Forgotten Films: Chronicle

This was certainly a film that caught me by surprise.  The advertising for this film when it came out was nothing but horrible and really presented the film far differently than it actually was. Consequently, I didn't really watch it until years after it had come out. 

It's a relatively low budget movie, and the concept is a pretty basic one that has seen a lot more usage recently. Basically, it's about a few teenagers that accidentally develop superpowers and how it affects their lives. I know that doesn't really sound compelling, and it does start off a little slow, but it's in the execution that this movie really shines. The characters are especially very well developed over the course of the movie and it really takes it in a direction that I wasn't really expecting that ends very well. The only other criticism I really level at it, is that the movie does attempt to (mostly) keep the perspective of one of the characters filming the events, which upon hindsight really feels like they were trying to ride that trend after Cloverfield made it popular again, so that didn't age too well in my opinion.

But the movie is pretty good and I would still like to recommend it, as it does have far more emotion and gritty plausibility to it than most modern superhero tales. 

Just shut up already, people

Again, this where I have to yell at everyone supposedly on my side. It's understandable that people who know nothing about guns or movie productions will spit out nonsensical crap that should be blatantly ignored. But I'm astounded at the amount of pro-gun and other people who should know better who are spouting retardation about the Alec Baldwin accidental shooting/death is utterly astounding. I can't help but point out the obvious to everyone because they aint thinking with their freaking brains. 

I'm not even a huge fan of Alec Baldwin. Yes he's a self-absorbed, blue pilled, die hard lefty actor who doesn't think either, but I still enjoy a few of his films. In a majority of all possible circumstances, it's not his fault that this shooting happened at all. Granted, not all the specifics about the situation are known, but working on the assumption it wasn't a blatant murder, and that it was an on-set accident, it's highly likely to not be his fault, full stop.

So far there are two big arguments people are throwing out there as to why it happened and/or why he is responsible, but both are just dumb.

"It's Baldwin's fault! He should know about guns!" This. This is what you look like.

"He should have known/been taught/followed the four (Cooper's) rules of firearms" No, this is just moronic. The very nature of how firearms are used on sets for filming completely violates all the four rules on a regular basis. In film productions you are SUPPOSED to be pointing guns and shooting blanks at other actors, at the camera with the people behind it, at flimsy sets/props with people behind them, with fingers on triggers for scenes of tension all the freaking time. The four rules would never be able to be adhered to on set with cameras rolling, and to an extent, never should be. That, and what the hell would keeping his finger off the trigger till ready to shoot help at all, if he was supposed to be pointing or shooting the gun at the camera for the scene?

"But it's still his fault it happened, even if he didn't mean to hurt anyone because he should be familiar with firearms before he used them" Shut the hell up. No. Again, it's not his fault at all, full stop. It's not his job to be familiar with firearms at all, it's his job to act. Yes, it would be good for him to have familiarity with firearms and practiced caution, but it likely still would not prevent the shooting, and he's not obligated to be responsible for all the props on set. Most actors are not and shouldn't be expected to be familiar, as there are people on set who are there to do just that. 

Hence, movie productions that get prop, blank firing, and real guns also hire propmasters/safety consultants specifically to assist with on-set firearms, safety, and instruction. Usually from the same company providing the firearms/props to be used. They will provide safety briefings and instructions on set to all who are interacting with the guns, as well as coordinate who can access them, and when it is safe to be firing blanks or performing other actions with them. This also involves a huge amount of insurance to cover these exact type of situations/accidents that have happened before (Brandon Lee). The director and his staff are supposed to be constantly consulting with them and deferring to propmasters when firearms are on set to know the safety risks, and status of them at all times before filming. The many unions/guilds involved in film-making also have strict policies for following those procedures.  

Nobody blamed the actor who killed Brandon Lee under extremely similar circumstances.

Again, all this is dependent on the circumstances of what is going on at that moment, but from what little details we have of the incident, it seems there was gross incompetence on the part of the director, assistant director, possibly the propmaster, and even other actors before the accident. However, time will tell as we get more details and the full picture on the circumstances, so I could end up totally wrong as well.

Yes, I agree that people in general should take more responsibility in knowing more about firearms, but it's still not an actor's job or responsibility to do so on set, and they are provided safety instruction on set every time they are used. If they are working under the instructions/supervision of someone else responsible for their safety, it's THAT person's fault when something goes wrong. It's nice when actors DO take the time to be very knowledgeable, Keanu Reeves and Will Smith being great examples, but I don't expect it of them. 

