New Years Eve

It's only 10:36 here as I'm typing this. The ball has already dropped twice I think. My parents are watching Family Feud! They love them some GSN! 2010 is almost over. I don't have the usual new years resolutions, like quitting smoking for good or getting into shape. Not to say there aren't other areas of life that need some maintenance, but it's nice not to have those usuals in the forefront. So I'll have to think a bit longer on resolutions. Mostly, I'm just very thankful. For those people in my sphere of consciousness, I wish you the very best of fortunes for 2011!!

Tron Legacy

I finally got to see another movie in the theater. I think the last one was Avatar. So here are my thoughts on the new Tron with a lot of spoilers.

I've been crunching this film in my head for 24hrs now, and it's hard to not reference the first Tron for making explanations about how I see this one. Also an interesting item from all the reviews I've read is that it also seems important to state how much of a fan you were or were not of the original. I don't usually pick up on that in other remakes or 20+ year number 2 installments.

The bottom line though is that Tron is eye candy and not much else. Which is good enough for some, but disappointing too, because the writers had a lot of cool ideas that never went anywhere. When I think back on the parts that I liked, it becomes obvious that Disney didn't give me nearly enough of those 'cool' things. Even with that said, spending 40 bucks on imax 3d for 2 tickets, I can still say, "yah I had a good time."

So here we go, in 1982 I read the Tron novelization before I saw the movie. I scraped my pennies, walked 3 miles to the theater in the hot sun to see it by myself, and I was blown away as a kid. But it wasn't because the films ideas were intellectual. It was simply the coolest thing I'd ever seen. That's a feeling that only comes maybe just once in it's purest form, and in little shadows here and there from time to time. So really it's no surprise that Tron Legacy's chance of wowing me like that was almost nil. That is an expectation that I think a lot Tron Legacy viewers might wish for and find only disappointment.

The beginning of the film should've spent more time on developing Sam's relationship to his father, showing the pain of his Dad vanishing in a more convincing way. Running out the door upset and jumping on your PK Ripper is lame. Though seeing a PK Ripper was very cool! Show me something like Sam getting seriously beat up and having no father to turn to. Show me Sam having to watch his grandfather die and tell him something about his father he never knew. Memories of being on the beach with dad are weak. Too much time was spent showing us that Sam was an anti-corporate adrenaline junky hacker. The board meeting scene of Encom was a waste. I think it was really there just to plant Cillian Murphy as Dillinger's son for the next movie.

The entry into the computer world or grid was cool for me. I liked how the Recognizer rumbled the whole theater. The detail of the Recognizer flooring, the way it worked, and the guard programs were cool. Maybe not make the Recognizers engine based though. Seeing exhaust was kinda odd.

The Sirens, or hot women in latex that strip you and put on your battle gear just made me giggle, but come on, I'm a guy , who in watching that scene knows that scene is just for the boys.

Initial disc war battle was kinda lame for me. However, watching the old disc battles from Tron is just comical, so in truth I don't think much more could've been done without going into a lot of extra detail. It was pretty simple in terms of physics in the first Tron, like little guys playing pong. So being in a 20 sided almost transparent shaped cage that turns upside down when someone runs up a wall, is a lot for the brain to simply process. It's a barrage for the brain and can detach you from the idea that battle is going on. Also, if you compare the derezzing of the old and new, imo there's something more unsettling about the original. Shattering into glass is cool, but isn't that just like knocking some jar off a table? Also, the first guy we see fighting Sam, is like some hardened looking Hawaiian warrior, not Bob the I'm scared out of my mind, so I'm going to talk shit accountant program who yelps when he dies. It's just hard to feel bad for anyone. Lastly, I can't quite figure out how CLU's perfect society has a violence loving crowd of programs in it. That's a topic worthy of discussion though eh Ceasar?

I like James Frain from True Blood, but seeing him bald with a plastic mask that fell off the set of Back to The Future 2 just made me want him to die way sooner.

The light cycle scene was pretty awesome for me. I think interestingly what makes the light cycle scene cool in both old and new movies is the sound effects for the bikes. In fact, the sound fx are a huge factor for the first movie that I think are often overlooked. The techno roar of the bikes and the new fluid walls were great. When they do their slow mo run and transform onto the bikes, it's really kinda Chuck Norris meets The Matrix cheesy, but damn if it don't work every time.

