Lets dine with the swine

Everyone latch up your masks and come pray with me. We all know that we will all be dead from the H1N1 flu (which is better known as the swine flu) in a week. Are we being a little to... what's that word? Um... Over reacting? Yes probably. Sure the flu can cause death and it already has. But the stats say 3,059 people die a year from Complications of Med/Surgical Care (That's about 8 people a day!) (Source). I don't see people worrying about this though. Also 776 people die a year from Accidental Discharge of Firearms (That's 2 people a day!) [Same Source]. I don't see people throwing away their guns. So do we have to be worrying about this swine flu?

Now you might be saying, "Well Nick, you are a very stupid man, because I have heard that there has been over a 100 deaths related to the swine flu... So what do you think of that?" I have heard that there are over 100 deaths, but I have only heard of one death in America. The stats I was talking about in the above paragraph were American stats. I know the swine flu can be more dangerous in other countries, but I am seeing American news stations making the swine flu seem like the most powerful disease to ever see America. We will have to see if I'm wrong in a week by seeing how many people have deceased.

I received an E-mail from my school today telling me about the swine flu. It gave me a lovely list of how to protect yourself from the swine flu. It gave the normal suggestions like wash your hands, but they also gave one I have never seen before. Throw away used tissues... aw come on collecting used tissues is just like playing hacky sack when you are in college. I feel bad for poor Louis the creepy kid that collects the used tissues from the trash can.

I'm not saying the swine flu is perfectly safe. I just don't think you have to be as worried as the news is making it seem here in America.

-Nick

Horray For The Gays!

Image source: Maxhealth.co.uk

A news story in Boston.com says New Hampshire is making great strides to join the elite few who have fully legalized gay marriage in the United States. As a recap, California used to allow gay marriage but a hugely controversial voter turnout that repealed it sent shockwaves through the rest of the nation. Since then, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Iowa have legalized gay marriage, which is different than the previously widely accepted civil union. The difference being the whole religious aspect, obviously, which is mostly what the extreme rights and Jesus-freaks get tiffy about. And as sprinkles on this cake, those marrying will get to choose their own title, be it Husband, Wife, or the neutral Spouse.

But New Hampshire's adding in some stipulations in their bill to seemingly satisfy everyone. While gay marriage will be legalized, it won't be forced upon churches. Churches can still decide who, what, when, where and how involved they are in a marriage. So the Jesus-freaks who claim that marriage as dictated by God can only be between a man and a woman don't have to suspend their belief structure in order to fulfill their duties, but the gay community is still getting their equal rights. And the gays shouldn't feel discriminated if and when a particular church denies their request to marry by them, because some Churches won't marry couples who have had pre-marital sex, or probably inter-religious couples.

Currently, Governor John Lynch is on the fence about the issue and has stated in the past that he is against the idea of gay marriage. His current indecisiveness seems like he's in favor of the current bill but is buckling under the pressure of NH's house of the Republic Party, which is busy at the rumor mill, spreading watercooler whispers that Lynch will sign the bill without the House's consent. Lynch has denied these rumors, but the fact they were even present shows grave foreboding by the party.

Here's hoping that we kickstart this bill soon so we're in with the rest of the cool states in America. Personally, I completely agree that the stipulations need to be in place in order for it work, as rules are rules. You can't change a whole religion based upon what's current, it doesn't work that way. But marriage is a civil right and no one should be denied it. It become an evident violation between church and state by stepping in and deciding who can and can't marry. Decades earlier the African American community were denied their civil rights to marry, and this is clearly history repeating itself. It's not a matter of religion, it's a matter of civil rights. Go gays, go!

Retail's Revenge

Photo source: Radioshack.com

According to news site, WEAU, a Wisconsin based Radioshack saw an instance of employee-on-customer violence! A 57 year old man tried to return something, and the man working the register refused. The customer demanded to see the manager, and, in the customer's words, that's when the employee began repeatedly punching him. Now, I suppose it's possible that the employee was a looney who likes pummeling old people, but having worked in retail so long I can find so many more reasons that this could be justified.

Violence, justified? TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT!

But here's a list of scenarios I could see where it'd only take a bad day for someone to snap and knock some jerk's teeth down his throat.

