DVDs and Milwaukee

I braved the snow a couple days ago and made the trip to Best Buy to get the Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle DVD. When I got there, I found that every single copy was sold out. They even had a special display case for that movie and it was completely empty.

That made me at least a little bit mad. I thought I was the only one dumb and immature enough to want to get stupid movies like Harold and Kumar or Napoleon Dynamite. Now I realize that there are many more idiots out there just like me.

Anyways, I ended up finding the DVD at Wal-Mart and when I was buying it using one of those "self-checkout" stations, the thing beeped and the voice said "Authorization Required", not letting me proceed. This confused me until the attendant came by and told me he just had to make sure I was at least 17. Funny, I never realized that stores actually check whether or not you're old enough to buy a certain movie.

The experience also made me think, as I was showing the attendant guy what movie I was buying. Would I be more embarrassed about getting a movie like Harold & Kumar cause it's such a stupid movie, or more embarrased about buying a porno DVD? I think it might be a close argument. Not that I personally was that embarrassed about buying H&K; after all, I've bought many Britney Spears CDs in the past, even got her McDonald's CD, as well as her stickers and folders.

I noticed that when Best Buy, Circuit City, or Wal-Mart have DVD sales, they seem to always dicount the Braveheart DVD. Which is weird, since they put all these crappy movies that nobody is ever going to buy in the same bin. I suspect they are trying to sell as many copies of that DVD, before they suddenly announce that they are releasing a "special collector's edition" 4-disc set with 100 minutes of unreleased footage and directors commentary. Actually, I can almost guarantee that's what's gonna happen. Too bad I already fell for their tricks and bought the regular Braveheart DVD a few months ago when Circuit City was having their specials.

At work, I moved again. The project I'm working on got its own room and now I am upstairs again. Not that big of a deal, I kind of like the move so far cause I have more space in my new spot.

Weekend was pretty good, visited Ray (and saw P for a little bit) in Milwaukee. The trip was yet another reminder for me that my body is getting old though. We went out to a few local bars Friday night, and by about 1am I was pretty much sleepwalking around with the rest of the group. Don't know how the other guys still had the energy to go to the casino afterwards, but for me there was no way.

Saturday morning, played some ball at a Marquette gym. Their place is pretty much like IMPE, maybe a little older and not as fancy. Ran a couple full court games and after the first 2 times up and down the court, felt like my lungs were gonna collapse. Not good, but I lasted longer than I thought I would. Played alright too, especially considering I haven't touched a basketball in maybe 3 years.

Also checked out a local brewery tour, place was called Lakefront. It was a pretty good tour and for $5, you get a souvenir glass and 4 beers. Can't beat that deal. If any of you out there ever go to this place, I recommend the Lakefront White, it tastes a lot like Blue Moon.

Afternoon, watched the Illini beat Purdue. Not the prettiest game, but a win is a win. Still haven't decided if Dee or Luther is our best player, and coming into this season I thought Deron would easily be the MVP. So I guess that tells you how balanced this team is. Gotta love Dee though, after he hit one of his big 2nd half shots, he showed everyone his pride for ILLINOIS:



This is now my desktop wallpaper. We definitely need more guys like him in Chicago, who stay loyal to the programs around here.

Anyways, after the Illini game, we played some ping pong, and then they were going to hit up the Bucks/Jazz game. I didn't feel like I would be able to go to the game and drive back to Illinois afterwards, so I decided to just call it a trip there, skip the game and head home early. From what I heard, the Bucks game sucked anyways and I didn't miss much.

Some of the pictures from Milwaukee:









Another fun part from the weekend was the heater going out at our townhouse. It's like losing electricity, except not as fun. Actually it wasn't too bad, I just wore a couple extra layers, and between my halogen light, 2 computers, TV, and ironing my clothes, enough heat was generated to survive. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those super cold winter days outside, not sure how we would've held up under worse conditions.

