Bacardi Hour

I have been pretty busy with work the last couple of days. It was a pleasant surprise to get home last night and realize that Bacardi Hour had not yet passed me by.

Hot Fuzz

It feels like it has been a while since my last movie suggestion so I thought I would share with you the awesomeness that is Hot Fuzz. I watched Hot Fuzz this last weekend and haven't been able to stop talking about it since. I am sure all my co-workers are sick of hearing "Have you seen Hot Fuzz yet? Really? You totally have to watch it. It is awesome." or "That reminds me of .... oh wait, you haven't seen Hot Fuzz. Never mind."

It is kind of hard to describe what Hot Fuzz is about because it is British. Supposedly it is a buddy-cop spoof but I don't know if I feel comfortable calling it a spoof. When I think spoof, I think Naked Gun 33 and 1/3 or Scary Movie etc. Hot Fuzz is nothing like these movies in my opinion. It is actually well made with a plot and solid character development. Plus it is funny in a smart way. Did I already mention that I loved this movie?

One piece of advice I will give is to watch Bad Boys 1 and 2 prior to seeing Hot Fuzz. It will make a few scenes 1000 times better because it will give you a point of reference. Also, be prepared for a nice supporting role from a well known British actor that you probably haven't seen in many years. He kind of steals the show. One of my friends who also saw the movie mentioned that they were glad they didn't really know what to expect going in because it made the movie that much funnier so I will take their advice and wrap this post up so that I don't accidentally drop in any spoilers.

So yeah, if you haven't seen Hot Fuzz yet then you are missing out. Watch it. You won't regret the decision.

PS I liked it way more than Shaun of the Dead.

1st Annual Yard Sale

This last Saturday a couple friends and I got together for a good old fashioned yard sale. It was nice to make a few thousand dollars and get rid of clothes I haven't rocked in the last year as well as sever the final ties to my gambling habit.

But what was even better was sitting on the lawn in front of Andy and Mike's house (aka The Brokeback Mansion) and enjoying the beautiful morning with a couple of friends while listening to Justin Timberlake. It was just like having a BBQ at 8AM without the smokey grill and greasy meat.

Here are a few highlights:

• Selling the broken cell phone to the crazy guy with the giant helmet and making his day.
• Watching the lady try to snag the glitter jeans from the guy who was buying them for his girlfriend when he wasn't looking.
• Selling cookies to the nice family in the SUV and seeing how excited the little girls were to eat cookies for breakfast.
• Eating like 9 cupcakes because they tasted so good. I think they might have been made from crack cocaine.
• Having the little old German lady who may or may not have been the landlord think we were gypsies and ask why the crazy American women would sell junk on the lawn so they could buy more junk.
• Making Borat jokes after being called gypsies.
• Watching Dan wear the suit jacket all morning that he purchased from me so he could have a suit to wear in case somebody dies.

In summation, the yard sale was fantastic and I hope to make it an annual event. Everybody wins when it comes to yard sales. Especially those people who want to sell video games, DVDs, and electronics.

Dwayne Wade's House Looks Like Butt

I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to home decor. However, I PROMISE you that if I had $8.5 million dollars to spend on a home that I could do much better than the Florida monstrosity built by Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat. I would start by going with the full body nude portrait of myself on the main level as opposed to the torso and above portrait. I would have gone with the the Batman bathroom instead of Spider Man as well. It would up the resell value because Batman is more bad-ass then Spider Man plus the Batman mask really accentuates my best physical feature - my piercing-blue, Daniel Craig-like eyes.

Honestly, has Mr. Wade never picked up a copy of Dwell? How about his interior designer? Did nobody learn from the disaster that is Karl Malone's former SLC abode? What a colossal waste of money. Even the pool is lame. Come on. I could kill this house on a quarter of the budget and I have never taken a single design class.

If you haven't already clicked on the link to the photos of the house, do it now. You have to see it to fully appreciate it.

