A Dangerous M-E-T-H-O-D Maaan

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,


Just thought I’d say howdy before I’m preoccupied the next week or so with Jackie D coming to visit. It’s gonna be EPIC!!! Like Vegas… but in San Francisco. Too bad C-Real can’t be here to share… but she got her visit about a year ago. I can’t believe I haven’t seen Jackie D since Vegas nearly 18 months ago. WTF? How are we still buddies like this? We were roommates over two years ago… for like six weeks… then she left for Philly… then we met up for a week in Vegas… and that’s it. Yeah, we text & whatever… but it’s like we’re friends from back in the day or something. Weird, right? Anyway, this week is gonna rock… but here’s the last week first… with a few movie reviews…


First movie up was one I forgot to mention last time, “A Dangerous Method” starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortenson & Keira Knightley. This movie is from the director of some of Viggo’s best other work including “History of Violence” & “Eastern Promises” but is a tale about the birth of psychoanalysis, the two men who headed its introduction into modern curriculum Carl Jung (Fassbender) & Sigmund Freud (Mortensen), and a Russian patient (Knightley) who influenced both of their findings. Set in early 20th century Vienna (God, I have to go visit that place) and going over the span of many years, it deals with how these two incredibly intelligent men had very differing principles in the idea of psychoanalysis & how these idea (and men) often conflicted in a scientific sense… and Keira Knightley goes from bat sh*t crazy to another key cog in the process… and bangs Carl Jung… a lot… despite being married to a wealthy women with children. Yeah, it’s not a great romantic comedy or anything… but hey, most real history isn’t. The movie was very interesting… albeit not totally enthralling at times. Keira Knightley actually acts a bit… which you know, doesn’t usually have to happen in her movie choices. The two lead actors also do decent jobs but… yeah, not my real cup of tea. Intriguing though. Feel free to give it a gander. Check out the preview & you’ll pretty much know what you’re getting into. Decide from there.

Next up was “War Horse” starring a horse… and the only other actors I really recognized were Tom Hiddleston (Loki from “Thor”) and Benedict Cumberbatch (aka Khan from new Star Trek), both very briefly. Steven Spielberg directs this movie about a teenage English boy & his horse… and then the World War breaks out & the father gives the army the horse… the boy is distraught… and then the rest of the movie is pretty much about the horse & how it goes from owner to owner… from an English general… to the Germans… to a French farm… back to the English infantry… and so on for about two hours. Now, Dizzy & I wanted to watch this movie. She because she LOVES horses… and I because I typically enjoy Spielberg movies, especially war ones like “Saving Private Ryan.” The thing about this movie is… from the horse lover perspective (and historical) there are MANY, MANY flaws. That being said, I can forgive a lot of those. I mean… Django. For me, the main problem was… they basically tried to tell a movie that, for all intensive purposes, was a kids film about the eternal love of a boy & his horse and how (spoiler alert) they come back together against all odds as long as they never gave up on one another. Fun fact: Both of them had given up on one another… because one was a horse… and the other was a teenager who then enlisted into the army… and even in this movie they coincidentally got back together in a pretty unrealistic way. Anyway, kids movie on that premise… but set in the gritty environment of wartime… including sets of trench warfare & ambush fighting. For all intensive purposes, it was a beautifully shot movie & well crafted for what it was… but maybe I just couldn’t let everything go with regards to the unrealistic premise when it was so based in reality. Call me a heartless fool if you will… but yeah, I didn’t particularly care for this movie. Sorry Steven. You know I’d prefer to show love to fellow $teve’s.


Saturday, Dizzy & went to San Jose to attend the BIG WOW Comic Convention… however, when we got to town & saw the convention center, there was a line around the block just to get in & it was already around 1 PM when we got there. Poor planning on our part maybe… but since we were in town, we decided to check out the Technology Museum just a few blocks away… and it was pretty awesome. They have some great exhibits regarding the development of computers, the science behind them, different methods of harnessing energy & how it all works, space exploration, underwater exploration, inventors, genetics, robotics& all sorts of other things. It’s definitely set up more as a children’s museum obviously but still very interesting for adults as well. Here are some pictures from the museum and downtown area…