- The customer was being rude
- The customer came in ten minutes or less before the store was closing.
- The customer was being stupid.
- The customer relieved themselves on or in the employee's car.
- The customer is actually a diabolical super villain who's next step in his plan to take over the world was to return a piece of crap that Radioshack sells, and this employee decided it was time to rise up and say no to the ways of evil!

I think my last scenario is most likely, because Radioshack is just awful and sells a lot of crap.

Creed Reunites! And The Crowd Goes Mild!

Photo Source: photo of Creed, current day, as taken by Rolling Stone

According to Rolling Stone everyone’s all time favorite band is back! The band who you find in your Google search results for “Worst Band In The World” states that they are reuniting, and while there are plenty of Creed haters, I’m going to come out of the closet on this one. I’m a Creed fan. Their a guilty pleasure, I can’t help it. Their early stuff was awesome, and when I hear “Higher” or “My Sacrifice” I have some fond memories.

Scott Stapp, who always strikes me as the Eric Cartman to the rest of the band’s South Park protagonists, took the reins on the interview but came off in my opinion like he was sugarcoating the experience of reuniting too much. I’m not the biggest Alter-Bridge fan (Alter-Bridge is to Creed what Velvet Revolver is to Guns N’ Roses) but the way Stapp made his reunion sound was so harmonious and mutual that I could only picture him doing all of the apologizing and trying to save face. “At that meeting we were collectively saying, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry if I hurt you or my choices did anything to cause you any pain. I have nothing but love and forgiveness for you and I hope you can forgive me. It’s all part of the process of reflection and not looking back at the six months out of 10 years that were trying.”

Really? The other guys were apologetic? When you, Scott, were the reason the band got sued in 2003 for performing too intoxicated at a show to be understood? You, Scott, who told Rolling Stone in another interview, that you tried to kill yourself to ride the coat tails of Kurt Cobain? Who got into drunken fisticuffs with the band 311, or whose infamous bar alter-ego was self-named Rick? If the rest of the band did apologize to Scott Stapp, it was probably because he’s a pathetic excuse for a human being, and nothing could probably change that. I definitely don’t believe that this reunion will last very long, or that Scott Stapp has changed that much. Maybe he’s given up some of his bad habits, but I think it’s just the kind of person he is that drives people away.

Despite my absolutely zero amount of respect for Stapp on a personal level, on a professional level, the guy knows his music. Not a month or two ago, I was thinking about an opening to a film scene that was half-dark/brooding/ominous and half-religious/tranquil/sublime, and thought the only band that could truly capture it through a soundtrack would be Creed. Something along the lines of “What If?” or “My Own Prison”, or even Stapp’s solo-single, “The Great Divide”. Alter-Bridge would be my second choice, obviously, but getting Creed back together for one more song would have been my top priority. Having spewed enough venom, I do wish them the best and that they produce some quality tunes on their upcoming August album, because it may be hit or miss for the band’s future.

Two Epic Reboots

2010 is slated for the return of two of your favorite 80's movie franchises. The miracle workers in Hollywood that look at our current movie market decided on two things regarding our generation. We don't have enough Slashers, and we don't have enough Sci-Fi... action... slashers.

Sin City, Planet Terror and El Mariachi/Desperado/Once Upon A Time In Mexico trilogy director, Robert Rodriguez is slated to take on one of these big projects. According to Entertainment Weekly Rodriguez has written a screenplay titled Predators, an homage to the sequel to the movie Alien, Aliens. Rodriguez will be stretched very thin during the making however, because he's currently working on the Grindhouse viral marketed cult phenomenon, Machete, staring Danny Trejo. Crossing their fingers however, Fox has already announced via ERC Box Office they ETA of Predators hitting theaters is July 7, 2010.




