Happy New Year to all those who celebrate it! Happy Saturday to all those who don't! Happy whatever day this is to you if you don't follow the Gregorian Calendar!
Yup, it is now 2011. As promised yesterday, I am now going to post what I am looking forward to for this year. See? Depressed house-bound people can look forward to things too. Honest!
First off, on a personal note, I'm looking forward to being able to fix up my Kia Sportage, get insured again, and be able to drive and get out of these walls. Nobody is going to write a Hollywood blockbuster about this, but it is my first wish and desire for the new year. The next personal item is my weight. As I have mentioned earlier, I am overweight. Actually, I am what doctors and physicians consider 'morbidly obese.' That's a great one, isn't it? It has morbid baked right into the title. I feel that even if I lose a hunk of poundage, I still wanna figure out a way to keep the morbid part in my general description. Just to keep the rubberneckers at bay. Like, "Hey. there's morbid Dave, best stay away from him," and such. Now, the obesity (that part I can lose) is contributing to, but not the cause of, my heart problem. What it is also doing is killing my back, making me not sleep, and having me up at whatever soulless time it is in the morning that I am writing this blog. There's more, but I'm not going into it here. I now have almost all the Kinect games that focus on weight loss (last one is on its way via Amazon), and am planning to see my doctor soon to discuss which to start with and get a whole plan worked up. So, no resolutions here, just looking forward to driving and getting more active at home.
Now, on to the good stuff. It has been brought to my attention that I missed out on one major media type yesterday in my look back over the previous year, and that was books. Well, allow me to rectify that: I cannot state truthfully that any books from last year affected me in any way whatsoever, except in the small sense that they made me wish I had money to spend on them. I am a reader, a voracious reader, and I have a couple of magazine subscriptions that just started in December, but they are really cheap in comparison to the latest books. There are books I am planning to buy, but I have to budget for them. Therefore, I read nothing new last year that hadn't been released in previous years. This year, however, there are a few titles I am planning to grab up. Terry Goodkind's latest "Sword Of Truth" novel for example. The late Robert Aspirin's final "Spellsinger" title. The late Robert Jordan's final three "Wheel Of Time" titles, finished posthumously by an author his wife chose after his death at his request. There might be others, but I'll learn about them as I go. That should satisfy this particular omission from yesterday's post.
Movies I'm interested in this year are numerous, but there are a few huge stand-outs that I'll mention here. "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part Two" is my most highly anticipated movie for this year. You may have noticed that I did not include Part One on my 2010 list, and this is simply because as far as any loyal fan of the series is concerned, the movie ain't done yet. Kind of like the "Kill Bill" titles - until the second half is complete, the whole movie hasn't been seen yet. Anyway, that comes out on July 15th. Other titles I'm looking forward to include: "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" on May 20th, "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" on July 1st, and "Thor" on May 6th. All these dates are current North American release dates, just so you know. One other title I'm looking forward to has to be "Paranormal Activity 3" which is aimed at October 21st., and for more info about why I refer you to my previous blog entry regarding the horror genre in general.
Musically I'm only looking forward to the new Lonely Island CD. Again, I don't keep current with music, but I do pick up songs here and there. Haven't checked to see if any of my favourite bands are releasing anything new this year other than these guys, so I'll have to wait and see. Check in with me again at the end of 2011, and we'll see if I had any new revelations.
Video-game-wise, there are a couple of titles that have me curious this year, but one in particular is the only title worth speaking of: "The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim." With a release date of 11-11-11, I have a long damn time to wait and anticipate, but it will be worth it. For those of you in the know, you understand fully why. For those of you not in the know, this game news is the equivalent of watching the first two movies of the Peter Jackson "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, being told that there will NEVER be a third in that trilogy, waiting five years with constant denial from the company that made the movie that there will EVER be a third movie, and then out of the blue getting news not only of there being a third movie in the works, but a release date and a teaser trailer as well on the same date. Oh, and if "The Lord Of The Rings" doesn't float your boat, how about if James Cameron had zero plans on a sequel to "Avatar?" No? How about no intention of releasing the last "Harry Potter" movie? The last "Twilight" movie? I give up - if you still don't get it, ask one of your friends who actually owns a soul.