While at the museum, we decided to watch “Star Trek Into Darkness” in IMAX (Dizzy didn’t see it on Wednesday like I did). That night after some dinner, we drove back to Dizzy’s and watched “Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” since I had never seen it. I know… shocking!!! I’ve seen enough clips & parodies to feel like I had seen it… but yeah, I haven’t seen a LOT of Star Trek shows in my life. The movie itself was pretty entertaining… Ricardo Montelban was a pretty decent villain as he usually is (“Naked Gun”) and while watching… I totally realized a lot more of the tie-ins with new one “Star Trek Into Darkness” including Kirk’s love interest Carole Marcus (who is played in the new one by Alice Eve) so I guess I now know where those little glances are leading to… and it’s apparently a blonde curly haired son a foot taller than either his father or mother if “Wrath of Khan” is any indication. Oh… and you haven’t seen “Wrath of Khan” yet then you probably never intended to… but it’s pretty good as far as Star Trek movies go. Go ahead and check it out… if not just for the lines you’ve already heard like “Revenge is a dish best served cold” or “From Hell’s heart I stab at thee” or the legendary “KHHAAAAAAAN!!!”


Monday after work, I spent the night cleaning & fixing my bathroom sink… it was just clogged, but I didn’t want to break anything… and drain-o and such didn’t work at first, so then I had to get some gloves so as not to burn my skin (according to the bottle). That night was pretty lame… but Tuesday night was a little soirée with my coworkers to wish my boss a fond farewell as he moves to the Los Angeles office. The party was held in a manager’s home in Pacific Heights and… she must be making a lot more than I do. It was VERY nice… and she did a wonderful spread & was an excellent host. Throughout the evening we just chatted about this & that, how “Caddyshack” may be overrated as a movie but it’s basically the male equivalent of “Dirty Dancing” to the ladies, ex-boyfriend stories, ex-coworker stories, favorite places to eat, tips for my boss going to LA to find decent food, and as the wine flowed we all got more & more hilarious. A great time was had by all. Definitely one of the best parties that I’ve had with my coworkers even though it was basically just us sitting & drinking. I’m actually gonna miss the Boss Man… especially since the rumor is that the new Boss Man might be my old Boss man from Tahoe… but that’s just a rumor, so we’ll see.


So yeah… Saturday morning is when Jackie D flies into town on her magic carpet & we’ve already got plans for brunch at the Magic Flute & a nice trip out to Wine Country… and then she’ll have plenty of time to check out the city again or hang with Dizzy while I’m at work… but a great FOUR DAY WEEKEND is coming up so I’m really excited about that. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Happy Pioneer Day 2012

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Busy few weeks yet again… and quite frankly, I'm getting fed up with f**king computers. Why? Well, this will be the second time I've typed this up because... well, my computer decided to just delete everything one moment in time. No, I didn't even hit a stray key or anything... it just bloop, nerp, gone. Happened. Screen refresh or something? Who knows? Who the f**k cares? Also, my work computer systems are giving me the sh*t fitz... and the laptop is always mildly frustrating. I guess the newer they update things, the less user friendly they really become... because my old laptop & I understood each other, it just got old (and riddled with God knows what as far as viruses & sh*tware) so yeah... all in all, I'm pretty much fed up with these things... but I digress. How else could I possibly share things with my family & friends all over the world without them, right?

Let’s see… Last weekend, Dizzy & I went to San Jose for a day trip. We started off at the Winchester Mystery House. You may recall that I went with my brother nearly two years back & got a dusk tour, but this was Dizzy's first time & we got a day tour... and it's completely different. The story goes that Sarah Winchester married into the Winchester Rifle money... and then tragedy struck as her child & husband died in fairly quick succession (no, not a black widow thing, just sh*t luck). Anyway, she believed that the house was haunted by the souls of those killed by the Winchester rifles... and so she conducted séances to see how to appease the spirits... and apparently they told her to build crazy sh*t in her giant mansion. If you've seen any of the pictures it's actually quite ridiculous... but I had seen this place before & I have my own opinions. What are they you ask? Well... I think she was just a lonely eccentric spinster with a LOOOOOOOOT of MOOOOONNNEEEEEEEY and absolutely no architectural sense. "Build me a staircase here." "Ma'am, with all due respect there's no room or even an upstairs floor for those to go to, it doesn't make sense." "I'm sorry, are you saying that I need to hire a new architect?" "No ma'am. All right boys, let's get this staircase in!" Seriously, in those days, who's going to tell her that's f**king stupid? Nobody! Especially if they want to be employed in California ever again. It's like people who sell clothes that look f**king retarded... if it's what the customer wants, give them the best of what you've got! Anyway, I recommend checking it out.

After that, we ate some Arby's then headed out to Shoreline Amphitheatre for Steve Miller Band & Pat Benetar... and they rocked the house despite being well into their golden years. I had seen Steve Miller Band last July in Tahoe but Pat Benetar was quite good as well. Dizzy & I had a wonderful time rockin' out!!!