Set to come out only shortly before on April 17, 2010, Michael Bay (Producer of Transformers, and the recent reboots of Friday The 13th, Ammityville Horror and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) will team with (most often) Music Video director, Samuel Bayer to reboot Nightmare On Elm Street. According to Bloody Disgusting and Entertainment Weekly, Rooney Mara will step into the shoes of main protagonist, Nancy, who will be side-by-side with Thomas Dekker AKA John Conner of The Sarah Conner Chronicals, and Kyle Gallner of The Haunting In Conneticut. But who can ascend to the mantle of our favorite villain, Freddy Krueger? It will be none other than the man who dawned the Rorschach mask in Watchmen, Jackie Earle Haley. Few have been truly disturbing and terrifying in their acting portrayl as Haley who is being dubbed by and large the breakout star of the superhero film. Even the harshest comicbook nerd fan-boy appreciated the sheer velocity and fearinspiring that Rorschach delivered in the film, and when put in a role where Haley doesn't have to play "Mr. Nice Guy" all gloves will be off.

Sit down, Read This

Mitch Hurwitz the creator of Arrested Development, has come out with a new show. The new show is called Sit Down, Shut Up and features a lot of people from Arrested Development doing the voice acting for the characters. If you want to check it out head over to Hulu for the entire first episode. http://www.hulu.com/watch/68588/sit-down-shut-up-pilot#s-p1-so-i0

Before talking about what I thought about the show, let me take a second to talk about the animation style. This show takes some real life photos and uses them as background. Even some of the images in the show were real photos. For example: One of the teachers takes out magazines from a real life garbage. I thought this style of animation was pretty cool and interesting to watch.

Only one episode has come out so far, and a lot of people are just not having their fill of comedy. I have to say that I did enjoy Arrested Development and to compare the two shows just isn't right. They are two different types of comedies and yes Arrested Development was way funnier. This Sit Down, Shut Up show seemed like it was trying to be funny and I did laugh at some parts. I do remember this Fox promo for this show, basically saying it was sorry for canceling Arrested Development and that this will make up for it. I Think Fox was just over hyping this show a little to much.

So when the next episode rolls out, I might be there to check it out, but I'm not making it a priority to watch it.

-Nick

Rock is here to stay

Well the music industry loves Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Now in the middle of being made is a Lego Rock Band. With little Lego guys and girls with Lego guitars and drums. You can read about it here.

Image from Wikipedia
I love Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but I am so glad that I am not addicted to them anymore. If I was I would be really broke right now with Guitar Hero: Metallica just coming out. I would be even more broke when it came to be the Fall.

In the Fall there will be:
Lego Rock Band
The Beatles Rock Band
Rock Band for the PSP
Guitar Hero: Smash Hits
and rumored a Guitar Hero: Van Halen

I am guessing each game will be $60 each except the PSP game which would be $50, making this a total of $290. I am also guessing there will be a Rock Band 3 and a Guitar Hero: World Tour 3. Lets say that they are going to make them and that totals up to $410. Who knows how much they really will be though, because if I remember correctly, the AC/DC Rock Band was not $60.

You also have two Guitar Hero games for the DS that are out right now. Plus all the downloadable content for each game. So what I am trying to say is that's a lot of money! I'm lucky that the games got me back to playing a real guitar, so I won't have to come up with $410 this fall (they will be added to the renting list though).

So my question is: Will people actually buy all these games?

-Nick

Crank 2: High Voltage, High Entertainment

The Premise:

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is picked up at the beginning of this film where he left off in the last one, lying three-quarters dead on the street after a, probably, two mile free-fall out of a helicopter. Chelios is scooped up by a very precise team of black market organ harvesters who sedate Chelios and replace his heart with an electrically charged temp job, then ready to swipe up the rest of his organs, including his man-organ. Which is huge, apparently. Well Chelios wakes up, and boy let me tell you, he is not happy! Murder and mayhem occurs from here until the end in some of the most off the wall, utterly ridiculous and laughable fight scenes imaginable as Chelios tries to track down the man who has his heart. He’s really possessive like that. But he has to keep his body electrically charged by any means necessary or he’ll kick the bucket.

