Updating the Site

Thanks to my online bud Adam, I've finally gotten around to doing a small update to the site. I've cleaned up the Links page, adding some new sites along with getting rid of some dead ones. I've also added some new photos to the album, mostly of my friends Frank and Adam.

As I predicted in the last blog, "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" did clean house at the Oscars last night, winning every award it was nominated for, taking eleven in all. I knew that movie would do well, if not just for that movie in general, but for the entire three year trilogy of films as a whole. Congrats to them all and I can't wait to pick up the DVD later this year.

That's it for now, blog at you later.

Getting Caught Up

Hey there. It's been a while since I updated the blog here. A lot of things have happened, so let me get you all caught up.

*First of all, I have to get a shout out to my newest online friend, Adam. I met him thru my good friend Lance's chatroom a couple weeks ago and he's become yet another cool guy to know. Welcome to the club, Adam!

*Next, the streak's over. I had gone thru the entire winter without getting sick. Until last Tuesday, when I got hit with a major head cold. It sucked big time. I had dealt with it fine Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday was when it had really got me. It took me until the weekend to finally get over it. Hopefully it'll be a long while before I get sick again.

*On Feb. 18th, I went out to a sports job fair. Mostly it was teams in the Michigan area and parts of the midwest, plus a few TV and radio stations. My hope is that something good will come out of attending the fair. I'll keep you informed.

*Earlier this month, I had raved about the 100th episode of "Angel" on the WB, calling it the best episode they did all season. Little did I know that several days later, the WB would announce that this season would be the show's last. Damn you, WB!! Just when it's getting really good and turning to a new chapter, you decide now to pull the plug?! I tell you, ever since it's predecessor "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" left for UPN three years ago, they have been giving that show nothing but grief. Hopefully, they'll follow through on their plan to do movies on the show, but part of me doubts that'll happen. I tell you, if it wasn't for "Smallville", I wouldn't be watching that network at all with the way they treat my favorite shows.

*I'm back working on stories and guides. I got a cool werewolf story that I'm almost ready to put on the site, and I'm working on a few more. The plan in the next week or so is to bring back a revamped "Arsenal" site and to post big news about another of my pet projects.

*And finally, tonight is Oscar night: My quick picks is for "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" to clean house, including winning both best film and director. I'm going to side with Bill Murray to edge out Johnny Depp for best actor and Charlize Theorn to win for best actress. All the other awards I could care less about.

Oh, one last thing. Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes and posts about my website's anniversary and the cool look front page with all the key photos and moments over the past five years. I'll be taking that page down on Monday. Thanks again for the kind word.

That's it for now. Blog at you later.

New Site is Up and Running!!!

Well, finally I'm done with the new look of the website. You can check it out. I still have some more stuff to add on to it in the coming days.

What's Up with the Site?

Hey there.

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about my site. It's been almost two weeks since my website turned five years old and the site hasn't been changed as I've promised.

Well, I've had some technical difficulties with both my ISP and Geocities as far as putting some of the stuff I wanted to put on there, causing the big day on January 23rd to come and go without any fanfare, except for my mention in this blog.

But I can say that last week, all the difficulties have been straightened out and I've been slowly and surely working on it. Kind of hard to do when you also have a life outside the Mark One Network, but it's coming together.

Still have a few more things to put in and test out, but now I'm shooting for this Friday, February 5 to be the big day for the relaunch. I hope you all like the changes. Stay tuned.

Blog at you later.

Talking about Angel

Wow, I just got thru seeing "Angel"'s landmark 100th episode on the WB. And all I can say is wow, what an episode! It was by far the best episode of the season.

A jam packed hour that was funny, filled with action and had an ending, that if you've watched the show since the beginning, that was sad and gut wrenching. Even I had to choke back a few tears after seeing that. I was reminded of the 100th episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from which "Angel" was spun off from. It had the same type of deal of emotions, with humor, action and a powerfully sad ending.