As far as television goes, as usual I am looking forward to the award season starting later this month (like next week!). As far as I know, there aren't any special mini-series or movie events that I'm excited to see. I am looking forward to a couple of new shows starting in the next couple of weeks - "The Cape" comes to mind, as does "Perfect Couples." Other than that, just the usual fare, as far as I know. Of course, as I mentioned in my "Corrie"-based entry, I'm looking forward to the 50th anniversary week to air here in Canada, but that won't be until September-October, so I have a little wait for that.
So there you have it, what I'm looking forward to this year. Oh, and those two things I'm not looking forward to? Well, one would be an all-out war between the United States and her allies and China and her allies over the ongoing strife between North Korea and South Korea (Don't think I mentioned it before, but do you know the Korean War - the one the T.V. show "M*A*S*H" took place during - has never ended? They only signed a cease-fire, and the war is still ongoing.). The other is almost as horrible: On April 28th, 2011, I turn 40.
Personal Crap
- Gutrend
- Meaford, ON, Canada
- A big lover of all types of media, from Movies to Video Games, Books to Music, Television to Stage.
12/31/10
What Affected Me In 2010
Just thought I'd go over the year's stories and determine what affected me and what didn't.
Not many news stories affected me personally in 2010. Wikileaks? Nope. BP oil spill? I shake my head, but am not surprised. The rescue of Chilean miners? Good for them, but it wasn't anyone I knew down there. The cost of fuel going up, and how it directly impacts grocery prices affects me, but that's about it. Nothing really big happened this year as far as trickling down to create much of a ripple in my life. Celebrity deaths, on the other hand, bothered me a bit.
The death of Leslie Neilsen. That one was a big one. Star of many and varied movie and television roles, he will be best remembered by me as "Frank Drebin, Police Squad." I know he wasn't planning on any more "Naked Gun" movies, but he was still a bright spot on the Canadian comedy landscape. His passing depressed me, but not as much as John Ritter's did back in 2003. That one apparently got to a LOT of people.
Speaking of comedians, Greg Giraldo's passing shocked me. I had just seen him as a judge on the most recent season of "Last Comic Standing," and he had also attended some of the Comedy Central Roasts, some of which are currently airing on the Comedy Network here in Canada. Odd to see him there on the stage knowing he's passed.
Of course, the biggest celebrity death this year was that of Micheal Jackson. His death didn't affect me much. I had, as almost everyone in North America had, but won't admit it, owned "Thriller" back in the day, and had the next two albums as well, "Bad" and "Dangerous." However, I had moved on musically long before the molestation stories started up, and paid little to no attention to him after my early University years. What got my attention the most was a news report showing the interior of his mansion after his death. The 'ghost' seen walking in the room at the end of the hall still freaks me out a little due to it being a live news broadcast that caught it. I apologize for the lack of spelling displayed by the poster of the video, but it's the only one that I've found that slows it down without leaving the sound on, nor does it have a screaming fright face popping up to stop your heart at the end of it.
On first glance, it looks like someone walking outside the window of the far room and casting a long shadow on the wall with the fireplace. However, upon closer inspection, specifically when the video shows it frame by frame, the shadow figure also shows down the hall to the intersecting corridor between the camera and the far room, meaning that in order to make that particular image one would have to be in the middle of the corridor actually crossing it, just as the figure seems to do. I'm not saying it is the ghost of Micheal Jackson, or even necessarily a ghost at all, but it sure is fucking weird.
The Vancouver Olympics were incredible, great television from CTV. So much better coverage than the CBC had been doing for a number of years (I remember when the CBC did good work televising the Games, but they had fallen apart for the last three or four before they lost the bid to televise them to CTV). Already looking forward to their coverage of the Summer Olympic Games from London, England in 2012. You know, as long as the impending end of the world doesn't mess with them or anything.
Topping my list of movies for the year are "Paranormal Activity 2," "Iron Man 2," "The Expendables," and of course "Inception." I've only listed movies I've seen, in case you are wondering where the hell "Toy Story 3" is. Well, I have it on Blu-Ray thanks to Scott, but I have yet to watch it as I am depressed enough as it is without viewing a movie loudly being touted as a real tearjerker. Once I feel up to it, I'll watch it, and if necessary I will come back and edit this blog at that time. So there.
