Archive for June, 2005

David and Christine had picked out who they wanted sketches from, and were there early enough to choose. I had a ton of guys I would have liked sketches from, but most of them I have never met and wanted to make sure that if I paid anywhere from $100-$300 a sketch, that my money was well worth it for their quality of work. I was glad that I scouted out, some of the artists surprised me in good and bad ways.

I spent most of the days scouting out each of the dealers and their books. Everything seemed to be really reasonable, those dealers with the cover marked up books weren’t as prevalant, replaced with booths full of recent books priced at $1.00. Some even had cheaper. That Friday we hung out until about4:30 and then headed back to the hotel room at the Westin. What a place, the bed were like snoozin in a silk rose, layer after layer of bedding. I konked out until about 8:00 and so did David and again Christine stayed away and kept watch. I got up and took a run around the amazing, beautiful, new and clean city of Charlotte. We ordered Chinese and then David and Christine went to bed in a hour or so. I stayed up and went into the lobby with Christine’s laptop and did some playing online until 12.

I had a record time biking into work. It took my 23 min. for the 7 miles, I don’t think I went under 20mph the whole way in. It felt great. I got there early enough, so that I could leave at a decent time. I headed out with Christine to Charlotte, NC for the Heroes comic convention. It was a long 8+ hours traveling through the night. We got there at about 4:30 in the morning hoping we would be able to get an early checkin. However, we did not, and ended up staying in the scariest hotel ever, with live in’s, and a three fingered host who gave us a room with a ceiling that was falling in, no running water in the sink, and stains on the walls. David and I took a power nap, touching as little as possible and then we headed over to the con.

Danny Devito, Michael Keaton, and Peter Boyle in a silly slapstick movie about 50’s gangsters. Michael Keaton is Johnny Dangerously and has a knack for being the shiniest guy in organized crime, with a big smile and an “everybody likes him” personality. He is able to buy almost anyone, except for his little brother, who he guides to become a lawyer, and the D.A. who ends up tracking down Johnny. But a little mix up happens and little brother tries to prove Johnny’s innocence.

Most notable for the un Americanized gangster that kept slurring his curses, he would say, “Ima gonna teer off yer arms and steek dem in yer isore you corksoocker.” That and all of the Keaton isms, like waxing turtles at his under cover pet shop to his dim witted good luck.

This movie goes good with a couple beers. It is early 80’s silly, and I think my parents would like it, but unless you really like Keaton’s style, you may not want to see this one with a whole cast of nobody’s.

Did the front lawn mowing today. Sarah ended up working until 10 last night, so she didn’t go to the movie, so she slept in today, she looked so exhausted. She ended up being really productive at home, and mowed the back lawn for me which was really sweet.

Starting to get pretty pumped about going to Charlotte this weekend. David and Christine have been in contact with me non stop. It will be nice to get away from work for a bit, and nice to have someone else worry about the details of the trip.

Today ended up being really productive, Chris and I figured out a good amount of stuff with 3ds Max, we are starting to feel better about the frustration and time putting into learning the program.

Being a little muggy today, Sarah and I just took it easy tonight and watched a free movie from the library.

Sections Updated: Movies S-T

I spent a good part of this movie chuckling, it just left a lot of actions and scenes completely unexplained.

Starring Stanley Tucci, Richard Gene, Susan Sarandon, and Jennifer Lopez this movie has two intermingled small ideas that are actually of note. First, Richard Gene starts to take dance lessons and doesn’t tell his wife, because he is ashamed that he wants to be even more happy when he already has so much. Second, that people get married as a witness and promise to one another’s lives, that they will take note and care even about the most mundane of intricacies. From there on out, the intelligence of the movie falls flat.

Real quick, Gene takes up dance lessons, his wife hires inspector to figure out if he’s cheating, he hits on Lopez without success and still comes back to class only to have a steamy dance with her later on, and then he gets mad when the wifey finds out what he’s been doing on Wednesday nights. Everyone loves him for some reason, and we just assume that it’s because he is decent looking, and begs him to come back for one last time, to see Lopez as she goes away to dance in England.

I can objectively watch, and enjoy at times, a good chick flick. This was just a weird movie. Jennifer Lopez was weird, Susan Sarandon was overly mad about something kind of strange without any build-up, and Richard Gene did a couple of those trademark smile-blinks, and show head shakes that repeated every performance he’s made since Pretty Woman.

I would recommend this movie to people who want to see a movie with some good dancing, especially different ballroom dances. Jennifer Lopez looks really good when she dances. But although this movie has more meat than just dancing, it really is quite weird, and doesn’t much qualify as a chick flick. So, watch for dancing and not about much else.

Working hard still. Tomorrow is a bit of a deadline, so there is some anti-climactic comfort in the fact that if I don’t figure out what I am having trouble with in 3ds Max by then, we move on to the next stage.

Sarah is at camp tonight, very late, until about 8. She left at 6:30 this morning.

Going to a movie tonight, Sahara, and probably working, and that is about it.

Sections Updated: Movies S-T

A fun movie. You may be concerned about this being a knock off of other treasure hunting movies, but this is more about the action then it is about the spoils.

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn, and William Macy, this is a story about a couple of ex-navy men who start out looking for an iron clad ship from the Civil War and end up stopping a global threat in Africa. The dictator is generating solar power and buckets of toxic waste that are being piled up and are leaking into the drinking water, and into the Nile. This polluted water is spreading disease, and if it filters to the ocean, it can pollute all of the water in the ocean in a matter of months.

Steve Zahn was really the stand out here for me. Not having been a sidekick in a major action film, he does a nice job of balancing dry, sarcastic quips, with some serious acting and pulls it off fairly well, with the guns, and the machismo and all that. The story itself starts out with a long dialogue that basically is just so perfect and unrealistic, just to give some back story on what is going on. But it picks up soon after with some interesting cinematics with a fight scene, and an unusual string of adventures that see these guys sled down sand dunes in a truck bed, fly a beat up old plane tipped on one set of wheels, and shooting a 150 year old canon ball right through a helicopter.

A fun movie, with not too bad of acting or dialogue, I would recommend this movie to most anyone. Not really graphic, not too much language, the only real downside is if you don’t like the stiffness of Penelope Cruz at times, or can’t really appreciate sarcastic humor. I gave it this rating just because I probably wouldn’t watch this movie a million times.

At the height of a resurge thanks to a brand new album, Destiny’s Child has announced their formal breakup.

The trio took a break in 2002 to pursue solo interests, which included solo albums for all three of the singers. Kelly Rowland had a hit with Nelly called “Dilemma”, but Beyonce Knowles came out the most successful with five Grammys for her “Crazy in Love” album produced by Jay-Z.

Formed in 1997, the group had a rotating cast of members during the first year and a half. But with some of the members having toured together since they were around the ages of 10, it was time for them to fully go after their own interests.

My own opinion, we won’t ever hear from Michelle Williams again since we didn’t hear anything from her solo albums, and Kelly Rowland will have one more good solo album and either become part of another group or fade into the distance. The lone performer that will last will be Beyonce, and at 23 years old, she will probably be one of the most successful female R&B artists of all time.