As one of my can't miss shows on TV, "Angel" definitely hit it out of the park with this episode. An excellent job all around. A damn good show!!

WOW!! What a Super Bowl!! (And The Game Wasn't Bad Either!)

So what did you think of Super Bowl XXXVIII?

Not the game, mind you, but the halftime show!!

Normally, I don't watch the halftime show, I usually get something to eat or go to the bathroom or something, but this year I got to check it out and all I can say is...

WOW!

Now when I saw Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performing at the end, yeah it looked very sexual, but when Justin pulled on Janet's top and I saw, uh, what I saw, all I can say is...

WOW!!

At first, I didn't believe that what I saw was, well, what I saw. If anything I thought it was a costume that revealed, well too much. But when I saw it on tape (I was recording it along with the game) and I slowed the tape down and saw, uh, well, it, all I can say is....

WOW!!!!

Now, of course, I know it was planned, as did just about everyone else who saw it. And, everyone from CBS to MTV(who produced it) apologized to no end, and that's all fine and good, but come on, you have to admit, that was a damn good way to get some attention to what normally is a boring halftime on the biggest sports event of the year.

Of course, what was even funnier, was Justin's response to what happened, calling it a "wardrobe malfunction". Now that's hilarious. I didn't know showing one's breast in front of 180 some million viewers was labeled a malfunction. I'd call it "Must See TV", but not a "wardrobe malfunction". I hope Janet has plenty more "malfunctions" in the future. ;)

Anyway, it was a good way to get fired up for the rest of the game, which was not bad believe it or not. Congrats to the Patriots, who knocked off the Panthers by 3. I had the point margin right, and the correct team, so that should make up for my horrible football picks this year.

Well, that's it for now. I hope Super Bowl XXXIX next year, especially the halftime show, will be as just as, uh, well thrilling, as it was this year. And to Janet, I just want to say one more thing:

WOW!!!!!!

MY SUPER BOWL PICK

This is it. The big game of the year, Super Bowl XXXVIII takes place Sunday at Houston as New England takes on Carolina.

Now, if you had told me back in September that these two teams would be playing for it all, I would've laughed at you. In fact, going over my blog back then, I didn't even pick the Patriots or the Panthers to even make the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I'm a real expert when it comes to football.

Want proof of my expertise? My two picks for the Super Bowl was Tampa Bay and Tennessee. The Bucs didn't even make the playoffs while the Titans didn't even reach the AFC tite game. My other choices for teams to win their respective divisions: Minnesota(NFC North), San Francisco(NFC West), Tampa Bay(NFC South), Buffalo(AFC East), Pittsburgh(AFC North), and Oakland(AFC West), didn't even qualify for the postseason. The only things I had right was picking Philadelphia to win the NFC East and that Denver would get a wild card berth.

So with that track record, I'd be nuts to make a Super Bowl prediction, but hey what can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

Anyhow, here's my pick for Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England 24, Carolina 21.

I strongly suggest you don't put money down on that pick though. :)

Blog at you later.

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY!!!

Tonight marks a milestone for the Mark One Network. For it was five years ago that this little website was launched.

Wow, has it been five years already!

I remember working late on January 22, 1999 when I was putting this thing together. It was very plain and not much to brag about at the time. I was still new to this thing called the World Wide Web and basically wanted a site since a couple of my friends had one and thought it was a good idea. Well, it took a lot of trial and error and testing and January 22nd soon turned into the 23rd and it was right around 4 in the morning when I finally put it out into cyberspace before crawling into bed.

I had no idea what was going to come from it. Heck, I was just hoping that my friends would see it. Looking back on it now, I can say a lot has come from ths site.

In the time since, I've gotten to comment on a lot of things that's happened to me and the world. I've made it a home for my stories and poetry, several of which will be returning here in the near future. I've become involved in a few grass roots efforts, in particular bringing back "Mystery Science Theater 3000". And I've even been bold enough to (gasp) show my mug online, along with some of my close friends as well as some famous figures I've met in person.