It's akin to somebody who knows nothing about cars, who works in accounting or something, goes to one of those super car driving courses at a racetrack. If the instructors, mechanics, or owners of that course/class do something negligent, but the accountant doing all the driving does all he is instructed to do, how it is his fault if an accident happens, unless he intentionally causes it?  

The last thing I see is a bunch of assholes (and I don't use the word lightly) on the right side of the political spectrum and other pro-gun people rejoicing in the irony of a big anti-gun advocate being involved in a gun related death (looking at you libertarian and pro-gun subreddits!). You're all far bigger pieces of shit than Alec if you are rejoicing in something that resulted in the death of an innocent woman, so go screw yourselves, too.  

I feel bad for Alec, as he does (understandably) seem pretty dang distraught about the whole situation and is getting dogpiled on for something that is (in all likelihood) nothing more than a horrible accident he had no ability to prevent. I don't care if he thinks he's better than me, if he hates my politics, hates gunowners, or even if he hated me personally. I still wouldn't wish that to happen to anyone with even a shred of humanity to them. Only monsters like Pol Pot or something who forfeit the right to be people, deserve that or something worse. Because screw that effing guy with a rusty metal pineapple covered in lemon juice. 

UPDATE: Just to clarify as it may not have been spelled out here, I'm not above making jokes about the situation, or recognizing the irony here, as I don't really like Mr. Baldwin either. I just think people are being stupid as to the why it happened without all the facts, and the people saying they are glad it happened to him are complete jerks. 

Boomers and their silly TV

 One of my biggest things I always try to work on is empathy. I like to think I've gotten better at it over the years, but sometimes I just hit a brick wall in my mind as I struggle to understand the why behind certain thoughts of others, like missing old school TV.

I delight in the death of old media. Oh, I love movies and shows, but I hate TV. Even back before the internet was all encompassing. Remember those days? You tried to find an excuse during the break to get up and do something cause the commercials were all an annoying waste of time, then you get up and someone shouts that the show is back on, but then you sit through another 5 min of recap of what they already did before the commercial break. 

Only watching what I like, when I like, where I like, with adblockers too? 

On top of that, it seems all the shows involving history or science (lookin' at you discovery and history channel) seem to love padding out the show with a bunch of terrible skits, bad humor, unnecessary drama, and/or are just so badly researched that they actually spread misinformation. I still laugh at the Mythbusters episode on Carlos Hathcocks's historically documented and confirmed shot (evidence still in a USMC museum) that they "busted" as a myth, then had to redo the episode later because they obviously never researched it at all. 

Or something like the local news, that does nothing other than fear-mongering about nonsensical crap on top of spreading misinformation all too often.  Add to that, the insane weather segment which is not only inaccurate, but takes 15-20 min to tell you what you can get a glance with a simple chart. 

I dumped having any kind of traditional TV/cable/satellite nearly 15 years ago and never looked back. I swear I can say my life is so much better without it. Say what you will about YouTube and the like, but at least you don't have to deal with all the same crap there (unless you really want to). So imagine my surprise when I hear earlier this week that some people I know still WANT to find a way to watch it. But why?

Forgotten films - The Last Starfighter

Some time earlier this year, I heard (likely from the Unwanted Blog) that someone was pitching a remake of the movie The Last Starfighter. They posted a youtube video with some of the soundtrack from the original film mixed with the concept art for the remake.

I'm kinda torn on this. On the one hand, it is a relatively forgotten film that does have pretty dated effects, and I think younger audiences would enjoy the story and universe it presents.  On the other hand, I love that movie and I don't think it is that dated other than the effects. The more I think about it, the more I think I'd rather just have the original re-released with all-new effects as the rest of the movie holds up very well.  Also, you'll never be able to match Robert Preston's fantastic performance as a space-fairing, music man-type military recruiter. 

So many things these days are getting remakes that don't need it, but could to with expanding and exploring their cinematic world a bit. I highly disagree with anyone who says they are tired of, or don't want any more sequels. I mean, my favorite Star Trek move is number 6 in the series and it's absolutely amazing. I think people tend to conflate sequel fatigue with crappy writing, because so many things these days are poorly written to begin with and then the sequels are that much worse. For example, can you image how cool a Blade Runner sequel could have been if it had good writing? Yes, Blade Runner 2049 sucks ass, and you should feel bad for liking it. 

