10 page paper = SUCKS

Family Guy Back???

Family Guy may return in January 2005 with 35 new episodes due to exceptionally strong DVD sales

According to this link on Fark, due to strong DVD sales and high ratings in syndication, Fox might resurrect Family Guy. To say the least, I am elated.

But, although I hate to say it, Family Guy has become so popular in its post broadcast period that the fun has almost been taken out of it. Everywhere I turn someone is talking about Family Guy, its almost as bad as the Old School bandwagon phenomenon (show me someone who is not OVERLY vocal about their love of Old School and I will be very surprised). I would aliken the feeling to what happens when a band you like gets big. One day the little crappy band that you're been listening to for so long makes it on the radio/MTV and the next thing you know everyone and their mother is listening to them. You know that they are going to have to change to accommodate the larger audience, and I don't want this to happen to Family Guy. Hopefully the success of the series will afford it some creative leeway, such as letting the "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" type episodes through. This is the one positive (other than the show being back, obviously) that I hope a larger audience will bring with the series.

Bu Bu Bubba Ho-Tep

This Friday I went to see Bubba Ho-tep, an indie film starring b-movie superstar Bruce Campbell. It was made in 2002, but only has recently been afforded a limited national release.

I can easily say that this was the most enjoyable film I have seen all year, and I cant remember laughing this hard at a movie in some time.

The story is centered on an east Texas nursing home and focuses on two of its most interesting residents. One is presumably the "real" Elvis Presley. He claims that towards the end of his career he switched places with the best Elivs impersonator in the world, so he could have a relatively "normal" life. His best friend in the home is a older black gentleman who claims that he is JFK, and that the CIA died his skin black to fool the public. Together they attempt to protect their home from a soul-sucking mummy from Egypt.

Now if that isn't a premise that is worth looking into, I dont know what is!

Although it seems as if a film like this wouldn't afford a solid plot or story-line, the characters are all very believable and really make you feel for their positions as helpless elderly folk with no real direction or purpose in the twilight of their lives.

I highly recommend this movie.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Web (and I'm a douche)

Yup so I had a great long-ass weekend in Orlando. I saw Slayer then Poison the Well and Deftones, and managed to eat at Arbys more than is humanly healthy. I am lazy today so I'm just gunna post some interesting links:

www.fark.com

First off, if you haven't been to Fark you haven't been on the internet. Fark complies all of the most interesting/weird/disturbing links of the day all in one handy website. It also hosts Photoshop contests that are downright hilarious. Bookmark it.

www.penny-arcade.com

Penny Arcade is one of the premier online comics. Be warned, it is directed at geeks so it can be very odd.

www.smithappens.com

This is basically just a website of a college kid, but he can be pretty funny sometimes.

www.absolutepunk.net

Great website for late breaking news and info on the punk/emo scene. Updated multiple times daily.

I would put Homestar Runner on here but everyone has already jumped onto that bandwagon.

More to come later.

The Matrix: Revolutions

After dragging myself out of bed at 8, Neil, Alex, Mitch, Troy, and I went to see the Matrix: Revolutions. I was surprised and impressed that the theater ended up being nearly full. Before the movie they played a trailer for Troy (starring Brad Pitt) which looks like its going to be GREEKTASTIC!

Ok on to the movie.

Let's get things straight, I seem to be in the minority in the fact that I actually enjoyed Reloaded. Most people I talk to thought it was terrible. I don't understand, although the story was only slightly furthered and it contained mostly action, it also contained elements that were crucial to understanding the Matrix. The scene with the Architect was reason enough to love it - for the shear shock factor of learning that Neo was of a long line of "The Ones" and that the machines had planned for everything. Add to that the most ambitious car chase scene in movie history, the spectacular CGI based "Burly Brawl" of Neo vs. the Smiths, Neo's strange powers outside of the Matrix, and the cliffhanger shot at the end of Bane/Smith next to Neo - I can't understand why anyone could hate it.

::Spoiler Warning::

I thought that Revolutions was great. It answered many of the questions left at the end of Reloaded while leaving many things ambiguous, up to the viewer to interpret. I appreciate the fact that the Wachowskis decided not to spell out everything, modern movies can tend to be too simple and linear. The best scene in my opinion was the Neo/Smith finale. The raging rainstorm, legions of Smiths, and the bizarre, now lifeless world of the Smith-controlled Matrix combined to form a perfect backdrop for the final battle. It was The One vs. the Anti-One. Truly a fight of the titans, gods of the Matrix. Each clash was heralded by shockwaves as if every punch brought with it the power of an atomic bomb. The end was a perfect mirror of the final battle of the first movie - instead of Neo infiltrating Smith, Smith took over Neo.

The battle of Zion was also a stand-out scene. Its sheer scope was jaw-dropping. Hundreds of human controlled Mechs battling a seemingly endless mass of Sentinels - human courage vs. machine might. The precarious position of the denizens of Zion was never in question, it was as if it wasn't a matter of win or lose but of how long they could fight before being swept up by the machine hoard.

Not everything about the movie was great. I thought that the lobby scene with the ceiling-dwelling guards was poorly executed. There was no real sense of power or movement, and there seemed to be no tactical advantage for them to be standing on the roof in the first place.

I think that Agent Smith is one of the most interesting and enduring characters in modern storytelling. Hugo Weaving created a character who is truly engaging. His economy of expression allows for the simplest of actions to convey mountains of emotion, and his unique style of delivery has created a character that is like none other.

Ramble Ramble

So my friend Temi came to visit on Sunday. He left UF to join the Marines and is now officially kicking ass and taking names. He told us all about the guns and the training and how closely it mirrors America's Army (for future reference: the grenade launcher sounds much more "crisp" in real life). He also demonstrated hand to hand combat on me (much to my dismay) and almost made me pass out from a sleeper hold. Apparently a lot of the people in the marines are tools and I'm glad that Temi excelled. It was really good to see him, I miss hanging out and playing command and conquer and rainbow six 3 with him and Neil for hours. Good times. He is gunna be in the land of Arnold (California) for some time for schooling, and is going into electronics. I wish him all the luck in the world.

Speaking of Neil if you haven't been to his blog you are really missing out:

The Boorish Blog of Rev. Hughes

Although Neil seems to have a rather low opinion of the PC port of Halo, I have spent quite some time playing the demo online (on the fan-favorite Blood Gulch map) and it has been great. It took me a while to find a server with low lag but once I did it was awesome...better than the Xbox I venture to say. They added a new warthog that has some sort of cannon on it and a new alien mortar gun. I couldn't sleep last night and this kept me busy for quite some time. If the game wasn't 50 dollars I might pick it up. Oh well.

The Matrix: Revolutions comes out tomorrow and Neil, Alex, Mitch, and I will be there at 8:30 in the morning banging down the doors. I can't wait. I will definitely give my first impressions here after I see it.