From the old Journal to the current Blog you're reading now, from "Save MST3K" to "The Brown/Pratt Discussions" , from the Photo Album to the soon-to-be-launched Sports Page, it's been quite a ride for the M1N. But the one thing I've been the most proud of is the friendships I've made and developed over the years because of this site.

And as I always do at this milestone, I want to give a shout out and thanks to each and every one of my friends who's played some role in this website being what it is today. To Sam, Rob, Kevin, Mike, Joey, Lucas, Jason, John, Brandon, Frank, Chris, Lance and Jay: my friends I've known in person or online for years, thanks for all of your support. The same calls for those I've met in the past year: Matt, Jon, Colin, Len and Key. You know who each of you are and what you mean to me and I'm proud to know each of you. I also want to extend my appreciation to those friends who I lost touch with recently, Larry, Justin and Scott(aka Zoogz). I hope you guys are doing well, wherever you are.
Finally I want to thank all those who visited this site over the five years it's been online. According to my stats, over 3000 visitors have checked at least one page of this site since Day One. I know it's not much compared to other sites, but hey coming from a guy who was hoping that a few friends would check it out back when I launched this site, that's a huge achievement. Thank you everyone.

Well, here's to five years of the M1N. I can only hope that the next five will be even better!

Writing, Writing, Writing

Today was yet another cold day in the big city, so it gave me a chance to get back into what I like to do best: write.

Now when I say write, I don't mean my brief entries into the old blog, but actual writing of stories, guides for the Werewolf TV Series website and other things for my website.

I've been working on a few original stories, including one inspired by a drawing that a friend of mine showed me. Once I get them finished up, I'll be putting it on my site, which is long overdue for some original stuff.

I've also been on the lookout for an old floppy disc that had some other story ideas that I typed out a while back that I'd like to get back on. It's not with my other floppy disks, so it might be buried underneath my junk in my bedroom. Hopefully I'll find those and get back to those stories as well.

Well that's enough for now. Blog at you later.

I HATE WINTER!!

So as you can tell by my title, I hate winter. A lot.

I live in Michigan, where the weather gets cold and bad this time of year. Today we got hit with almost six inches of snow. It was our first major snowstorm of the year and I can honestly say: it sucks.

I hate winter. I always have. I lived here my entire life and I can't remember one time when I liked the season. Dealing with the bitter cold, the endless amount of snow and all the other factors when it comes to the weather (clearing out the car, getting sick, etc.) just makes it hard for me to love wintertime.

One day, I would like to fly away to someplace warm and sunny for the winter and don't come back until the snow melts. And I mean, melts for good. I've been here when snow hits in April for cryino out loud. It's a pipe dream, yes, but that's what I'd like to see happen.

In the meantime, I guess I have to suck it up and deal with it.

Did I mention how much I hate winter?

Happy New Year!! I'm Back!!

Hey there.

It's been a while since my last blog. Last year in fact.

I've been too busy with work and other things and too tired to even jot down the simplest thing the past few months. But I'm back now and I'm back at jotting down whatever's going on.

I wish I could tell you a lot's happened to me since my last blog. But it hasn't. I'm still at my regular job and still aspiring to work in radio or something sports related. I did get some writing in here and there, but the few projects I've done are nowhere close to being finished.

As the new year is upon us, some of us have taken to doing the usual ritual of making resolutions for 2004. I don't believe in resolutions, however. Mainly because once you make a resolution, there's a 99% chance that it'll be broken about a day or two later. As my good friend Brandon told me, if you going to make a resolution, start it right away and not wait until any particular day when odds are you're not even going to do it.

In saying that, I do have a few goals in mind that I hope will happen before the year is out. Topping the list is getting a better job. As much as I want to get into radio, sports radio in particular, the harsh bitter reality that I've been through the past few years since I graduated from college has shown me that it's much harder to get into the business. So, even though I want to be a sports broadcaster, I'm more than ready to try something else, maybe work for a sports team or write for a paper or something like that. Regardless, my first goal to have a better paying profession by the end of this year.