Blade Runner 2049 dipwads didn't even make the movie a noir, and ruined the point of the original (and far superior) story. Top photo taken from Razorfist.

On the other hand, there's a decent-sized list of moves that are hailed as classics that are remakes and sequels. I mean, some films that were remakes that are great are: John Carpenter's The Thing (1984), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Scarface (1983), The Fly (1986), and True Grit (2010). I already touched on sequels, but anyone can tell you that they can be just as good if not better than the original, but regardless, it depends heavily on the quality of the writing. 

All that being said, the video of the concept art looks good and I would tell the guys behind it to perhaps focus on a sequel or spin-off that would be a period piece still set in the 80's. I think that would be unendingly cool. They certainly could get away with expanding that universe a lot more, and I would much rather see that than simply remaking the original.  

On a somewhat related note, the wife and I saw the relatively new movie Free Man recently and...well...it wasn't a bad move by far, but it certainly wasn't a great movie. I guess you can say it just committed the ultimate sin of being very...forgettable.  

In reference to one of last week's posts

Now, I don't remember who sent me this, or where I might have found it, but I thought it was pretty interesting nonetheless. It's a video produced by the Canadian Military Police about how to go about traveling from West Germany to West Berlin.  I may have been alive during the 80's, but I certainly wasn't of a cognitive age to remember any of the Cold War at all.  So for me, this was an interesting glimpse into the tensions of the time. Enjoy!

In other news, if you haven't stopped by the Unwanted Blog in a while, this made me laugh real hard. Just a shame that guy doesn't live in my state anymore, he's totally someone on the blogroll I wouldn't mind having a sit down conversation with about a number of topics. 

Six reasons why I dislike Doctor Who

If you like any episode of Doctor who in recent years, I have some bad news.  You're not a fan of science fiction, you're not a nerd, nor are you watching an intelligent show.  Don't take this as a slight to you, it's perfectly fine to like stuff that sucks.  I mean, I love the David Lynch version of Dune, but I'm not going to pretend it's excellent movie.  The only differences between liking Dune or Doctor Who, is that the crappy show I like simply means that I am nerd and that I'm a science fiction junkie, or in other words I'm only human and that's my flaw.  Liking Dr Who on the other hand, simply means you are a single woman between that ages of 13-40 and you like mainstream romantic tension and don't like too much science in your science fiction.  Once again, that simply means you're human.

I find it a bit sad, really.  I really like the concept behind Doctor Who, and I even think it's nothing short of brilliant.  Here's a show about a humanoid alien who is a quote "time lord" that has a ship that can transport people across all of time and space.  Just the concept of the show alone allows for limitless possibilities, no?

Well since it's inception, the good doctor's show has been hampered by problems, and as a result has always been a hit or miss affair.  And I do confess, that there was some darn good Doctor Who episodes...in the beginning.  Some of the most memorable episodes were ones with no villain, incorporated actual science theory, all while having companions that were not love interests.  Most of the failings of early/pre-reboot Dr Who has been mostly a technical nature, ie. poor acting, lazy directing, and atrocious budgets, which result in laughable effects, sets and props.  However, the show still managed to find a lot of steam despite these issues.  But even then I would only recommend cherry-picking the best episodes if you really want to watch.

The current run of Doctor who on the other hand, suffers from what I like to call the Battlestar Galactia syndrome.  It's described by those who like it as a sci-fi show, but in reality, it's nothing of the sort.  It is much closer to being an odd combination of romance serial and fantasy show or some kind of magic soap opera, and thus is the reason for it's popularity.

Like the viewer and their self respect. Just screw it. 

The primary focus is no longer to illustrate or to use actual science concepts of any kind, or to explain/save the universe.  The show has gone from explaining why aliens are the way they are and how their evolutionary path is different, delving into the vast intricacies of the universe, all while giving us an uplifting moral to the story, to just not explaining anything at all, because it thinks the audience too stupid to understand, then try to make some kind of social/political commentary that makes an equal amount of sense, then feed us a bunch of nonsensical romance plots.