When you first meet Quorra, she seems very giddy. Maybe too much? But that's ok, because she's an innocent. Her character is certainly the most interesting in the film. She's a new lifeform and her story was imo waaaaayy underdeveloped. They had something huge there and let it go. Remember Leeloo. Who doesn't love Leeloo!?!! Bada Boom! Quorra's equivalent of that was her asking what Jules Verne was like. Quorra totally should've kicked more ass in the film too.

Worst scene in the movie was them eating in Flynn's 2001 hippie zen pad. A roasted pig? WTF!

Sexiest thing in the whole movie was the old light cycle that Flynn built. Quorra says nothing is faster than it. All we get to see is it going down a lonely street before being pawned off to a drunky street program? Did you see the instrumentation cluster on that thing? Wow! Shame on Kosinski for not letting that light cycle roar at least a little bit. How amazing would that have been to have gone back on the grid only to destroy loads of other cycles, and some tanks even...and then be pawned off to Phantom of The Opera drunkie program.

Man this review is getting too long. Flynn was ok, but one reviewer called him Obi Wan Lebowski. I have to agree, either stay with the Zen genetic new lifeform feel or not. Maybe just once you could say 'dude'. Maybe not. Another wasted moment was when Flynn came into Castor's bar. I didn't expect him to get all Bruce Lee on anyone, but I seriously thought he was going to do a Neo floor punch ripple. Again Kosinski had a chance to make him into this bad ass air bending techno budda but missed out. Flynn does get his neo powers on at the end, but then I have to watch CLU look goofy in the process. Finally, the story of how Flynn and CLU were bound and how CLU felt betrayed had sooo much potential but it was like house with no roof.

CLU was annoying plain and simple. I get it, you're pissed, please shut up and do something really mean to make me dislike you or blow something up.

Finally, Tron himself. Tron gets taken out by CLU and some guys he built? In a battle that lasts all of 10 seconds? then later we find out Rinzler is really Tron reprogrammed and in some odd moment Tron comes back sacrificing himself in the end. I mean at least you could've somehow scraped Flynn's disc or some particle flew out of it to bring you back, but nope. Then they let Tron float in a cyber ocean obviously for a sequel. Who would think that was cool? Liz and I thought it was...lame!!

Lightjets fight scene was pretty cool even if it did remind me of the Star Wars Tie Fighter scene a bit. I will definitely want to watch that scene again.

Daft Punk. I'm not their biggest fan ( boy do they have some hard core fans ), but I enjoyed their soundtrack for the movie. There's a certain 'otherworldly-ness' that the original had with Wendy Carlos's music, but I don't think you could do such progressive electronica without going against the visual style. I'll have to listen to the soundtrack again, but it didn't jump out at me with an overall theme music that is so prominent from the first one.

Anyway, that's about it for my Tron Legacy thoughts. I didn't have high expectations for the movie and just went in and let it wash over me. I was pleased. I can definitely see how some fans would be really upset that the movie wasn't what it could've been.

Christmas Eve

I was going to post some holiday gloom and doom! But who really wants to read that?! Other people's gloom and doom is boring most of the time anyway. But seriously, Christmas has often been a bummer holiday for me. Many times I can remember the night ending with a sort of drunken or really tired 'that's it?' sort of feeling. I guess having children makes it harder to throw a pity party for myself. haha Not that I need to have one, but I would be lying if I didn't recognize at least one member of my committee has more than a fair share of bah humbug rolling around in his sleeve.

On a funny side note, I was walking past a table of young ladies ( say that like Tim Meadows ) tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm not certain it was directed at me, but I could've swore I heard them say. "what about that one? No! Not attractive at all." Ouch! I hope that was about a piece of clothing. I told my mom this and she says to me, " haha you're getting old son!" That's my mother..keepin it real!

Rain Rain Rain

Almost one week since my parents have been staying with me, and it just keeps raining! Last year it was epic blizzard in Nebraska, this year it's record breaking rain for Vegas. But the rain isn't anything too wild. It's just a constant drizzle. Roads are starting to flood though. It's all the crazy weather coming from California, which is getting hammered with rain. The rain makes driving miserable combined with the holiday traffic. So today it's been a bit claustrophobic. I've probably eaten more chocolate than I should have. Sugar coma making me grumpy.

The barometric pressure however is killing me! I don't know if it's age, or being used to no rain, or the valley, or age but the body is not happy with this rain. Even my gums are sore. What's up with that?! Ultimately, it's all just some minor inconvenience , and the rain should end by tomorrow. One more day of shopping perhaps, and then it'll be time to get the Christmas dinner rolling and prepare for the arrival of Santa. This is the first year that Asa understands who Santa is. She hasn't quite grasped why we have to wait to open presents though.