My next goal is to work on my body. Now, I don't want to become like some body builder or anything like that, but I would like to put on a few pounds of muscle and add some more weight to my frame. So that is what I'd like to work on this year.

And my final goal is to travel a bit more this year. Maybe visit some of my online friends who live in other parts of the country and check out the sites. Of course, a lot of that depends on whether I can achieve my first goal, so we'll see what happens there.

Well that's it for now. It feels good blogging once again. I can assure you that my next blog won't be several months away.

Well last week I made my way out to the ESPN Dream Job tryout tour as it made its way to my home state of Michigan. How did it go?

It went quite well, in my opinion.

My one fear going to the tryout was that the line would be so long that I wouldn't get a chance to show what I can do. Fortunately for me, even though there was a line, it wasn't that long. In fact, it took me about an hour and a half for me to make my way inside.

As I was waiting in line, I got to talk with several others who were shooting for a shot at the ESPN job as I was. Some were close by, while there was others who came in as far as Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, and Columbus looking for a shot. Some were about the same age as me, some were younger (one was 18, the youngest one can qualify to participate0 and others were in their early forties. They worked in the same jobs as me, others were school janitors, worked at places like Ford and GM (in fact, one I talked to called someone on his cell to get to change his meeting at GM to a later time so that he could stay in line at the tryout), others were just high school and college students. The attire ranged from the business suit and tie, like I was, to casual gear to golf shirts and jeans. A few even put on anything that had "ESPN" on it.

We were all shooting for the Dream Job.

As I was waiting, a couple of TV stations and someone from the local newspaper stopped by to film us or talk to us. They didn't talk with me, I didn't feel like being interviewed anyway and I'm sure I made the local newscast as well, but I can't tell you if I did or not.

Finally, after that hour and a half wait, I made it in after filling out forms in the line. Me, along with seven others, were seated at a table and filled out yet another form, this time filled with all kinds of sports trivia in a timed test. Some of the questions I knew, like what Tiger Woods real name was (Eldrick) and what was Columbus' Major League Soccer team was called (Crew). There was some that I didn't know till after the test was over, like who was the coach of USC's football team( I had Pete Carroll's first name but couldn't remember his last0 or who did the Yankees beat in the last World Series they won(I had the Braves, but it was the Mets in 2000.)

After the test, we were then brought to another room where we all took part in a roundtable discussion about our sports knowledge. We talked about everything from who should win the Heisman in college football to who should get the AL MVP to the NFL. It was a good chat and I guess the ESPN guys wanted to see how much we knew about sports.

After that, it was over and we were let out as another group of eight came in for their turn. It took about almost an hour for the whole tryout and I came out of it hoping that I'd at least make it to the next round of the tryouts. They told me that they'll let everyone know in about a month if we made the cut.

Wish me luck.

(UPDATE: Jan. 12, 2004 -- I didn't make the cut and from what I gathered, neither did any of the others that I saw at my time at the tryout. I was disappointed, of course, but as my brother told me, it was a good lesson on the process of interviewing for a sports broadcasting job. Anyhow, The "Dream Job" show airs in February on ESPN. Good luck to the people who made the finals. )

Hey there.

If you know me, or been to my site over the past four-plus years, you know that of all the things I do, I have one dream: to work in the field of sports broadcasting.

In my dream, I see myself starting at sports radio, probably in a small city or market and then working my way up to a big time station or perhaps making the move to television, where I would be working at the big time stations near my hometown of Detroit or even going national and working with the big boys at ESPN, the station I watch religiously every day.

That's my dream. Now comes the harsh reality: I'm still toiling away at my regular job, while I'm trying to break into radio. And the few opportunities I get into the business has been dashed, either by not getting hired or by the station deciding to hire someone within the station to save money. Some reality, huh?

But in spite of these setbacks, I'm not giving up on my dream. In fact, something is happening that may bring me closer to my ultimate goal: working at ESPN.