Allow me to make a list of all the reasons why this show is terrible:

Our story so far

The title of the post makes me want to start it off by saying "when we last saw our heroes...", but I'll spare you the nonsense.  So what have I been up to?  Well, the truth is far less than anyone could ever imagine.

When talking about it, I'm not that good at describing my felling other than to say it was depressing.  That being said, I'll give the extremely short add version of the story:  I've been unemployed for the past three months, but I recently managed to land a nice job that'll pay the bills and leave some left over, so it appears I'm actually gonna make it.

The biggest thing I can say without talking about the job situation (or the lack of one) is that I was given an opportunity to go see Interstellar for free, and well I kinda liked it.  I found that rather surprising considering I still can't stand Matthew McConaughey's acting (if you can call it that).  The short review is that it's worth watching, and worth paying to see it in the theatre.  The 'science' is hokey all get out, but has it's good moments along with being a very well paced movie with excellent story arcs and special effects.  It tries more than a little too hard to be the new 2001 (and as a given has plenty scenes and ideas lifted directly from it), but still manages to be good film.  Just be prepared to to spend a full 3 hours sitting in those dang uncomfortable theatre chairs.

As for other news, well, I'll endeavor to simply get back into a regular schedule of posting again, we'll see where it goes from there, but good to see you again, internet.

two for one deal

So, last weekend I saw two movies I haven't' seen before X Men: Days of Future Past, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

The new X Men movie is all about tying the new(ish) prequel in with the old X Men movies and cast, and it succeeds very well, along with delivering a very entertaining movie chock full of what-if history and great action.  Worth every penny.

The latest installment of the Mission Impossible franchise on the other hand, is a pretty disappointing watch, which is sad, because I really wanted to like this movie.  It even had some elements and scenes that I really loved, but the story and most of the action was so bland and predictable that is was nigh unbearable at certain parts.  Why can't Hollywood just let spy thrillers be spy thrillers instead of trying(and failing) at turning it into another bland action movie?  Oh well, at least we still have the one good installment in the series, (the first one) which I had to re-watch because this movie just didn't cut it. 

Conversations at work

Being the nerd I am, most conversations will drift towards movies at some point. Don't know how the movie The Notebook came up though, but I guess it's inevitable when talking to the female variety.

I posed the assumption, "So, being a woman, I'm sure you've seen The Notebook."
"Actually, no.  I haven-" (interrupted by me giving the hard stare) "Okay, so I have.  She looks at her feet and mumbles "Multiple times."
"Yeah, you can't tell me you haven't.  I can call that bull about 50nmi away."
"It's a good movie."
"No, it's a terrible movie.  Any man who says they like it has something wrong with them."
"I like it"
"Well of course you like it, you're the target demographic.  But if you're with a guy that says he likes it, they are one of three things: a liar, a psycho nutcase that may murder you in your sleep, or gay.  All of the above being a red flag if you're interested in this guy."
"Really?  You really think that no man can like The Notebook?"
"Please, at the end of that movie when they were old and dying, I was cheering on the disease that killed them like I was betting on a horse race."
"Holy crap, you really are the world's worst person."
"Well they did kill Osama a while back, so that bumped me up on the list."

Proof is in the pudding, darlin'

National Register of Historic...Stuff

The onset of summer is slowly stalking us and will soon be upon us.  I'm still eagerly awaiting the arrival of my brother for the duration of the summer, and possibly taking a few days off to commune with nature and explore places of historical interest.

In other news, it's been a slow news week.  I think the most exciting thing I can think of off the top of my head is that I discovered that some friends of mine have never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, despite being self-proclaimed sci-fi fans.  So, I wrangled up a copy of it along with the sequel for ludicrously cheap from Amazon and am making a countdown to when we watch it and put their genre-fandom to the test.

Random whatnot:  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The Duffel Blog may be funniest thing on the internet. They particularly got me laughing with their two latest posts.  Go check it out:

http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/04/atheist-lt-christianity/

http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/05/taliban-combat-deaths/

Dead storm rising

Just heard the news that Tom Clancy passed away yesterday at the age of 66; cause of death still unknown.  Hard to believe the man who started a professional career as an insurance agent later changed gears to become not only a ridiculously successful author, but also had a number of his books turned into successful movies, and then started his own video game studio, and helped invent an entirely new genre of video games that are still unique to this day, and even set new industry standards for third party mod compatibility that very few have been able to match.

