to look for the elusive Ranger Smith. (I'll find him before I die.) And I tried to get on the Scrambler but just as I got on the ride after a long wait, it broke down. That was the ride I got on after the Group wanted to get on the Volcano.

At that poin I forget if I got on anymore rides. I think after a little scrambling I just conceded defeat. I don't think I got on any rides a second time with the exception of the log flume, and I doubt that. It wasn't long before I met up with my sister next to the lockers.





What's this?


We end this post with a cliffhanger because we're almost done. I should wrap up this trip in the next post and move on to the next one. See you then.

King's Dominion 2008 Part 5

While I was still at the front area of the park I decided to snap a few more pictures of these fountains.

Like I said in the last update I walked towards Old Virginia, the area where they have the log flume ride and White Water Canyon. I believe we're at the "wonder around aimlessly" part of this trip.





My dad loves crane games and is decent at them so I snapped this picture. I rarely play them and have little luck with them.





I'm pretty sure I'm at the arcade outside the Action Theater. The Action Theater had a SpongeBob theme. I don't watch that show and even if I wanted to go to the Action Theater that felt a little too kiddy for me.








I like waterfalls. So shoot me.





They let people smoke in the park? Weird. I'm surprised they haven't completely banned it.








YOU JERKS! I want my money back. (But let me stay for the rest of the day.)

At this poin I think I went on the Blue Ridge Tollway. Old-timey cars are fun. I was tempted to pull my camera out and snap pictures while I drove, but you're not allowed to hold up the group of three drivers, and it's all done on a rail, so I couldn't do it. Oh well, at least my parents have a video recording of them on the ride in the seventies somewhere.










I think these pictures were snapped while I was waiting in line for the old-timey cars. If not it's around the same area. Who knows what I'm thinking when I pull the camera out?





Again, I want my money back.

I guess this is the sequel to the previous year's "Twistin' to the Sixties." I guess this follows the sixties after the idealism went away and it all became about counter-culturing. Or not. Who knows? I don't, because it was closed that day.





I took a picture of this due to the fact that it has Bono on it, but I would never buy anything from the caricature place. I'd hate to see how my face would look exaggerated.


I may have gone on more rides but it's been so long.

I'll end this post here. Next time we'll discuss more rides (if I remember them) and maybe the shocking conclusion to the day.

This Week In Entertainment (4/6/09)

Another year, another Nintendo portable. And I'm making it my Pick of the Week, even if it's just a Nintendo DS Lite with a couple cameras in it and some iPhone Application download service. Sadly they still won't let you use PictoChat with anyone 50 feet away from you.


Also out this week in theaters is a live-action Dragon Ball movie. I...I don't know. Part of me wants to laugh at fanboys who will inevitably knock this movie for not being accurate but it's Dragon Balls. If they wanted accurate they'd want 60 minutes of people yelling at each other before charging up for a half minute, incomprehensible fight.

Also in theaters is The Pope's Toilet, about a guy who installs a toilet so he can charge people attending a papal visit.


Out on DVD this week is America's next Curly, Jim Carrey and his latest movie Yes Man. 2000s Jim Carrey is such a shell of 90s Jim Carrey.

Why watch the original The Day the Earth Stood Still when you can watch the Keanu Reeves remake! Come on, be excited.

R rated movies of the early 30s, apparently.

Mickey and the Beanstalk has been released before on DVD, so I don't get the poin of this. However, this DVD would be worth it if it included the light riffing by Charlie McCarthy. I've seen three different versions of that short.

Even Elmo nauseates Elmo.


Finally on the Wii is Escape the Museum, a pick and click game. That's about it as far as I can tell.