The network is doing a new reality-type show, called "Dream Job" that would bring in several people from across the nation to compete in sports broadcasting related tasks (like doing play-by-play, reading from a teleprompter, interviewing athletes, etc.) and in the end, the winner receives a year-long contract to work for ESPN.

Like I said, this is something that brings me closer to my goal. On Monday, the tryout tour for this show, which debuts early next year, is coming to my area. And as you can guess, I will be going to try out.

Now I don't know what to expect from this. I'm sure the tryout will be long and tough and I'm also sure that there will be many others like me who will be trying out for the same dream as I am.

What I do know is that I have to go for this. If they like what they see of me, the sky's the limit and I could be working for the very station that I've enjoyed watching for years. If they don't, I'll still keep on plugging away and who knows, maybe this will speed things along towards a broadcasting job.

No matter what happens on Monday, I'm going for it to show the ESPN guys what I can do. To work in sports broadcasting is my dream. Hopefully ESPN's "Dream Job" will make mine a reality.

I'll let you know how the tryout went on my next blog.

Wish me luck.

OK, I checked out "Underworld" What did I think of it?

Not bad.

The plot line was OK enough, putting yet another spin on the endless battle between werewolves and vampires. But they took a somewhat different slant on it, having a lady vampire hunter fall for a guy, who's about to become a werewolf.

What I liked about it: some of the action scenes were pretty good, especially the climatic fight towards the end. I also liked how the feud was played out as well, giving a slant that had you thinking one way at first but then seeing it from the other side.

Now when it comes to any movie involving werewolves, I look at two things: the transformation scenes and the final look of the werewolf itself. The TF scenes were OK, with the use of CGI effects. I like how they used the transformations too, especially with one guy as he becomes the werewolf. A much better use of morphing as compared to "Bad Moon" as an example. I even liked how they showed a few of them changing back using the morphing effect.
As for the wolf itself, it could've been better, as it looked like a black panther than a wolf, but it wasn't bad. There were glimpses that made it look very realistic, but they weren't used enough. I did like the effect that had them climbing along the walls and leaping onto buildings and trains.
One effect I wished they would've shown all the way is showing the male lead change into a werewolf for the first time. In showing his transformation, they used a cool camera effect in showing how the change effected his body as his organs shifted and his bones began to grow and change. They didn't show enough of it and they stopped the change before he completely became a wolf. It should've been a contender for a cool TF scene, but it just fell short.

What I didn't like about it was the overuse of the weapons. I mean, we're talking werewolves and vampires here. They can do some hand to hand combat from time to time and not be so dependent on the guns. Although, I did find it interesting with the use of their weapons to fight their foes (the vampires using bullets with silver nitrate and the wolves using bullets made with a form of ultraviolet light) I also didn't like the use of darkness when it comes to the werewolf TFs and I especially hated how when the male lead became a werewolf-vampire hybrid at the end, you get to see this incredible use of effects to show him changing and what do you see at the end? the guy in kind of his human form, covered in dark purple paint and some claws and a few fangs. I mean come on?!!!
A friend of mine brought up a good point saying he thought the guy would be like Nightcrawler from X-Men2 and start teleporting.
All in all, it wasn't too bad. It could've been a lot better but they had enough to build on for the proposed sequels that they plan to make. Like I said with "The Hulk" movie back in June, I hope they take the good points they did with the film and expand on that and hopefully make a kick-ass sequel.

My next film review will be for "The Rundown" Stay tuned.

TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Whohoo!!
I take pride in the fact that today I pass yet another number in the age scale (And no, I won't tell you how old I am!)
I'm also proud of the fact that my birthday falls on the time that the new fall season is out on TV and movies, that football is in full swing and the baseball playoffs are about to start. It won't be long before basketball and hockey start up as well. Ah, you gotta love fall.
I don't usually go all out when it comes to celebrating my big day. Mostly the high point for me is spending some time with the family and some good friends, maybe taking in a movie or a sporting event, and winding down the day with some cake and ice cream. It may not be the earth-shattering event some people have on their birthday, but it works for me.
For gifts, my mom gave me a very cool one: the first season DVD box set of "Smallville". Very nice. I also got some cash ( the gift that keeps on giving, I always say) some clothes and some DVDs. Not a bad haul.
Thanks to all my friends who sent out good wishes for the day as well. It's been a good birthday for me, can't wait till the next one.

