Zip's Mighty Blog

Thursday Newsday

Here are some headlines that I've seen today which have cause a chuckle or two. Enjoy:

Moby's choice for Democratic Presidential nominee? Rev. Al Sharpton!

A very nicely written article about the video game hardware wars (PS2 vs. Xbox).

Judge orders R&B kiddy-diddler to stay away from King of Pop kiddy-diddler at Grammys.

Can we really spring a surprise attack on someone if we are blatantly advertising it in our media?

And from our friends at The Onion - New health study finds that most self-abuse cases go unreported.

Since I'm feeling particularly bored today, click the link below for a list of upcoming super-cool DVD's.

JANUARY 27
Capturing The Friedmans
Comic Book: The Movie
Hoffa
Thirteen
Time Bandits – Divimax Edition

FEBRUARY 3
American Splendor
Lost In Translation
Red Dwarf: Series 3 & 4

FEBRUARY 10
H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series
Mr. Bill's Disasterpiece Theater
NewsRadio: The Complete First and Second Seasons

FEBRUARY 17
Camp
City Of God

FEBRUARY 24
Matchstick Men
The Missing
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

MARCH 2
Looney Tunes: Back In Action
Melvin & Howard
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
School Of Rock
Without A Clue

MARCH 9
Futurama: Season Three
Schindler’s List

MARCH 16
The Comittments: Special Edition
Demonlover
21 Grams
Veronica Guerin

MARCH 23
Beyond The Mat: Director’s Cut
Dirty Pretty Things
The Magdalene Sisters
Shattered Glass

MARCH 30
The Final Countdown
Going In Style
The Late Show
The Sunshine Boys

APRIL 6
The Matrix Revolutions
The Pink Panther Box Set

APRIL 13
KILL BILL VOL. I

Real American Genius

I know you've heard the radio commercials. You may have seen some of the recent tv commercials. Bud Light's Real American Hero/Real Men of Genius campaign is one of the funniest things they've done since the Budweiser Frogs (and the ferret). These are the ads with the cheesy 80's rock ballad saluting the everyday jobs that usually go completely unnoticed.

Well, if you haven't (or if you have and ever wondered exactly how many of them were made), click here and listen to them all.

My personal favorites are Mr. Jelly Donut Filler, Mr. Pro Wrestling Wardrobe Designer, Mr. Putt Putt Golf Course Designer, Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer, and one we're all familiar with - Mr. Silent Killer Gas Passer.

Oscar Nominees Announced

Well, the offical announcement was made just moments ago. Here's a sample from the list of nominees for the 76th Annual Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
LOST IN TRANSLATION
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
MYSTIC RIVER
SEABISCUIT

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Johnny Depp - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
Ben Kingsley - HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
Jude Law - COLD MOUNTAIN
Bill Murray - LOST IN TRANSLATION
Sean Penn - MYSTIC RIVER

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Keisha Castle-Hughes - WHALE RIDER
Diane Keaton - SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
Samantha Morton - IN AMERICA
Charlize Theron - MONSTER
Naomi Watts - 21 GRAMS

DIRECTING
Fernando Meirelles - CITY OF GOD
Peter Jackson - THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Sofia Coppola - LOST IN TRANSLATION
Peter Weir - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
Clint Eastwood - MYSTIC RIVER

A couple of surprises, but nothing way out of the ordinary. I'm glad to see that they gave a nod to the girl from Whale Rider instead of copping-out and going with a more obvious choice (i.e. Nicole Kidman). Of course, I'm sure she's just glad to be nominated, because she and everyone else knows that Charlize Theron is going to win.

I'm very surprised, yet very happy, to see Johnny Depp in the lead actor category. I expected him to be nominated, but in the supporting category. Of course, now he'll lose to Bill Murray, but still...Huzzah!

Supporting actor is gonna be a close race between Tim Robbins and Alec Baldwin. I have seen both performances, and it's too close to call at this point. Same with supporting actress. All of the nominees are worthy of the honor.

I expect Return of the King to take just about every category it's nominated in. If it doesn't, there will be riots. I'm just saying...

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday (Observed)

He was a good man, and I appreciate the fact that we celebrate his legacy. The city of Atlanta is pretty much shut down, due to the observances at the churches and his memorial center and such. So, everyone enjoy your day and take a moment to remember the importance of what Rev. King stood for.

For the people who still made me and the folks at my company still come to work, especially when our company is contracted by a state department that is obviously not open today, let me just say this:

UP YOURS, JERKS!

Reality TV and a Story

Now that I have seen 1 1/2 episodes of The Apprentice, I can honestly confess that I am hooked. This is probably the best reality show I've ever seen. Donald Trump is so intimidating that even I cringe in fear when he walks into the room...and I'm watching him on TV! If you haven't seen it yet, read the synopsis on the show's site and tune in on Wednesdays. It is the true 'must see TV'.

The only thing not intimidating about The Donald is that hair. You would think that a man who is worth as much as he is would be able to get a decent hairpiece. The combover technique is a bit lacking, and the color is completely unnatural. According to my manager, the only time that color has been seen in nature is when a mountain lion fell in a puddle of urine.

Speaking of work, let me tell you a little story...

The day after New Year's Day (Jan. 2, for those of you too lazy to do the math), a few of my coworkers and I were in the office. The room in which my team is located used to be the training room. The room is still fitted with training materials, complete with digital projector, VCR and DVD players. Work was very light that day, so we decided to take a break and watch a DVD. We had only been watching for a few moments when, out of nowhere, our manager's boss walks in the room.