I haven't done a list in a while, how about a list of services/amenities I use, in increasing order of how much it sucks if/when it goes down:

10. GPS - Yes, I do use GPS from time to time for navigation purposes.

9. Regular TV - When I think about it, there's not a lot of stuff I really watch on regular TV anymore. Pretty much just football on Sundays, and reruns of King of Queens on the U.

8. Radio - Radio is actually pretty important to me, especially when you consider that it includes both AM and FM. A free source of music at any given time, and when there's no good songs on at all, there's always sports talk to listen to. And when I'm not near a TV, or I'm near a TV that sucks/doesn't have cable (i.e. Darien home), I can usually listen to important game broadcasts on the radio.

7. Cell phone - This has moved down my list significantly in the past year or so. I have consciously been trying not to depend on my phone as much, and let that little thing control my life. At one point things were just ridiculous and I had to just turn it off when I didn't absolutely need it. Still, I can't live entirely without my phone, and it definitely sucks when my cell service goes down.

6. Cable TV - It's got everything regular TV has, but oh so much more. Sportscenter, Pimp My Ride, World Series of Poker, college basketball, Chappelle's Show, the list goes on.

5. Heat - I guess it depends on how cold it is outside. As I described above, it wasn't so bad last night considering I have 2 blankets and wore many layers. But if it were one of those sub-zero Chicago winter nights, that would suck a lot more.

4. Electricity - Needs no explanation. We've all experienced power outages, it happens at least a few times a year to remind us of how much we would miss electricity if we didn't have it. Among other things, it means no light at night, stuff in the fridge spoils, sump pump fails and house floods.

3. Internet - Unlike cell phones, I can't realistically envision forcing myself to depend on the internet less. I've already written plenty of stuff about what I need the internet for, and it seems like I'm still constantly finding more uses for it.

2. Gasoline - We've never had a serious gasoline shortage during our driving years, but if one ever happened, I would be screwed. Driving a car that struggles to get 20 mpg on the highway doesn't exactly help.

1. Water/Plumbing - We need water for drinking, obviously, but that's not the biggest thing that scares me. What if you couldn't flush your toilets for more than a day or two? Oh the horror.

2005

If I haven't seen and/or talked to you in the past couple weeks, then let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year here in this blog. The holiday season has given me a week and two days off from work (ending tomorrow), and of course I have no complaints about that. It was definitely nice to get this time to spend on things other than circuits, lasers, and status reports for once.

Among the things I've been doing instead of work:

- Got some nice gifts (and also my second annual Christmas card from the one friend I know who sends out Christmas cards). I won't list all of the gifts I got here, but they were all very nice and I appreciated every one a lot. Since I'm not really into gift giving as much as other people, and I suck at thinking of gift ideas for friends and loved ones, I don't usually expect to get a lot of gifts for Christmas, birthdays, etc. But to all the people who made the effort to get me something, I just want to say thanks again.

- Watched a bunch of movies, all on DVD, none in the theater. Some of the DVDs were gifts, actually. I saw Mystery Men for the first time, pretty funny if you like Ben Stiller. Also cross off Major League from my list of movies to see, now I will have to watch Major League 2 and 3. And of course I had to watch Home Alone on Christmas day, it being one of my all-time favorite movies.

One DVD I really wanted to watch, but was denied, was Napoleon Dynamite. I wanted to see that movie when it came out in the theaters, it just looked hilarious in the commercials. Then I kind of forgot about it until the DVD was released a couple weeks ago. Some people I know who watched the movie told me it was funny, and they are more mature than me, so I'm almost positive that I will love this movie. Unfortunately when I went to buy it, they were sold out at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart. I didn't know so many other people wanted that DVD too, but what do I know. The good news was that they had plenty of copies of the Anaconda DVD still available, so I bought like 10 of those for myself and to give to 9 of my friends. Gotta grab those while you can, you know. Anyways, I'm still fiending to watch Napoleon Dynamite one of these days, so this story is far from over. Stay tuned for updates on this ongoing saga.

- For the 3rd year in a row, I washed my car on New Years Eve or New Years Day. It's weird, but the weather just seems to get warm on those two days for some reason. Those of you who know me know how I feel about washing my car, I love it. Getting all that salt off is like a huge sigh of relief for me.