In running news, I ran a lot this month already. I'm really just going to coast with the rest of the holidays. I could land on 130+ miles for the month, but I'll be perfectly content with 120. I'm jonsin for new shoes too. I tried on a pair of Vibram Trek KSO's the other day and keep wondering if I could seriously trail run here in them. My worry is that downhills would be too rough though. There's another shoe store I found a little farther away. Who knows what that visit will bring. Muhuhahahaha

Anyway, 2011 will be an interesting year for my running. I want to keep things fun, but I also want to get a little more focused with running goals. I want to get faster and run farther. I'm sure I'll run a marathon at some point, maybe even a bit further. Course thinking about all that with a belly full of KFC seems kinda odd :)

Beads Beads Beads!!!

Little did I know that Vegas had the uber bead stores. My mom bought 70 bucks worth of bead stuff in the bead store. Dats a lotta beads yo!

The next couple of days are gunna be crazy hectic. I'm torn, do I still go see Tron for just the big screen experience?!! I think I'd rather see Black Swan at this point. Hmmmmm...,

Easssy boy! Eaasssy!

I went back to the mountain today for a run. It's been a month since I've been there. Two months since I've run at Sawmill trail. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, maybe 50 in the shade. I've been running outside near my house last few weeks where it's mostly flat. So when I hit the trail today, my lungs were none too happy! This time the perceived effort matched the performance. Felt slow - was slow. Every run can't be this super awesome run though.

I did get to run on some new trail before deciding that going further might get me lost. New trail is always cool. I may take my mountain bike up here and make a point to mark way points with my gps. Would be a nice change up I think. I came across a tree with a clipboard attached to it. It had grid coordinates marked on it for trail teams or something. Some sort of land nav exercise I spose. I got to run on plenty of ice and thick mudd, saw a bunch of deer with a big 8pt male, and also scared the bujeezus out of two wild horses. I was a little startled myself. I also pushed myself past the point of stopping a couple of times. Every one of those mental battles is worth a nugget of gold I think.

In the realm of media, the opening of Tron is only a few days away. I've read enough reviews now to really lower my expectations greatly. haha Part of me would almost rather see 127 Hours. I also happen to see the trailer for Battle Los Angeles and thought it looked stellar! Like Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day, but some people who claim to have seen it on imdb say it sucks. Which I kinda believe once I looked at the director's other movies. Shame, I like Aaron Eckhart. However, the music from the movie trailer for Battle LA is phenomenal. Half the posts are people asking what the music is.

This leads me to Johann Johannson. A funny name for a guy who's life is pushing the envelope of new art forms. Long story short, Johannson's father worked for IBM some 40 years ago and took his data processing system ( old ass proto computer!) and programmed it to make music. Very minimalist tones and such I think. His father recorded his songs and years later Johann added to these basic pieces making them into intricately beautiful thematic pieces.

Here's the video for the song in the Battle LA trailer. The video doesn't match the emotional power of the music, but it's weird enough that it evokes some emotion.

Spanakopita

The Beezer texted me today that snow was coming down hard. Turns out Knoxville, TN is not only cold but going to get a good bit of snow. No school for those kids. This storm system dumped huge amounts of snow further north, leaving the Minnesota Vikings with a phat insurance claim. Good ole Omaha, NE only got a few inches of snow, but it's already in the negatives with windchill there. Even my hometown in Florida is going to have a hard freeze this week. Here in Vegas? ....It's a cozy 73 in my house with no heater or ac running for a few days, and it was a beautifully warm day at the park today. Do I miss the cold? Not yet!!

Yesterday after Asa's soccer, I went to Market Grille and ate the following:

Spanakopita, Pastitsio, Mousaka, and Avgolemono soup. I couldn't decide which one I liked better. They all tasted excellent. Lovin the Greek food right now! OPAAAA!!!

Here's a pic I did back in 04 I think. It's funny because I think theres a bit of Prince of Darkness in this pic stylistically, but yah it's that sort of cliche of not being able to put your finger on your own distorted image. I just really liked how the leaves and cloth worked to make it look less digital and more like a painting.

Is that what I think it is?

Another Friday with no really long run. December is busy! I'm not complaining though since today's run seemed like a lot of effort anyway. There's this term in my current running book called 'perceived effort' and how your brain interprets that and in turn affects your performance. It's strange because my perceived effort was that I just wasn't working as hard as I should've been, that I was being lazy! Yet my overall performance was pretty good when reviewing my times. It can mess with your head. Even more so when you think about 'effort' in your daily life tasks.