Now, let me give you a little background - this woman never comes into our room. Never. I would say that in the past year, she has been in that room 3 times total...and that's only been times when her presence was required. Needless to say, we were all a little bit taken back by her sudden presence at this particular moment. Of course, she was not happy with our little screening and yelled at us for a while. She finally left, and we all got back to work. By the end of the day, we had pretty much laughed the whole thing off and not thought any more about it.

The following Sunday, however, I got a call from our manager. He told me that the big boss (our manager's manager's manager) had found out and referred the incident to HR for an investigation. Basically, they wanted to find out how long we had been watching it, who had given us the authorization to watch it, and what it was rated.

First thing Monday morning, I rounded up my teammates, we got our stories straight, and went in to face the HR manager. We assured him that we had only watched no more than 10 minutes, we were all on our lunch break, we had all decided to do it as a group, and the movie was only rated PG-13. Our manager confirmed our story and gave us a full vote of confidence.

There was apparently much deliberation over the issue (at one point, they had considered firing all of us), but at the end of the next day we found out that they were going to write us up and leave it at that. Needless to say, we were all relieved that we still had jobs. The most satisfying part for me was how we stuck together as a team, and our manager stood up for us in our time of need.

It's a good thing, too, because I'm sure that we would definately have lost our jobs if we had told them that we had actually been watching the movie for over an hour, that we were not on our lunch break, and that the movie we were watching was R-rated. Maybe they'll figure it out when they realize that the movie we told them we were watching doesn't come out on DVD until next month. HUZZAH!

Atlanta LOTR Fans Rejoice!!!

Check it out - The Atlanta Symphony is going to have Lord of the Rings night. They are going to play passages from the film trilogy's score, which was composed by Howard Shore...and he's also going to be conducting!!!! If that weren't good enough, the music will be accompanied by the artwork of Alan Lee. His original LOTR artwork was one of the main sources of inspiration for the visual concept of the films by Peter Jackson! HUZZAH!

Can You Dig It, Sucka? - WWE Originals

I have been listening to WWE Originals. This album is a collection of original songs as performed by various wrestling stars currently employed by WWE. By 'original', they mean 'written by the same guy that wrote their entrance music theme songs'. And by 'performed', they mean....well, I'll leave that to your own imagination.

There are a couple of tracks on here that are actually quite entertaining. I must commend Lillian Garcia (the ring announcer on Monday night RAW), John Cena (the Professor of Thuganomics from Thursday night Smackdown), and Stone Cold Steve Austin (the new Sherriff of RAW) for providing actual talent - Lillian can wail, Cena can rap, Austin is just freakin' hilarious. The rest of the performers on the album make a valiant effort to prove that they are also in touch with their artistic sides...and fail miserably.

I'm not complaining, though. I expected it to suck. That was the whole point of getting it. I'm just saying that not only have my expectations been met, I've also been given quite a surprise in that there are actual good tracks on the album. I would not recommend listening to it if you are looking for decent music. Granted, if you're not a wrestling fan, then you probably have no business listening to the album in the first place. ;)

Mr. Picasso Head

Look what I made:

It's not a very good representation of me...nor is it very true to Picasso's style, but who cares? I made it at a site called Mr. Picasso Head. Go and make an impression...of yourself! :)

I also made this guy:

I had created a character a while back name Pierre Bastard (the first 'a' should be pronounced with a 'long a' sound, as in the word 'pay'). This is my first attempt at making a visual representation of him.

In other news, it appears to have snowed during the night. There's a light dusting on the cars and on the ground. I love snow. It's pretty. Just thought I'd share.

HOLY CRAPOLA!!!

Two big movie announcements:

1. Rowan Atkinson is becoming a villain - he will be playing Lord Voldemort in the fourth Harry Potter film, The Goblet of Fire. Read more here.

1/9/04 UPDATE: Rowan Atkinson has slammed reports that he will take the role of Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire as lies. The Mr. Bean star was named by a number of credible sources as the frontrunner to play the evil character, who is the schoolboy wizard's arch enemy. But his agent Janette Linden says, "There's no truth whatsoever that Rowan will be in the next Harry Potter movie."

2. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have signed deals to star in the upcoming film of the Mel Brooks musical, The Producers, which began life as a non-musical film starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Filming will begin in early 2005, and the movie — based on the Broadway musical — is due in cinemas in late 2005. Brooks, co-writer Thomas Meehan and director Susan Stroman are also on board; the latter will helm the piece as she did for Broadway. Read the article here.

New Years? Bah Humbug!

Well, it's a new year, and I couldn't care less. Will new and exciting things happen this year? Maybe. Who knows? Did I make any resolutions? Hell no...never have, never will. I have chosen not to celebrate or memorialize the one thing that we truly have no control over, and that is the passage of time. Out with the old and in with the new? Strictly applies to spring cleaning, as far as I'm concerned. As the narrator says in Magnolia, "We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us."

Everyone else has already posted their top 10 movie lists for last year. I will hold true to my normal fashion and refrain from posting such a list until I have officially seen all the movies on my "To See" list. Until then, I would just like to make another plug for Netfilx. This weekend, I finally watched two movies that I've had checked out for almost a full month. I will never have to pay a late fee for those DVDs. God bless them.