Burgers

Burgers. Mmmmm. I love me some burgers. This morning I had a conversation about burgers with one of my friends and I realized just how much I love burgers. Here are some of my favorite burgers:

• In-N-Out Double Double Animal Style


• Fatburger with cheese, egg, pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard, and tomato


• Carl's Jr. Low-Carb Six-Dollar Burger
  
• Morton's Happy Hour Mini-Burgers - I eat burgers while my co-workers drink beer. I win.

Here are some burgers that are on my list to try:

• Father's Office - I hear it is made with kobe beef and is the bomb dot com


• The Counter - I have tried to sample this one a few times but every time I try to go I get sidetracked and end up at The 101 Coffee Shop


• The Roosevelt Hotel - Supposedly this is the best burger in LA. I am withholding judgement until I can try it for myself

Here is a list of burgers that I don't like:

• Any 99 cent burger or the equivalent thereof - they give me burger mouth and it drives me crazy


• The Applepan - I went there once and swore to never return. I stood against the wall for like 20 minutes waiting for a seat at the bar to open up so that I could place my order and then the burger tasted worse than my butt.


• Century Plaza Hyatt - You would think that an $18 dollar burger would taste pretty good. It didn't.

Yes I love burgers. Thanks to the conversation this morning I even built my own burger in the DreamWorks commissary. For the second time in three days. Take that Fast Food Nation.

I'm Gonna Kill Jim Halpert

In anticipation of tonight's episode of The Office, I thought I would post this "trailer." Enjoy.

Another Accident on the PCH

Today's post is by far the most somber post I have ever made. Bob Clark, writer and director of arguably the greatest Christmas film of all time - A Christmas Story, and his son Ariel (yes you read that right, his son Ariel) were killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver early this morning on the PCH. The details can be found here.

Thank you Bob for the many hours of laughter you have provided me over the years. Not a Christmas goes by where I don't watch A Christmas Story at least once.

Feel free to discuss your favorite quotes, scenes, or memories involving this wonderful film in the comments.

My Indie Night

Last night I put on my indie uniform and headed up to Hollywood with a group of friends. We started off with dinner at the indie hipster hangout 101 Coffee Shop. After enjoying the excellent diner food we walked down to the Henry Fonda Theater for the Ratatat show. Because of our decision to walk 3 or 4 blocks down to the theater we ended up paying zero dollars for parking. Yes you read that right, zero dollars for parking. In Hollywood. Zero dollars. For certain members of the party who shall remain nameless, that may or may not have been the highlight of the night.

I had never been to the Henry Fonda Theater before so I was kind of excited. I had heard lots of good things and I was not disappointed.

The coolest aspect of the theater was the rooftop deck for relaxing between sets or getting some fresh air. They even projected the show onto the wall outside. It was pretty awesome.

The Ratatat performance was solid and very enjoyable. Their last song and the two songs of the encore were kind of anticlimactic though. I would have organized the set a little differently so that the show ended with more energy. The place was rocking after Wildcat. Why not finish with that?

After reading this, you may be thinking to yourself "Who is Ratatat?" or "What kind of music do they play?" Well, those are both good questions and a little difficult to answer. While discussing these very questions on our way to Hollywood, the consensus was Daft Punk without the robots and with guitars. This still may leave you a little confused but I promise you it is a much better answer than "it's good music."

As I mentioned before, Ratatat was solid but it would have been maybe 100 times better if they wouldn't have made us wait for like 40 minutes after listening to the sucky Norwegian band 120 Days. I was getting kind of sleepy and a little cranky waiting. Luckily the instant contact high from when the lights went down and Ratatat came out put me in a slightly better mood.

Finally, the opening band that was playing when we first walked in was pretty bad to the bone. I walk into the theater and I feel this pulsing bass in my gut and look on stage and see this white rapper with a giant foam finger just going off. His name was Despot and he was AWESOME. There was definitely some gangsta rap influences with a little Control Machete feel to it. I wish he would have been the act to play right before Ratatat instead of the crappy Norwegians.

So all in all, my indie night in Hollywood was pretty awesome. I bet everybody reading this wishes they were me right now. I'm so hip and trendy. I go to clubs in Hollywood on school nights. Booyeahkai.