January 2008 Archives

It get's posted to sweb.

Sitting here at work and not doing much other than read the internet. Apathy has overcome me. I wish I could sleep with my eyes open.

The 500 HP Shelby King of the Road

Went to see the new Paul Thomas Anderson last night w/ the roommate. Very very impressive movie. Of course, if you see Daniel Day Lewis's name anywhere near a film you know its going to be top tier.


This is the kind of actor that can have an entire movie revolve around his character and bring a strong enough performance to pull it off. Day-Lewis is known for never coming out of character throughout the entire shooting schedule of his films, and also for being very selective. He's only been in 4 films over the past 10 years, and it's not because he's not in demand. It's the main reason he is in demand.

And not to mention this next scene, one of the coolest in history, from Last of the Mohicans. This isn't just focused on the acting, but just the awesome feeling you get when you watch these movies. If you can with this clip without getting goosebumps you deserve to have your ass kicked.

I've actually walked where they walk in this scene, shot at Chimney Rock NC. Very cool spot.

The Big Sandwich Montage
 
Let's hope Ethiopia never gets the internet...

You can have a cat without being a cat lady...
Can you have a mac without being a Mac Head?
This whole thing reeks of Scientology to me.

So I spent the weekend down at JMU to see my lady, which I do several times each semester as we like to go back and forth with who does the traveling when we visit. The thing about it is, James Madison is the rival of my alma mater, George Mason. This past weekend happened to be a heated Basketball game at the JMU stadium between these two teams. How do I react?

I recruit Jonny to join me in Harrisonburg and we went to the game, and represented our team with pride. I also need to mention that we were hammertime and sitting in the student section. We stood up in our mason shirts and heckled the crowd of about 2000 students the whole time, just us 2 sitting up there like sheep amongst the lions. Mason dessimated the competition, and Dre Smith was 10 for 10 on 3 point shots. Unbelievable. Jonny, while celebrating, bounced into a guy that was about 7 feet tall and felt it necessary that he switch seats with me immediately. So it goes. JMU fans pose for pictures and sit on their asses the whole game, Mason fans booze it up and cheer on our feet for the duration.

After the game, we rolled w/ my gf to a party at her friends place to continue our love affair with the handle of vodka. We grew bored of their festivities and Jonny wanted to venture out into the wild, i.e. a party at the apt across from us. So in true JMU form, we just walked right in. Still wearing our mason shirts. What in the hell were we thinking? You know that sound of the record player needle when it gets pulled off a spinning record, the VEEYERP sound....

Ignore the 2nd guy, but the first and last dudes are worth it.
 

You can play along in your cubicle at work!

This is what every man feels like doing when a girl reveals that she won't sleep with him.

T.O. talks to the press, and comes out and does what 99% of NFL players don't have the balls to do, and that is show heart in defeat. Philly fan's hate him because he didn't play with heart while he was an Eagle. Don't get me wrong, he played to the best of his physical ability, and he played with fire and emotion because of his own selfish desires to succeed and be the best. But as a Cowboy, he plays with heart. He cares about his teammates (especially his man-crush Tony Romo) because he now knows that when you can be at that level of excellence with your team, you're better than you can be alone. Redskin's fans hate T.O. because of the long time rivalry, and his showstopper attitude and style. Plus it's pretty easy to hate everyone as a Redskin fan, you're just tortured year after year with some bullshit or another. Giants fans hate him because even he could catch most of the shitty throws that Eli Manning puts up. There are plenty of Giants fans, but not many who are willing to admit that they are an Eli fan. Face it, you know if T.O. was playing for you, you might have a chance to be great.

Why do I like T.O. ?

That is a good question.

I didn't always like him. I used to think he was a bit ridiculous. When he chugged a bottle of pills to get some attention, i thought he was pretty lame. But now at this point, looking back and taking it all in, you can really see that he's just another human being. He does his job, he does it to the best of his abilities, and then he goes home. He not only has to look himself in the mirror every night, but he has to look into the glass of the camera lens, so we can all see the same face he does. When he's afraid to look into his own eyes, then we don't get to either, but he still answers to his boss, the American football-fan. He defends his quarterback like he was his fellow soldier in battle. He has come to be a role model the way that almost every other football player isn't.

So last monday a week ago, we flew outta Dulles and I picked up a copy of No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

William J. Cobb, in a review published in the Houston Chronicle (July 15, 2005), characterizes McCarthy as "our greatest living writer" and describes the book as "a heated story that brands the reader's mind as if seared by a knife heated upon campfire flames."

Here's my review of the book: "Bunch of dead dudes. No boobs." Scrummyweb (January 15, 2008)

I mean it was ok, but I think I would have liked the movie better in this case.