Last Sunday was my brother's birthday... and he's getting old as sh*t. That's really all I have to say about that... but we also played a little "Red Dead Redemption" online... which is basically the new way of playing Cowboys from 1000 miles apart. For those who have never played, Red Dead Redemption is from the makers of Grand Theft Auto... but set in the Old West around the Great Depression (1920's?) but it's a lot of the old west, Mexican revolution, yet still fun as you blaze your own path through the story & such. I enjoy it... so if you like the GTA series, I say give it a shot if you haven't already, it's been out a few years. I just wait until the games are cheap.

That being said, I did get a good deal on the new EA Sports college football title "NCAA Football 2013" which is a LOT better than any other version on the PS3 I've ever played. I've tried out... I think just about all of them since 2005 or so when the system came out, but this one seems like they've finally worked out all the kinks and are actually using the systems abilities more rather than recycling old sh*t again & again. It kind of takes the best of past version regarding gameplay, dynasty mode (manager & play as a school for up to 30 years including recruiting & school management), Road to Glory (where you basically create a player and play him through high school & college up until draft day to see if you can create a first round draft pick or something) and a new mode called the Heisman Challenge, where you play as a past winner of the Heisman trophy like Barry Sanders or Jim Plunkett... and you can place them on any team... and you try to win the Heisman trophy with that player. For example, I could choose Tony Dorsett to play for the University of Utah... and go against today's college football teams. It's an interesting mode and yeah, kind of an extension of the Road to Glory or a create your own character modes, but kind of cool to play as some of the best like Barry Sanders. I'm still messing mostly with the Dynasty mode as it's only been a few weeks but the gameplay is a LOT smoother than past years. Also, I like how they've tweaked the secondary to be a lot more difficult, even on easy settings, but even I'll admit it gets frustrating when a safety or linebacker will all of a sudden get superhuman speed & agility to run 40 yards instantly & sky 15 feet in the air to bat a pass... or just straight pick you off. That can irk you... but still, good challenge & you're not just lobbing bombs all game. I highly recommend it for college football gamers. Best I've played yet.

During the week, I basically just worked & occasionally played games in the late evenings... but Thursday night at midnight, I went with Dizzy, my roommate Batgirl & a few of her friends to go see the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" which of course in the finale in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. I don't want to give anything away as I'm sure there's a few of you out there that haven't seen it yet... but let me just say, it's AMAZING!!! I really liked it... and sure, there are things that you can knit pick about and all that like any movie (especially based on comic books) but it was basically PHENOMENAL in my opinion... and probably the best movie I've seen in a long, long time. Latest competition is "The Dark Knight" honestly... maybe "Inglorious Basterds" but yeah, I'd say even better than that. I say go check it out... like as soon as you comfortably can.

This weekend, Dizzy & I went to the California State Fair in Sacramento... and first & foremost, it was f**king HOT!!! Like I think it reached 108 degrees hot... but we had a lot of fun... as these pictures will attest to... but I think I'll save those until next time... sorry. Just not a lot of time to post today... but here's a hint... YOLO!!! E'ryday e'ryday...

Anyway, that should do it. Would've had these out sooner but... yeah, computers. You know how it goes. Have a great day everybody!!! Happy Pioneer Day 2012!!!

Weekend in San Jose

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

So… my brother came and visited this last weekend. Rather than ramble on with my personal opinions on him or anything of that sort, I think I’m just going to talk about what we did and keep it to the pictures for the most part. Why? Because I’m trying to stay positive… and I just don’t want to get into another rant about all that stuff. Friday night, he & he buddy J-Ron showed up… and so after a long 9 hour drive in the car, I drove them down to the lake for some Taco Bell for dinner (it’s what they wanted). We had a nice little dinner on the beach around sunset. Good times. Then we went straight from the beach to Reno to get a few drinks and wander along Virginia Street to show off the neon lights and get our gamble on. The drink of the evenings was Jack & Coke… and there was plenty of it… but of course, I was able to drive home safely because I’m responsible like that. Great time though.