Hey there.
Well tomorrow I will see the first film of the fall, "Underworld". With the weather now changing, cold and rainy and all, it is now official: summer is over.
So, as promised earlier, here is my revue of the films I saw over the summer months. I checked out six movies
(X2, Matrix Reloaded, 28 Days Later, Hulk, T3 and Pirates of the Caribbean) Here's what I thought were the best of the lot, in reverse order:

6. Hulk: I had high, high hopes for this film, but it let me down. The plot took too long to set up before Banner changed for the first time and I'm still scratching my head over that climax. But in spite of that, it was OK. I liked the actors, especially Eric Bana as Banner, and the CGI Hulk was believeable enough, especially in the daylight. But, even though it let me down, I'll probably will get the DVD when it comes out October 28th.

5. T3: A good action flick, lots of good scenes, especially with the chase scend in the freeway. But the plot was so-so, although I do go along with the premise that the end of the world and that the machines will take over will happen and there's nothing that can be done to stop it. Asise from Arnold and the very hot Termimatrix, the acting was lame, flat and dull. It was a good stand alone film, but in my mind, the saga ended with "T2: Judgement Day"

4. 28 Days Later: A small dark horse of a film, but it was good. I can associate with the lead character who's world is turned upside down when he finds himself in the middle of an abandoned desolate city ravaged by a killer virus after coming out of a coma and is forced to do whatever it takes to survive. This was a good story that not only scared you but makes you think as well.

3. The Matrix Reloaded: An awesome movie with a lot of scenes that blew me away, especially the unreal chase scene along the freeway. But to understand the plot was very hard. The only thing I could think of was the fact that they filmed two movies at the same time and left some of the stuff out for the third film. So, I guess I have to wait until "The Matrix Revolutions" comes out November 5th for me to make sense of it. Still, a good film.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: When the summer began, there was no way I was going to see this movie. But the buzz was pretty good and several friends kept telling me about it, so I decided to check it out. I was very very surprised. It was a good adventure with believable characters (Johnny Depp definitely earns my award for the best acting performance of the summer) and a story that kept you going. The special effects were incredible as well. What's also surprising about this film is that it still has holding power in the box office several months later.

1. X2: X-Men United: The best sequel I've seen in a while. From the wild opening sequence to the emotional climax, this was a worthy sequel to the original X Men movie a couple of years ago. You got to see some depth to the main corps of mutants, some expansion in some of the minor characters in the first film and we got to meet some new ones to the universe. The fight scenes were incredible and the special effects were very well done. It was the first film I saw in the summer and still held up after several months.

So now that summer's over, on to the fall films. My first review on "Underworld" will be coming on Monday. Blog at you later.

Hey there.
The summer's officially over, so it's time to review all the films I've seen over the summer. I saw six films in that period. And in my next blog, I'll countdown what I thought was the best of them all. The next film I'll probably see will be "Underworld" on Sept. 19th.

Are you ready for some football?!! I am!! The NFL season kicked off last Thursday and until the Super Bowl in February, pro football rules! Now, it's been a while since I did a football forecast, but here's who I think will win as the season begins:
NFC East: 1. Philadelphia 2. NY Giants 3. Washington 4. Dallas
NFC North: 1. Minnesota 2. Green Bay 3. Detroit 4. Chicago
NFC South: 1. Tampa Bay 2. Atlanta 3. New Orleans 4. Carolina
NFC West: 1. San Francisco 2. Seattle 3. St. Louis 4. Arizona
NFC Wild Cards: Atlanta & NY Giants
AFC East: 1. Buffalo 2. New England 3. NY Jets 4. Miami
AFC North: 1. Pittsburgh 2. Baltimore 3. Cleveland 4. Cincinnati
AFC South: 1. Tennessee 2. Indianapolis 3. Jacksonville 4. Houston
AFC West: 1. Oakland 2. Denver 3. Kansas City 4. San Diego
AFC Wild Cards: Denver & Indianapolis
NFC Champ: Tampa Bay AFC Champ: Tennessee Super Bowl XXXVIII Champ: Tennessee.