When we landed in Denver we headed over to Hertz and picked up the rental, a new 4 Runner. It sucked because I had to go get it by myself, without the help of anyone, especially Jonny. But we busted out the Garmin and dialed up Casa Bonita, and we were shortly on our way.

Let me just say, that the first time I saw the Casa Bonita episode of South Park, I didn't know it was a real place. I didn't know it was real for several years, until just recently. Now I can say with full certainty, that it is the greatest mexican restaurant in the entire world...

If you are 8 years old.

The food is mediocre and over priced, but the main attraction is the all you can eat meals. This brings out fat mountain rednecks in droves, and little kids that love kitschy stage shows will be enamored by the horrible antics of the wait staff / actors. Then came the sopapillas, little pillow pastries flavored with cinnamon and sugar, and each table has it's own squeeze bottle of honey to top them with. I had already drizzled honey over my entire meal, and you can bet I had a nice glaze over my sopapillas as well. So delicious. This is the best reason to go to Casa Bonita. The cliff diving was pretty sweet for being in a restaurant. It's like a 3 level eating area, with a pool at the bottom and dive platforms going up into the ceiling.

After we waited close to 30 minutes just to close out our tab, we were on the way to Breck.



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This guy wins the Oscar for best use of eye movement in a youtube video.

It's been a good weekend of cooking at the scrums household. Yesterday I made myself some bacon and eggs, and I was intrigued to see that the first egg I cracked was a double-yolk, so I snapped a pic.



I cracked two more eggs for my hearty breakfast, and then glanced back into the bowl to see this:



Yes friends, the legendary Triple-Double Yolk. How freaking insane is that? I guess I just have a knack for picking out genetic freak chicken eggs. Anyways, they still tasted awesome scrambled up and covered with ketchup

Then a little later I decided to cook up a can of corn I had in the pantry so I came up with a recipe for Spicy Corn Cakes.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups corn
2 eggs; separated
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped jalapenos
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

Combine corn, lightly beaten egg yolks, flour, jalapenos, honey, brown sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer set at high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Stir egg whites into corn mixture. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of corn batter into skillet. Reduce heat to medium. Cook until cakes are browned, about 3 minutes per side.



Season with hot sauce and enjoy!

Watch the first 10 seconds of this video.

Just saying, the bitch is a freakin ROBOT. Even little kids can see right through the bullshit.

And W. obviously wasn't the greatest President, but the man had comedic timing. You gotta give him that.

This will be me in 4 days.
 

Yes, I am going to Casa Bonita in Denver Colorado. For Serious. I'm also going Skiing at Breckenridge for a week, but that's not the point of the trip, obviously.

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

 
10 years from now, when I'm in my mid-thirties, will i still be as close with as many friends as I am now? Will you? It's hard to picture life without having that immediate locality to my friends that I've become accustomed to. But things change, people move away and sometimes grow apart. I never picture myself without a family and friends, but none of us controls the future. Will I end up looking back on the good ol' days, and lamenting how far away they seem to be?

And if it's crowded, all the better,
because we know
we're gonna be up late.
But if you're worried about the weather
then you picked the wrong place to stay
That's how it starts

I never imagine my life 10 years from now without a family and close friends. But I feel like it's my responsibility to not act as if that is just how it's going to be; to not forsake the time I have.

And to tell the truth.
Oh, this could be the last time.
So here we go,
like a sail's force into the night

Some how I'm nearly certain that I will look back one day and repeat the last lines of this song.

If I could see all my friends tonight.

For more info about this song, check out this great article on Slate.

Waking up strong in the morning, walking in a straight line.
Maybe I'm a desperate believer, but I'm walking in a straight line.

25 years I've been around, learning a little bit each day about the people around me. Everything I've learned has taught me a little bit about myself. People want to believe that they're headed in the right direction. It scares us to think that we may have made mistakes in our past and that we might make the same mistakes again. I'm just finding out how hard it is for people to look to the future and say "I want to do this differently." You play a mental game with yourself, creating imaginary crutches and excuses for behaviors and thought patterns. We sit and reason with ourselves about things we want against things we need. Changing anything, might in fact be the hardest thing we take on.

You can't change yesterday, but you can change today. You wake up one morning, you point yourself in a new direction, and you walk with the fire. You walk in a straight line, and you don't stop. There are people all around us that look to the start of a new year to give them that fever, that courage to go in a new direction. So if you've decided for yourself to strike out and make changes, then congratulate yourself. It takes a lot of initiative to break out of the mold of the comfortable. If you witness others around you walking in their own straight lines, give them a nod and tell them to keep it up.

Because no one should have to walk those lines alone.

So I came across this sweet little utility, and now I'll be posting with music on occasion.

Silver Sun Pickups - Lazy Eye
Mountain Goats - No Children