- News of the Tsunami was easily the worst part of this year's holiday season. Just the thought of well over 100,000 people dying in one single event is nuts. Compared to some of the tragedies we deal with in our country, this just blows them all away. As I hear more and more news of major disasters around the world these days, I can't help but be reminded of all the prophecies in the Bible. These are all signs that the end times are near. Not trying to be Chicken Little here, but at the very least, I guess it's a very sober reminder for each of us to value our lives and our limited time here on this earth. Whatever that may mean.

- Went with Olivia to Room 22 for the New Years countdown. I think every single 20-something Asian in the Chicagoland area was at this party. Well, maybe not all of them, but there were a lot. I didn't bring my camera but some of Olivia's friends took some pictures of us there, so if I get those, I might put them up. Other than that, there wasn't much else to note about New Years.

- Bears/Packers game earlier today, thanks to Olivia getting the tickets a few months ago. Our first time at the new improved Soldier Field, and I'm not sure if I like how it looks. The game sucked, since the Bears suck, but it was still a good time. I do have a couple pictures of this:





I think that's about all I can think of as far as highlights from the past week or so goes. By the way, congrats to Greg for winning the 2005 McNown League championship. Not that I won't be bitter about this season for a long time, but that's another story. It looks like I might pull out a 2nd place finish, which I guess isn't too bad.

Also, congrats to the #1 Illini for completing an undefeated non-conference schedule. The latest win over Cincinnati was yet another great game to add to this year's team record, but hopefully the best is still ahead. Now seems like a good time to close this entry with an old picture I dug up, one my sister took with Dee Brown a year or two ago. It might be the Chen family's only brush with true greatness:

Da Bulls

Am I crazy, or have the Bulls actually won 5 games in a row?

Eminem

The first time I ever heard of Eminem was during my first year of college, when MTV started playing his "My Name Is" video. The song was catchy in a retarded sort of way, and the video was funny, so I became a fan. Back then, it seemed like I was the only one, everyone else thought I was nuts for liking it.

Not that I blame them, cause you gotta admit, both the song and the video were pretty ridiculous. First off, it's this skinny white guy rapping in a high voice, to a beat that sounds like it belonged in an 8-bit Nintendo game. In the song, he's talking about impregnating Spice Girls, his mom doing drugs, and stapling his junior high teacher's nuts to a stack of papers. The video shows him in all these random situations, dressed up as Bill Clinton in one scene and then Marilyn Manson the next. And there was also the cameos by Gheorghe Muresan and Dr. Dre, which made absolutely no sense at the time. I mean, who the heck was this guy anyways and where did he come from?

Obviously, a lot has changed since then. Unless you live in a cave, you know that Eminem has become one of the biggest if not the biggest star in the music scene. Controversial among older people, but almost universally admired by anyone under the age of 30 - male or female, white or black (or yellow), it didn't matter. Every radio station plays his songs, and it seems like people can't get enough of him. These days Eminem is cool, he's hot, he's talented, and he can do no wrong.

For me, I guess my opinion of him went in the opposite direction as everyone else in this country. Yeah, I liked him in those early days, and continued to listen to his music while he was getting blasted by the media, liked a couple of his CDs enough to buy them, went to see his movie when it came out, and I still like some of his stuff.

But after listening to his latest CD (Encore) for a month or so, I'd have to say that I'm really Eminem-ed out. I'm sick of him, I don't enjoy his music or his videos as much, and I'd go as far as to say that some of it actually irritates me now.

Some of it is probably just overexposure, but one thing that bothers me is how he keeps trying to make himself look good by talking about his daughter. At first maybe it was nice to mention Hailie in his interviews or even dedicate a song to her on his CD. But now it's like he's just flat out using her name to promote his image.