I ran into a series of scattered dunes or small canyons today not too far from my home. They are sunken into the ground so it gives you this sense that you are really no where since you can't see a horizon. One hill was so steep in the decent that in trying to slow down, it was only going to land me on my butt with the rocky hard pack slipping underneath, so I had no choice but to compensate and gun as fast as I could down this hill for 20 feet full speed which was also verging on a massive bust. I'm glad I was able to look back at that one and laugh it off. I also ended up getting into a huge path for prolly a quarter mile of just nothing but big potato sized rocks that were three deep. After kicking a rock into my other ankle I just walked it out of that madness. This terrain though is so convoluted and barren, it would be the perfect place to hide something you never wanted to be found. Made me think of this Pearl Izuma ad.

The New Drug on the block

Go ahead, go into your spice rack. Find the nutmeg. Now, smoke it!! That's right, teens jonsin for a little rush no longer need to worry about scoring some beer or other substances. Just smoke some nutmeg and you're good to go!!! (minus the neg side effects of course)

Seriously, will nutmeg soon be sold in those plastic lock containers or cards that psuedofed comes in.

Nutmeg (shakes head) What will they think of next!!

It's Flying right at us!!!

I don't know why the B2 Stealth bomber makes me giddy. Maybe because it's freekin maximus awesommus! That was really done just to make it harder than normal to read, in your mind and ....

no seriously driving home today I see it swooping in over the mountain range from the east. The afternoon sun lights it up perfectly. At one point it looks as if it will fly right over the strip and then it swoops back to land at Nellis. Man! Had I stayed in the commissary 10 more minutes, I could've seen it up close because the landing strip is right next to the comsy. I've never seen it land up close. Shakes fist at the aquascum 2000 for no good reason!

Such a cool profile shot of it STEALTH

Like a Steel Trap!

Tonight I had an old Batman episode on in the background while I played some insane puppet game with my daughter. At one point, the Riddler has Robin tied to a rope with his hands bound behind his back on a building's ledge with two henchman about to film it. Suddenly Batman appears on the roof top and yells, "Robin!" The Riddler cuts to the chase a pushes Robin off the side. After 3 seconds of Batman getting his Bat-r-rang ready he tosses it down and says "Robin! Bite it with your teeth!" The Riddler is foiled as Batman slowly pulls Robin up while he dangles from the bat-r-rang like a caught fish. Robin is an acrobat after all right. That's a totally sanctioned manuever right?

Holy Polygrip Batman! On the roof, Robin says "I sure am glad I take such good care of my teeth!" And Batman says, "Yes Robin. If only all of Amer....." then he's cut off by the Riddler drawing riddles in the sky.

I'm glad I never really liked that show. Incidentally, the dentist called me today to ask why I wasn't coming to my appt to see how my scaling and planing turned out. I finally told them, look you told me the laser treatment was 400 in the waiting room, then when I get in the room, the hygienist says oh I can get them to do it for 200. I said, " I don't need car salesmen tactics! "( sorry beezer! lol) Sometimes you have to shoot the messenger. I used a rubber bullet though, jeez. I'm glad I didn't take the laser treatment, especially after I found an article on the ADA website that states there's no evidence that laser tx reduces periodontal bacteria. Way to rip people off Shadow Mountain Dental clinic.

56,000 stinky feet

28,000 people ran in the Las Vegas Rock N Roll marathon today. I want to say the cost of entry into the race was $145 bucks. That's some serious dough no?!! It's also a lot of money in running shoes that only gets bigger. Wowzers! I hope a fair amount of that money is going to charity. Reading some of the reviews, some people were really disappointed in the race saying it was boring after the strip, meals cost too much, and organization was poor. Honestly, I think the strip is lame. I couldn't understand why you'd want to run down there unless it was at night. On the website, I saw a video of Scott Jurek out at Red Rock Canyon doing a quick press bit. Would've been really cool to have seen him out there at RRC. I'd just want to yell his name and give him a fist pump or something!

Liz brought a nifty little blood sugar tester home the other day. I had gone back to sleep after getting Asa off to school, so all I had to eat in the last 12 hours was some chai tea with a teaspoon of honey. My level was 78! Yay!!

In May of this year I started keeping track of what shoe I would run in. I totaled up everything last night and found out some interesting items. I would not have guessed that I ran the most miles in my Nike Frees. Out of a possible 6 pairs of shoes, the Frees led by over 100 miles. They are retired now since I have ruined them by getting crazy and shaving the heels off them, but they gave me 230 miles worth.