The Standouts:

There wasn’t really anyone bad in this movie. All the actors and actresses just went on the set and had fun. It was all hilarious in a cheesy kind of way. This is definitely the best B movie in existence, and matches, or maybe tops anything Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott or David Fincher have produced in terms of “Ultimate Guy Movie”. I mean, jeeze, every fifteen minutes, you’re staring at some chicks rack. It doesn’t take a long, deep and philosophical brainstorm meaning to decide on the tone of the movie. “Yeah, that sounds great, and we’ll have blood everywhere on the wall. And then, I’m thinking, I don’t know, naked chicks?” “Again?” “Again? What are you, gay?” I will say this though, as I’m sure it’s a concern. This is a sequel, and it picks up RIGHT where the last movie left off, so should you feel obligated to see the first Crank? Ehhhh, not really. Taking no real sense of seriousness in the film, they use a variety of flashback methods to catch everyone up, but if you’d like to feel on the inside track so you can inform everyone of things before they should know, yeah, go rent the original Crank. It’s not as good as this one, because they just didn’t push it as hard as they did here, but it’s not that bad.

My Highlight:

Oh man, there are so many. Trying not to spoil anything, I’ll just drop a few hints. When you see them, you’ll know exactly what I was talking about and feel the same way. 1) Godzilla. 2) REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Stop Loving You”. 3) Ten Minute Porno.

Overall Rating:

5*’s out of 5*’s. It won’t be nominated for anything most likely because of its genre, but in terms of what it was shooting for, there was absolutely no way it could have been done better. The only thing that could stop me from rushing out and buying this when it comes out on DVD, or seeing it multiple times in theaters, is because I don’t want to feel like a pervert, and I mean that both because of the graphic nudity and the graphic violence. Seriously, I’d need to shower constantly if I saw this more than once.

When You Should See It:

If you’re a guy, and I mean a REAL man: hair on your chest, red blooded, head banging, hang out in your man cave with your wang out, rush out and see it before some censor-Nazi puts the kibosh on it and ruins everyone’s fun. If you’re an average chick (because there’s exceptions to every rule), maybe wait to buy this movie for your boy when it comes out, otherwise, I can’t see you really enjoying this too much.

Monday: The day most likely to die!

MSN Health released an article called "25 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Your Body and Health." You can read it here

Now there are some interesting topics pointed out on this list. The first one I want to point out is number 5. "You can't get a tan from your computer screen. The Computer Tan Web site was created as a hoax to raise awareness about skin cancer." Shawn and I are what you say "Pale." So I obviously know this to be wrong.

Number six is "Obese people spend approximately $485 more on clothing, $828 on extra plane seats, and $36 more on gas each year than their thinner counterparts." This make sense to me. I do think they need to come out with a "Really Obese," title on the BMI scale. If you don't know what a BMI is... well you probably are obese yourself or a skinny lowlife. I do know that a lot of people here in America are obese, but when you think of obese you think of a 350 pound person. Which in fact most people over 200 pounds are considered obese.

The last one I'm going to talk about is number 10. "Your kitchen sink is dirtier than your bathroom." This goes back to the whole, "Fast food restaurants have more bacteria in the ice than a toilet." Well the toilet is usually kept clean using germ killing products. So is the kitchen sink really that bad? The answer is yes... yes it is. Please remove your kitchen sink immediately. Well depending on how you wash dishes is how bacteria free they will be. If you put soap on and rinse, you will be fine. If you put on soap and then let the dish rest in the sink, then you will probably not be fine. Everyone panic!

Make sure to check out the rest of the article. There are some really interesting points.

-Nick

Jack White – The Triple Threat

Many people know who Jack White is, but too few recognize his importance in the music industry today. The eccentric musician seems to take everything he touches and turn it to gold. As vocalist and guitarist for The White Stripes with ex-wife Meg White, we were blessed with the most catchy tune since Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water”, speaking of course about “Seven Nation Army”. On the same CD, Elephant, The White Stripes rocked our faces off with another great single, Hardest Button To Button. After a short break from this two-person band, The White Stripes came back and stole our attention again with the political savvy Icky Thump.

“I have three dads: my biological father, God and Bob Dylan.” – Jack White in A Mysterious Case of the White Stripes from Rolling Stone Magazine.

During his intermission with The White Stripes, Jack White gathered up some of his closest friends and formed an indy garage rock Supergroup – The Raconteurs. The Raconteurs’ first album, Broken Boy Soldiers was received with great acclaim for their first single, “Steady As She Goes”. I personally have a deep seeded love for The Raconteurs for a cover of Cher and Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” that they do when performing live concerts. The Raconteurs decided to be edgy and gain some underground street cred with their second album, Consolers of the Lonely by not capitalizing on their fame garnered from their previous album. Instead, they released a very quality album with no hype or promotion to judge their own fan base on.