In his latest song to her, "Mockingbird", he starts by saying:

"Hailie, I know you miss your mom
and I know you miss your dad
Well I'm gone
But I'm trying to give you
The life I never had"

It's not like he's a blue collar worker trying to grind out a living, never able to be at home because he needs to work 2 jobs to support his family. He makes it sound like he wishes he could spend more time with his daughter, if only he didn't need to work all the time to provide provide for her. As if the millions he has already made isn't enough in itself to give her a more comfortable life than any of us can imagine. If you choose to spend more time on your rap than on your daughter, fine that's your decision, but at least don't make it seem like you're doing it all for her sake. You're not.

Later on in the song he goes:

"all I ever wanted to do
was just make you proud"

More BS. What daughter wouldn't be proud of a dad who raps about all of his family's dirty laundry for the rest of the world to hear? I know I would love for everyone to know exactly how my mother is a psycho bitch, my grandmother is a psycho bitch, and how my dad wanted to kill them both. And every time I get to see one of his videos on TV, where he's either dressed up like Pee Wee Herman or streaking naked through the streets, I would be so beaming with pride.

It's not that I necessarily fault him for rapping about his most personal thoughts and private issues. And if he wants to continue pushing the boundaries of decency in his music videos, that's his decision, not mine. He could have a lot of motives for the things he does; maybe he legitimately wants to express himself artistically, maybe he's doing it all to get revenge on people, maybe he likes the attention and glory, or maybe he just wants to sell some records. But there's no way anyone could ever argue that Eminem is a man driven by a desire to make his daughter proud.

Then there's the song "Like Toy Soldiers", where he talks about all the battles and rivalries he's gone through in the rap world. I still like the song, but he could not possibly sound more self-serving in the lyrics. First of all, the guy is 32 years old now, when is he going to grow up and stop acting like he's in high school? And then, he again brings up Hailie as a convenient excuse to battle Ja. Are we really supposed to believe that Eminem wanted so bad to be the bigger man and ignore the battle, except for the one fact that the other guy mentioned his daughter's name in a song? Even if what he says is true, what's his point? Wow, what a saint he must be, let's all worship him now!

He also talks a little about having to sit back and stay out of Dr. Dre's beef with Suge Knight in the song. Who exactly does he think he is? If Dr. Dre can't handle his own business, you think he really needs help from Eminem, to protect him from Suge Knight of all people? I can't imagine Suge Knight really ever feeling threatened by anyone in the rap world, least of all Eminem, yet here he is, talking like some sort of bigshot thug kingpin that rules the streets. Whigga please.

One other thing about the song, I remember not too long ago Kellen Winslow Jr. got blasted by the media for comparing himself to a soldier. I know Eminem's song is titled "Toy Soldiers" but that's only the chorus, in the rest of the song and in past songs he talks a lot about being a soldier. I'm not so so sure that a college football player calling himself a soldier is much worse than a rapper doing the same, but I don't see anywhere near the outrage against Eminem than we saw for Kellen Winslow. It could just be the timing, but I found that to be interesting.

I think the thing that bothers me most is how his videos are marketed so much to kids. At first I figured, maybe his videos just happen to be colorful, so we should just give him the benefit of the doubt. But by now, it's become pretty obvious that he's trying to sell more CD's to little kids. Almost all of his major videos are so cartoony (actually the recent one for "Mosh" was an actual animated cartoon), and in the "Just Lose It" video he even features little kids dancing. It doesn't get much more obvious than that. I mean, it's one thing to make songs filled with obscenities and "adult" topics, but marketing that same music to kids is just wrong. I'd call him shady for doing that, but I guess he already calls himself that. Darn.

*****

In financial news, shares of Symantec Co. dropped 6% on the stock market today. Experts blame the fall on its recent deal to buy Veritas Software, but I'm sure readers of this blog know better. The real story is that my 11/11/04 entry that I wrote to bash their Norton AntiVirus product finally made its impact on shareholders.

Let this be a warning to all of you large corporations out there - better be nice to me or else you may suffer a similar fate. At the moment, Urban Outfitters is getting dangerously close to making it on my blacklist, but we'll have to see about that.

Laguna Biatch

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before in my blog, but Laguna Beach is an awesome show. I know I always rip on trashy "reality TV" and stuff, but then I somehow always end up watching these shows anyways and find myself enjoying them.