Saturday, we decided to drive down to Silicon Valley to finally check out the Winchester Mystery House. Okay, so why would my brother & I want to check this out? First, we’re nerds… and this stuff intrigues us. Secondly, we both have memories of his crack whore ex-whore going on and on about how it was one of her dreams to go check out the Winchester House… so we took pictures of us smiling in front of it and sent her a few copies. “B**ch!” Also, we just wanted to check it out. See, the story goes… this is from memory, so don’t quote me, but back in the late 1880’s or so, Sarah Pardee Winchester & her husband (of Winchester Rifle fame) bought this small farm house to live in with their son. Well, in a very short time afterwards, her husband & son died in separate health related events. Over the next 38 years, she conducted séances and said that she was told by the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles to continuously build, non-stop, and because she was a billionaire heiress, she could afford to have about two dozen architects living at the property and building constantly… and she didn’t know anything of carpentry or construction, just what the spirits told her… so it made for some interesting designs… like balconies with no doorway to go on them… and windows in the floor… and doors to nowhere. The architects tried to tell her it was crazy… but allegedly she had her orders from on high. The thing is… some people might just think she was crazy… but I (and shockingly enough, my bro felt the same way) felt sorry for her. She was just a woman in severe mourning for nearly four decades and just trying anything she could to bring back her husband & child. Why do we say that? See, my brother & I kind of dabble in the study of the occult, and there were signs everywhere. The wallpaper, window designs, stained glass, doorways, fixtures, lamps, all this stuff had lots of symbols meant for bringing back the dead. We were kinda talking to each other about it… and then the tour guide mentioned something about them finding an old obituary in the newspaper along with a lock of hair from each of them… and we just kinda looked at each other like “Jackpot!” Poor Mrs. Winchester. She was just trying to appease the spirits… and spared no expense in doing it either… and it still couldn’t bring them back. Anyway, enough of that depressing stuff, here are some pictures that I wasn’t allowed to take… but still did with my ninja skills… so please enjoy even more because they are forbidden images…

All the glass in the house, courtesy of Tiffany & Co.

These are just the spares left over...

Window in the floor...

Hookah on the bannister...

After that, I took my brother to his first In-N-Out Burger and even though it was a little cold by the time we got back to the hotel, he still enjoyed it enough to have it the next day as well. He really digs the animal style… but not nearly as much as the doggy style. Maybe we are related. Anyway, Sunday the two of us (J-Ron was broke & has a heart condition) went to Great America Theme Park because we were in need of some big kid ride excitement. Now, we are both tall strapping men, and we’ve decided that theme parks rides simply aren’t made for us… and if we were dicks, we would sue them for not building the rides to our incredible superhuman dimensions… but alas, at least half of us aren’t dicks. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t get the pleasure of hearing about it a lot… but that being said, the rides there at Great America are pretty f**king awesome. I highly recommend. Here are some pictures…

A preview of New Orleans in a few weeks?

After the park, we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the hot tub to relieve our aching shoulders & backs (like I said, shoulder restraints suck balls when you have to slouch, especially on REALLY fast herky jerky rides) and then watched a few episodes of “Man Woman Wild” with everybody’s favorite special forces host Myke Hawke… and his hot reporter wife with a British accent Ruth… but her name’s not nearly as fun to narrate with as Myke Hawke. “Myke Hawke needs to stay warm.” “Ruth is in need of protein… and there’s only one source readily available – Myke Hawke.” Yeah, okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea. Just watch a few episodes and you’ll notice a few things… like you can survive on very little food & sustenance, but shelter & sleep are pretty much essential. You can survive just about anywhere… as long as you’re willing to eat questionable things and drink your own urine. His wife Ruth is a fantastic compliment to Myke… because I’m fairly certain that she wouldn’t last an hour in a parking lot without him… but she’s great eye candy and a sometimes refreshing dose of sanity. “You want me… to drink your pee… to wash down the tree bark & grubs that you just had me eat?” I almost expected a few times for her to turn to the camera crew and say “Dude, give me a trail bar & I’ll whisper naughties in your ear.” But the number one thing that I pulled away from this show… is that Myke Hawke is a great name to use in every day conversation. “$teve, I was just trying to tie down my boat, can you help me.” “Absolutely. You know, Myke Hawke says that square knots are the best to use because they are simple, strong & effective.” “That’s… great.” “Yeah, Myke Hawke knows a lot about this kind of thing. He’s been in some PRETTY sketchy situations in his day… and he’s got the scars to prove it.” “Thanks for your help $teve but please… stop talking now.”