Those are my picks, subject to change, of course.

Blog at you later.

Hey there.
August 26th was a very important day here for me.
Why? Today was the day one of my favorite movies comes out on DVD.

And no, it's not the second Lord of the Rings movie. Although, I will be renting The Two Towers this week to check it out. I'll be buying the Extended Version DVD in a couple of months.

No, the DVD I wanted was "The Howling Special Edition" DVD. As you know, this is one of my all-time favorite werewolf movies (along with The Wolf Man and American Werewolf in London) and now with this special edition DVD, I now have all three of them in special, jam-packed DVDs. The Howling came out on DVD a couple of years ago, but it was only a bare-bones DVD, and there was no way I was going to buy that one.

The reason why was because several years ago they made a special edition laser disc version of the movie, filled with features and commentary from the stars of the film. A friend of mine in college made me a video tape copy of that movie and it freakin' rocked!! So I hoped that whenever they would come out with a DVD, that it will have those same features that was in the laser disc, along with some new additons.

Well, after getting it today, I was thrilled! They have the same commentary from the laser disc, along with some new additions, like several new documentaries, and bloopers. It is an awesome addition to my growing DVD collection.

Oh, there is another reason why August 26th is an important day for me. It's also my mother's birthday.

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you!!!

Man, what a week!

Two big news worthy events took place this past week. And I was involved in both of them.

First this past Monday, my PC, which recently got upgraded to Windows XP, kept shutting down for no apparent reason. It happened whenever I was online. Sometimes it happened within minutes. Other times it took place in a half hour or so. It was driving me crazy. I didn't know if it was my Windows XP program was acting up or my ISP or what. I remember being up late on Monday night searching up everything I could on my hard drive and online ( for as long as I could stay online) trying to find the problem with no luck. I didn't know what to do.

Then the same thing happened again on Tuesday when I got home from work. I was stumped. I didn't know whether I should go back to Windows 98 SE or take my PC to the shop. Then I was watching the news and it mentioned something about a computer virus that affects PCs that have Windows. After seeing the report, I logged on again and again my PC shut down on me. This time though, I looked at my Norton's AntiVirus program before it shut down and it mentioned the Blaster virus and it was exactly what was mentioned on the news.
Crap! I said to myself, along with several other obscenities. I couldn't believe some dumbass hacker who's pissed off about Windows and Microsoft could mess up my computer along with everyone's else who has Windows XP, 2000 and so on. So anyway, I found out what I needed to do to prevent getting shut down again, which in my case involved enabline a Internet firewall connection for my PC and downloading a safety patch to avoid getting hit with that damn virus. Good thing Norton's took care of the virus and eliminated it from messing up my system. Once that was done, I was back online and all was right once again.

Until Thursday.

I was at work around 4pm when I saw the lights flickering overhead. After a few moments, the place was in the dark. Me and my co-workers were thinking it was a power surge at our place (it has happened before) or even someone had knocked out our power, since there was construction going on nearby. But when one of my co-workers mentioned that he had heard on his portable radio that not only our area was affected, but other places like New York, Toronto and Cleveland were in the dark as well, we all got concerned. All kinds of thoughts raced through our head, with another terrorist attack topping the list.
What freaked me out even more was the fact that I couldn't call home and check on my mother and see how she was doing.