Back in the days of my youth, his books were some of the few fictional stories I actually had a desire to read (as I still hold a preference for non-fiction), and spawned a strong desire in me to keep far more informed about foreign policy, world events, politics, military procurement, and procedures.

We can only hope that the deadbeats in both Hollywood and the game industry will realize that we can't let him go out on a sour note, and that we eventually get an actually good Clancy movie, unlike the last one, and maybe even a good Clancy game, unlike the last ten or so.  Seriously, he started his studio making games that were supposed to be semi-realistic in tactics, like rainbow six and ghost recon, but now they've devolved or been bastardized into a run of the mill action game and some weird sci-fi nonsense, respectively.

Personally, I'm still holding out hope for a movie based on "Without Remorse" cause that may be some of the most exciting and craziest fiction I've ever read.  Also, seeing another Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon game that returns to it's realistic roots would be a welcome purchase (that aint no small hint there, Ubisoft!  You worthless dipwads).

in other news

I remember just a few weeks back, I was talking with my roommate about the Railtown State Park in Jamestown CA.  Haven't been there since I was a kid, but I really want a chance to go there again sometime.  Hopefully it will still be there when I do, as Wikipedia is trying to tell me that it's a prime target for defunding.

If you're not familiar with the place, you may be familiar with some of the movies that were filmed in and around the trains of the state park.  Back to the Future, High Noon, and 3:10 to Yuma were all filmed in the area and featured the trains there.  Aside from that there's a good amount of fascinating history to be had there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railtown_1897_State_Historic_Park

Celluloid carelessness

How in the world did I manage to go my whole life without ever watching the movie La Femme Nikita until last night?  Seriously, this is right up my alley, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole movie, as the tension never stops.  Dang good stuff.

I also didn't realize that this movie served as the sole inspiration to another one of my favorite movies, Leon: The Professional.

random memories

I remember when I was real young, sometime when I was around 9 or so.  I got a bit sick.  But, despite feeling this way, I just couldn't sleep at all; I was really tired, but just couldn't get to sleep.  So late one night, I was up reading some book when my mom told me to go to sleep.  I told her her that I didn't feel like sleeping, and we went back and forth on the issue for a minute, when my step father jumped in and said, "I can get him to sleep."

So, with that, Mom went to bed, and my step father wheeled the television over to the couch I was sitting on.  I asked what we were gonna watch, to which he replied, "Something I KNOW will put you to sleep."  So we turned it on and I proceeded to watch The Hunt For Red October for the first time.  Being a bit of a different kind of kid with different interests than most, the night didn't turn out as he expected.  I was wide awake for the whole thing, excitedly following every detail of the movie, whereas my step father was quickly fast asleep.

Dunno why I suddenly started thinking about this memory or why I even wrote it down, but it is a fond one. I still love watching my collection of Clancy movies.  Though, The Sum of All Fears doesn't count; stupid Ben Affleck ruining one of my favorite characters.

I know too many awesome people

So what's been happening?  Well, I went and saw Oz the great and powerful at the dollar theater with some friends last weekend.  Final verdict for the film?  Meh. Not bad, just not really good either.  The roomie was kind enough to treat me to some chipotle the other day, and I'm planning on going to see another movie tonight with the roomie and some friends.

Speaking of which, the movie I'm planning on seeing is Pacific Rim.  I think I can safely say without having seen anything more than trailers, that this movie is going to be awful.  Awful in the sense that it may end up being a real guilty pleasure for me.  From what I can tell, if I try to make sense of the story, I will get a migraine along with borderline depression, but I'm a massive sucker for giant robot action, GLaDOS, Ron Pearlman, and Charlie Day, so that means I'm guaranteed to pay money to go see this thing.

The only thing I'm wanting from it is giant robot crazyness with commentary by GLaDOS, and I have no doubt it will deliver.

Oh my gosh. I found it.

A real post will follow soon, but right now I'm so stoked about finding this, I'm just beside myself.  I've been looking for an English version of this documentary for ages.

I remember watching this fascinating little show on NOVA when I was young called Top Gun and Beyond, and we even recorded it on VHS, and I subsequently ran that dang tape into the ground watching it over and over.  So, the tape died, and for the longest time I tried searching every dark, obscure corner of the internet and the aviation community to find a copy of it, with no success.