Keeping up with the namedropping of who his friends are, Jack White just this year of 2009 broke the music mold with a new indy garage rock super group – The Dead Weather. What makes The Dead Weather so unique is that Jack White steps away from the guitar and vocals and primarily rocks the world on a drum set. Also in the band are undeniable talents such as Allison Mosshart (of The Kills) on vocals, Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) on guitar, and Raconteur/Greenhorne bassist, Jack Lawrence. The Dead Weather’s debut album The Horehound isn’t being released until June 9, 2009, but their single “Hang You From The Heavens” is available on iTunes, and will likely be topping charts.

So this has been my tribute to Jack White. May he keep on revolutionizing the industry and inspiring youngin’s to dream to be different.

That's not sausage on your pizza!

Don't watch this if you have a weak stomach.



Poor Dominos Pizza, this is really going to hurt their business. Then again maybe that guy's nose had some cure for cancer and now no will be cured because he has been fired. A lot of people are saying that these people are stupid for recording this and putting it on Youtube. They could be sure, but what if they were trying to get fired? This is a way that will not only get you fired, but put a horrible reputation on the company. Is this some sort of level of genius? Well until people realize who these people are and show up at their house... with presents of their own.

Well at least these people were fired, but I'm sure there are many other people that do this every day. I have heard stories from people, someone told me that he use to work at a sub shop and that if a customer pissed off the main cook. The cook would take some dead bugs from the top of a light above and place them in the food. What would you rather have: Dead bugs or nose hair?

Can we not trust anyone ever again? Who knows, but every food is processed from someone. Well unless you have a garden or butchery of your own.

So here is our choices:
1. Stop eating and trust no one.
2. Eat like normal and trust who you normally trust.
3. Start eating more than normal to try to build up an immunity to anything bad and trust everyone.

If you picked number one, this means you are a paranoid person.
If you picked number two, this means you just don't care in life.
If you picked number three, this means you are either a freak or Superman.

-Nick

Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire

So in the last month or two, Comedy Central, which I watch incessantly, have been hyping up a new original television series, which will start with an “epic one hour premier!” Well all of the previews turned me pretty far off from the show, but wanting something new and good to watch on television, I gave it a chance. I mean, it’s on Comedy Central, so it should at least be funny, right? Well, right and wrong.

All of the protagonists: Krod Mandoon (Sean Maguire), Aneka (India de Beaufort), Zezelryck (Kevin Hart) and I’ll even give in to Loquasto (Steve Speirs) as being wonderfully acted, directed and written. All of their scenes in the show are written dramatic, yet dark humored, and serious with evident spoofing. I greatly promote everyone participating in this portion of the show. Everything involving the side characters even aren’t bad. But when it comes to the antagonists, this is what breaks the show for me.

The main arch nemesis, Chancellor Dongalor (Matt Lucas) can perform as many sociopathic murders of his own men and smart ass peasants as he pleases, and I’ll still never buy into him. And I’ll say this at my own reputable risk – at the end of the day, he’s still just an effeminate weirdo. I’ve got no problem with homosexuality, or effeminism, or anything like that on my television screen. I’m not uptight about the other team getting their fair share of air time, but pick your spots. Mr. Smithers worked because he was gay, three dimensional, and only evil by association. Maybe there’s a way to portray a gay person as a true villain in a sadistic kind of way and not how the religious right would like to portray them as, but this isn’t it. Everything about his character just screams of trying too hard to insert jokes and not enough on moving the plot forward. Most of the episode could have been cut down to a normal half an hour premier, and most of the antagonist’s scenes would be what I would remove.

So while the writing and acting of the protagonists was pretty top notch, and the story is very easy to be drawn into if you’ve got even one nerd bone in your body, the antagonist is a rapier through your heart. And what’s most painful about it, is it’s a factor that isn’t going to change, at least through the first season. There’s no way to kill off your main antagonist in this kind of setting, and I can’t see them saving any face on him either. I might tune in on episode 2, but I wouldn’t doubt the possibility of me not being able to make it to episode 3.