I've come to find out that a major power failure had hit most of the East Coast. They say some freak thing happened at a power grid either in New York or Ohio and it caused a cascade effect that knocked out everything from where I live to NYC to Cleveland to Toronto and other areas in between. The fact that it was one of the hottest days in the summer also set off the blackout.

Anyway, what happened the rest of the day pretty much sucked. First of all, me and my fellow co-workers had to clear out the store and then lock it down. Then we had to store up and cover all fruits, produce and dairy stuff we could. It was a pointless task, I would later learn, but we didn't know how long it would last. Then they let us go home early.

Once home, I'd find out that there was hardly enough water, candles and flashlights around. My dinner that night consisted of lukewarm pop and a bag of Cheetos. Good thing I had a big lunch earlier in the day. I played around with my portable Pac-Man electronic game after that until it got dark. And when it got dark, I mean it got really dark. I had never seen the area like that before in the five years I had lived there. The only thing I had going for me was my portable radio and my tapes. With nothing to do, I called it a night at 11pm. I had never been to bed that early since I was a kid. And with the humidity and heat, it was a brutal night to even attempt at getting some sleep. I think I woke up several times that night and spent one full hour (around 4am to after 5am) laying on my bed watching the candle in my room burn out. Needless to say, Thursday night was one of the worst nights I've ever had.

When I woke up Friday, the prospects of this blackout coming to an end didn't seem good. There was talk that it could go into Sunday or Monday. But then, came some promising news. While in line with several others to grab some water from the apartment complex's swimming pool to help fuel our toilet, I had heard that one of the stores nearby was open. That was great, meaning that we could get some more supplies to try and make do until the power came back on. Then at around 1pm, just as me and my mom were about to go to the store came a wonderous sight: the lights at our apartment complex had come back on! Was the power back or was it just a test? After going to the store to grab some things, it turned out that it had indeed come back.

Whohoo!!!!

Now we still didn't have any running water and our power was somewhat limited, it was a hell of a lot better than what was the case Thursday. It was enough for me to plug back in my TV, radio, VCR, DVD player and PS2. Then after midnight, our water had returned. The worst of it had passed.

Saturday, the store I worked at was back up and running and I returned to work and later that night, I had plugged back my PC and went back online. There is still a boil water advisory where I am and there are still a few places in the dark, but as it stands right now, the Great Blackout of 2003 is over. It was an experience I know I'll never forget and neither will some of my friends who were affected by it. I'll share some of their stories in a future blog.

So, as you can see, this was quite a week for me. First dealing with the Blaster worm virus and then enduring the Great Blackout. It was one wild and crazy week. I just hope the week to come will be a lot tamer.

Hey there. My summer at the movies continue. After my last movie review, T3, I didn't know which film to see next: Pirates of the Caribbean or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

And the winner is...

Pirates.

Now when this came out, the odds on me seeing this movie were slim and none. Didn't appeal to me whatsoever. But then many of my friends, both online and in person, kept telling me that I should check it out. So after weighing their opinion, I decided to see it for myself.

My verdict? I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie was a good swashbuckler, like they made in the old days. It was loaded with great action, cool stunts and humor. The plot was very believable and had depth, rare in some of those action films out these days and the characters were all credible. The effects were cool too, especially when the cursed pirates became walking skeletons at moonlight. It looked seamlessly well done and fit in without making it look like it was CGI. Johnny Depp clearly stole the show in this one. He was very funny and believable and he had the pirate look down. He's another one of those chameleon type actors that steps into a role and immerses himself in it.

As far as I was concerned, this has to be the sleeper hit of the summer. A film buried within
all the big time blockbusters but yet came out to kick some serious butt in the box office. No wonder they're talking about doing a sequel. Hopefully, they can maintain some of that same magic whenever they make it.

So, will I see LXG? Not sure yet, still some time left in the summer. So far, I've seen about six movies since summer began (X2, Matrix Reloaded, Hulk, T3, 28 Days Later, and Pirates). Sometime after Labor Day, I'll rank what I thought was the best of what I've seen.

That's it for now. Blog at you later.