So, imagine my frustration when I stumbled upon a copy in Spanish on youtube a while back.  It was cool to see the footage again, but I was really dying to watch this thing in a language I could understand again.  But now, I just barely find out there is a full copy of it on another corner of youtube; in English this time, just masquerading with a different name (the original name was much cooler).  This copy isn't the original dub, it's a version with a different narrator for the British market, although he's reading the same script.  My only complaint with this dub, is that it seems to cut some bits of the (at times) awesome soundtrack, particularly the ending theme.

There are a few views that are dated in it, and some that are blatantly wrong (such as the very pro lightweight/low-cost short-range fighter philosophy), but many of the points it covers still holds up pretty well.   Nevertheless, enjoy one of the coolest documentaries on fighter combat I've ever seen.

Top Gun and Beyond

Festivity wasteland

So, I'm a little disappointed this year, as it appears that there is almost nothing of interest going on for Independence day.  No airshows, no parades (that are good anyways), no special events at any of the gun ranges, and barely any fireworks.  The next airshow at Hill AFB isn't even gonna happen 'till 2014!  Phooey.

On the bright side, I am going to go see Despicable Me 2 later tonight with a few friends and their kids, so we'll see how that goes.  I really liked the first one, so I expect it to be pretty good.

It lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge

but what happens when the man in question has little to no knowledge?

I will freely admit that The Twilight Zone is at times not overly original, nor is it the highest budget, and more than a bit predictable, considering so many things today pay homage to it.  However, I will always object when someone has such a shallow and closed mind to not watch it for reason such as: "Well, it's an old show"  or "It's black and white" or "I don't have time because there's so many better things out there now."

I'm afraid I lack the fortitude to prevent myself from losing a massive amount of respect for those people.

In unrelated news, things have been busy here in my little hole in the wall.  I've busy up to my neck with a random assortment of things, and have had very little time to do anything for myself other than breathe -oh wait.  I take that back.  I have nearly finished reading MHI, which is massively entertaining, and i did get to spend a bit of time with a couple of friends who are moving to Indiana.  Best of wishes, Ben and Sarah!

I'll be sure to make up for my lack of posting in the coming week.

one giant leap forward, but two bigger steps back

Star Trek: Into Darkness - a review.   What do I say?  Well, without spoiling anything for anyone, let me separate this review into two parts.  The first part is for anyone who is not familiar with Star Trek, or hasn't seen any of the other (more famous) trek movies before:  Go see it, it's the most intense sci-fi action movie you will ever see, chock full of very memorable and interesting action throughout, and have to admit that I liked it a lot.  All the cast delivers great performances, special effects are good, and I will reinforce once again that Karl Urban as Bones, is quite possibly the greatest re-casting decision in film history.   Benedict Cumberbatch pulled in his usually awesome performance and presence as well, and we get to see some Klingons!

However, this isn't to say the movie is without any issues (mother effing lens flares, anyone?), and here's where I get to the second (the hard) part.  I will admit that almost all of my complaints about this movie (and the last movie) are simply fanboy rage gone wild, and that despite all those complaints, they don't really detract from the film experience at all, they just serve to piss off the hardcore fans such as myself.  But, I'm not going to get into any of those, because I'm sure any real fan of Trek would have pick up on 'em.

Now back to my initial point.  Some people will view my primary (and my only big) complaint about the movie to be a nitpicking fan's frustration.  However, I view it as extremely bad and lazy film making, as I was very much enjoying the film up until that point.  Okay, I think I've exhausted my ability to review without spoilers, so if you seek more knowledge, click on the link below.

slow week

Because I can't be bothered to be burdened with an excess of money, but an exceptional excess of free time, this week has obviously been light on blogging content.  As much as I love living in Utah, the lack of funds certainly hurts my chances at occupying my time with anything fun or even blog-worthy.

And the real bugger about it all, is that there are a couple of things that have happened that I'd actually love to talk about that I can't.  But, that's not because this blog is on the internet for anyone to see, but rather because there are things that are even best left out of one's own journal.  I hate it when that happens.

On a brighter note, I was treated by a couple young ladies to go see Iron Man 3 again tonight.  Making this evening end up just as awesome as it sounds.  I do so appreciate and enjoy having such kind and attractive friends.