The other interesting item is that of all my running miles only 20% was done in my vibram five fingers. In fact, the only real minimalist shoes I have are the vibrams and Brooks Mach 11s. Together they only account for 40% of my mileage! I am not such the minimalist runner it seems. With that said the Mach's are a favorite shoe for me right now. With only 130 miles on them, I should be good until next spring when the new crop of minimalist running shoes come out.

Badwater

In the November issue of Trail Runner, there is an interesting story written by runner Ricky Gates. In it, he and fellow British mountain runner Martin Cox take an orange VW bus named Orange and travel the west side of the US doing races and sightseeing along the way. They've been racing competitively for a while and they are both fascinated with 'ultrarunning' from a perspective of simply "why?" Why run for 30+ hours?

Martin had read Born To Run and this perhaps prompted them to make a stop to the Badwater Basin to simply run in it, to feel the essence of this place, to feel the heat, and throw out their question to the universe.

Here's a snippet from Gates's story

"I began to gather that the Badwater Basin is a Mecca, of sorts, for the seekers of suffering. Because of the heat, altitude gain, or sheer distance (135 miles) the race represents the ultimate ultra not only to Martin, but many ultrarunners as well.

"That's the point isn't it" To suffer" he asked. "At a certain point," Martin explained, "running ceases to be about running anymore and becomes, quite simply, a means to an end."

"And what end might that be?" I asked.

"For some, it's endorphins. For others, it's simply the act of going fast. For ultrarunners, I'm convinced, it's suffering. Suffering can teach you more about yourself than a psychiatrist."

As I progress in my running and think about why I do what I do and consider the motivations for training versus enjoying myself, this current of thought in the story resonates with me. There are no epiphanies yet however.

Interestingly, Badwater is about 3 hours away from me. Perhaps I should try to visit this place now while I'm so close. I could even run for a little bit now that's it's winter. Maybe I can work it into our CA road trip next year. "Just a little bit out of the way babee!"

Bunch of Smokers

I recently rented a couple of movies. An Education and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Who knew that there were rumors of Carey Mulligan from An Education playing the role of Lisbeth Sander in the American version of Dragon Tattoo. If you've seen both, you have to admit that would be fairly interesting to see Mulligan slip into the role of Lisbeth Sander. If Ellen Page were taller I bet she could do it, or maybe Jenna Malone. But then again Malone is Rocket in Sucker Punch which is maybe too close.

An Education starts off being a great coming of age adventure. Like I told my friend, I'm a sucker for smart, cute, and a British accent. But it ends in a way that just made me ask, "that's it?" Someone should have gotten shot at least. I kid, but the movie reminded me of Up In The Air which was fine but was just ok.

Dragon Tattoo started off a little slow for me, but picked up soon enough. Who did it? Who killed this woman? Who is the killer? It keeps you nice and hooked all the way until that almost familiar point in Silence of The Lambs when you suddenly realize who the killer is and what's about to happen. The movie definitely gets intense with it's sexually violent scenes. The killer's final monologue describing what he enjoys most about killing women is very chilling and disturbing. The item that sets this movie apart from others of its kind , is the relationship between Lisbeth and Mikael. That two people can have sincere intimacy without a lot of backstory, being content for what it is.... you don't see this in American movies much.

I just heard the 20th Century Fox march come from the TV in the living room. And then I heard the opening sound of the movie. I immediately knew what movie it was. Predator! hahahaha in one note!

But the one thing these two movies had in common? everyone smokes in them. So much frakkin smoking going on. Not good movies to watch if you're trying to quit. I'm just sayin!

Tangled

I saw Tangled. My friend in Colorado told me he took his daughter to see it, so I figured mine was finally ready to go. The first time she went into a theater, she did not like it all, even candy couldn't persuade her. She really enjoyed herself this time, though those rec-folding chairs are still a bit big and want to swallow her up.

I was pleasantly surprised. I honestly thought it would be kinda lame from the previews. I really liked the musical score and that always carries a lot of weight for me. You can tell Pixar had something to do with this one versus say Bolt. (I like Bolt btw) The scenes with the floating lanterns were awesome as were the action scenes. Best character though for me was Maximus the horse. He acts more like a dog and that's probably why he appealed to me so much.

Macho

Occasionally I get comments on my youtube channel saying something to the effect of "you sound gay". One person was specific enough to peg me as a certain person from the village people. I will have to study this video so as to maybe not mislead people...perhaps.