I guess I'm not really sure why I liked this show so much. Olivia says "you just like it cause you think Kristin's hot", which she is, but that's only a small part of it, honestly. You gotta admit Kristin is pretty good looking, even though she's still just a high school girl. Not like I'm worshipping her as a goddess and drooling over her beauty as I'm watching the show, or anything like that. She's definitely not hot enough to make me watch a show purely based on hotness. The only examples I can think of that fit that category were Jessica Alba in Dark Angel, and currently maybe that dark-haired Desperate Housewife (Eva Langoria?). Even that one is questionable, she looked a little overrated in the last couple episodes I saw.

As far as Laguna Beach goes, people say it has no plot, and what's the point of watching, but they clearly don't understand the show. That's what I thought at first too. Who wants to watch a bunch of spoiled rich white high schoolers? If we can't stand them when they're being annoying at the movie theater or at the mall, why would we enjoy a "reality" show about them?

But after watching a few episodes, I realized that even though these are exactly the kids we all hate, their lives are actually still very interesting. It's all the stuff I never went through in my own high school experience - the girls, the drama, golfing, surfing, and hanging out at the beach. Am I envious of their lives? Maybe about some things, but overall, no not really. It's mostly just entertaining and interesting to watch.

And I couldn't disagree more about the show having no plot. It's about a bunch of high school seniors going through their last year in Laguna Beach before they all head off in different directions. At the center of it is LC, and the love triangle between her, Steven, and Kristin. There were other subplots too, but this was by far the most captivating storyline and probably the main reason I kept watching. How much more of a plot do you need anyways?

The thing is, it's not like I even liked any of the characters. Most of the girls were dumb, and the guys were tools, which I figured they would be anyways. Kristin, for all her attractiveness, was pretty freaking annoying and wasted her looks by being too much of a hoe. Steven, while you gotta give him props for being a stud (by high school standards), was too big of a whiner at times and way too self-centered to truly like. And LC, even though she was the narrator, it was still hard to feel for her because she was the one who kept wasting her feelings on a guy that obviously didn't deserve it. She's that stereotypical dumb girl we all have seen too many times, who knows she's being used but doesn't have the self-respect to do anything about it.

But by the final episode, I couldn't help but feel somewhat attached to all three of them. Despite their many shortcomings, I think I was still rooting for a happy ending for all of them in the end. The weird thing is that I don't really know what the best ending would be. On the one hand, I kind of wished Steven and Kristin would stay together like they were meant to be, but also thought it might be nice if LC and Steven hooked up in college and made each other happy too.

I guess the show's ambiguous ending was not bad, a good way to leave the viewers wondering. Especially since they had a Laguna Beach 2 planned, which I will definitely watch in hopes of seeing updates on what happened between the three star-crossed lovers. Not to mention the "new girl in the Mercedes", who is a good bet to spice things up.

People like to compare Laguna Beach to the OC, but I'd say this show is way better, for the simple and obvious fact that it's more believable. I know "reality TV" is never truly "real", but at least you don't have ridiculous things like guys hooking up with their ex-girlfriend's mom in this show. Even though I have to say LC's mom is not too shabby, they should follow her around more... haha.

One other thing I thought was interesting was how that one girl was a part of the Schuller family, who are actually kind of well known in the Christian community. At least, I have heard of them, the Crystal Cathedral, and seen the older Robert Schuller (her grandfather) preaching on TV before. It was funny watching her dad, Robert Jr., preach too, because he sounds and acts almost exactly like Rev. Lovejoy in the Simpsons.

While I'm at it, let me also say this: not all reality shows need to have a "point", like eliminating people every week and everyone fighting to win some prize money or a shot at stardom in the end. We have enough of those shows as it is, thank you.

Oh I almost forgot, the music in the show is awesome too. Hillary Duff 4-ever!!! Just kidding... kind of.

Hopefully they will release a Laguna Beach Season 1 DVD, with special features and deleted scenes. I'd line up to buy that one.