The next morning, my brother wanted to go see Alcatraz… but I had already seen it & didn’t want to spend an extra $50 to see it again, so I thought that I’d arrange a lunch rendezvous with Bubbles to check out her new crib since she was home with her sick puppy Brutis, while my brother & his J-Ron went to see the Rock. Well, my brother didn’t take to that very well… kinda threw a tantrum… and said that he just wanted to see Alcatraz because he thought I wanted to. Sigh… so anyway, I didn’t meet up with Bubbles… and we did a quick drive through San Francisco, stopping at the Golden Gate Bridge… and then heading back to Truckee. Here are some pictures…

When we got back, we watched “Fanboys” starring Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell & a bunch of cameos. The story is about a group of friends in 1998 who are Star Wars… we’ll say fans… to the tenth power. They REALLY like their Star Wars. I would say they were geeks… but then that would be admitting that I’m a Star Wars geek because I knew all of the answers to the quiz questions and own a Chewbacca outfit. Anyway, one of the friends is diagnosed with cancer… and they decide to go on a dream road trip to basically steal the soon-to-be released “Episode One: The Phantom Menace” from the Skywalker Ranch before it’s publicly released so that their friend can see it. Feel free to re-read that last sentence again to wrap your head around the premise. This is why it took so long to release and wasn’t a huge hit. Apparently cancer isn’t as funny as originally thought in that first pitch. So they set out on this cross-country mission… and shenanigans ensue along the way as you might expect. All in all, it was pretty funny at some points… especially if you’re a Star Wars fan. However, the thing that really threw us for a loop in this movie… was that apparently, we drove right by the Skywalker Ranch a few hours earlier… and had no idea. Yeah. Instead of being in SoCal, the Skywalker Ranch is just north of San Francisco… and we literally took the exit AFTER Lucas Valley Road (yes, THAT Lucas) to take CA-37 back to Truckee. Had we known this mere hours earlier, we would’ve investigated the Ranch… but alas, we did not. Next time, I guess. Anyway, yeah, watch the movie if you like Star Wars. If not, you’ll probably just be bored and think the guys are nerds.

Tuesday was back to work… and boy was there plenty for me to do. No worries, I’m used to it. Not sure what’s going to happen when I actually take a full week off… but we’ll see when I get back from New Orleans. When I got back home though, my brother had bought some groceries and things… so we just kinda chilled and watched some movies. First up was “The Losers” starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Thandie Newton & Jason Patric. Based on a comic about a team of elite soldiers who are thought to be killed by a mysterious supervillian named Max (Patric) and are now trying to find a way to clear their names and reenter the United States. Think of the A-Team… but without B.A. It’s an okay movie… but you can tell why it wasn’t highly received by critics. There are a few funny moments, some big explosions, and Thandie Newton’s easy on the eyes… but yeah, pretty predictable.

Next up was “Cop Out” starring Bruce Willis & Tracy Morgan from director Kevin Smith (“Clerks”). The main thing that I remember about this movie from before… was that the original name & working title was “A Couple of Dicks” but for some reason, the studio or MPAA or somebody didn’t think that would work well… so they changed it to “Cop Out” because… well, it was a cop-out move. The story is your usual buddy cop comedy like “48 Hours” or “The Other Guys” where you have two complete opposite personalities paired up (apparently for nine years in this story) and they get involved in some international drug cartel or something. This time around… it’s involving a kidnapped mistress and a baseball card. No joke. It has a few funny moments… but honestly, if I were Bruce Willis’ character, I would’ve probably shot my partner (Morgan) on multiple occasions. Don’t look at me like that. Same rules apply to you. If I’m ever in a situation where I get shot, stabbed, beaten up, kidnapped, tased, robbed, ran over, tortured or anything of that sort… because you are on your f**king cell phone just talking about nothing… when you should be watching my back when I’m in a potentially dangerous situation, I will harm you in accordance with the degree to which I have been hurt. Let’s say I’m just tased and robbed, that cell phone will be found in your large intestine by way of the back door… and I won’t be gentle. Anyway, back to the movie, it’s okay. The plot and situations are not really of the most realistic nature… but hey, they hired Kevin Smith for his dialogue… and even then it’s really just having to listen to Tracy Morgan talk nonsense most of the time. Didn’t really care for it. Sorry Silent Bob. The good news is that I’ve almost completely forgotten about “Jersey Girl”.

Wednesday, after work, I brought them a map of the area… because for some reason, they hadn’t left the house all day because “there’s nothing to do” but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because J-Ron’s a killbuzz and my brother just wants someone cool to hang out with. Plans were to go to Reno to maybe check out Zepparella at Harrah’s… but thanks to an incredible stop in traffic on I-80, we decided to just go to Crystal Bay and check out the casinos there. I made a few bucks… but yeah, pretty uneventful. Then when we went back, my brother played “Dante’s Inferno” for a while before I went to bed. Like I said, pretty uneventful day overall.

Anyway, on that note, I’m going to stop rambling about my wonderful time with my brother. Hopefully my mom is enjoying her vacation at home with the grandkids & she isn’t purposely delaying the renovation of my brother’s condo so as to get more time away from him… because that would be uncool… and as you know, my mom is not uncool. Have a great day everybody!!!