New television shows that I've enjoyed this year include "No Ordinary Family," "Rookie Blue" (a Canadian cop show filmed in Toronto very obviously), "Blue Bloods," and "Outsourced." Also liked "Mike & Molly," the new "Hawaii 5-0," and "Raising Hope." Some others looked really promising, but fell by the wayside in this household. Titles such as "The Event" and "Running Wilde" were off our list early. And, as usual, some really good shows were cancelled way too early, like "Undercovers," and "My Generation." Oh, and I'm ignoring the fact that we also watch "Hellcats," me for the hotties in skimpy cheerleading uniforms, Andi for the storylines. Yeah, right. I suck.
Musically, not much to say. I love The Lonely Island, and got their first CD this Christmas (thanks again to Scott), but other than that I really didn't grab on to any new music this year. See my previous blog post for info on why.
Video game titles are too numerous to mention here, but I do certainly agree with the VGA top honour going to "Red Dead Redemption" as Game Of The Year. I am one of those people who don't finish games because, well, now it's done, there is no more of that title left to play. Scott does the same thing. With RDR, however, I had to finish it just to see where the story ended, and it was worth it. I'm now starting on what may be considered the best of this year's DLC (that's DownLoadable Content for all you virgins) which is Zombie Apocalypse for RDR, so we'll see how that goes. Tough as nails so far, or as Scott would like to hear, tough as "Thompson's Teeth - teeth so strong they can chew other teeth!"
So, that's what affected me, personally, in the year 2010. I am looking forward to a few things for next year, but I guess that'll have to wait until tomorrow's post. Until then, Happy New year to all, and to all a good afternoon, or morning, or whatever, depending on where you are reading this from. If in fact anyone IS reading this, as nobody actually read my blog for the last 22 hours. Whatever, maybe I'm back to writing for myself again already.
Not many news stories affected me personally in 2010. Wikileaks? Nope. BP oil spill? I shake my head, but am not surprised. The rescue of Chilean miners? Good for them, but it wasn't anyone I knew down there. The cost of fuel going up, and how it directly impacts grocery prices affects me, but that's about it. Nothing really big happened this year as far as trickling down to create much of a ripple in my life. Celebrity deaths, on the other hand, bothered me a bit.
The death of Leslie Neilsen. That one was a big one. Star of many and varied movie and television roles, he will be best remembered by me as "Frank Drebin, Police Squad." I know he wasn't planning on any more "Naked Gun" movies, but he was still a bright spot on the Canadian comedy landscape. His passing depressed me, but not as much as John Ritter's did back in 2003. That one apparently got to a LOT of people.
Speaking of comedians, Greg Giraldo's passing shocked me. I had just seen him as a judge on the most recent season of "Last Comic Standing," and he had also attended some of the Comedy Central Roasts, some of which are currently airing on the Comedy Network here in Canada. Odd to see him there on the stage knowing he's passed.
Of course, the biggest celebrity death this year was that of Micheal Jackson. His death didn't affect me much. I had, as almost everyone in North America had, but won't admit it, owned "Thriller" back in the day, and had the next two albums as well, "Bad" and "Dangerous." However, I had moved on musically long before the molestation stories started up, and paid little to no attention to him after my early University years. What got my attention the most was a news report showing the interior of his mansion after his death. The 'ghost' seen walking in the room at the end of the hall still freaks me out a little due to it being a live news broadcast that caught it. I apologize for the lack of spelling displayed by the poster of the video, but it's the only one that I've found that slows it down without leaving the sound on, nor does it have a screaming fright face popping up to stop your heart at the end of it.
On first glance, it looks like someone walking outside the window of the far room and casting a long shadow on the wall with the fireplace. However, upon closer inspection, specifically when the video shows it frame by frame, the shadow figure also shows down the hall to the intersecting corridor between the camera and the far room, meaning that in order to make that particular image one would have to be in the middle of the corridor actually crossing it, just as the figure seems to do. I'm not saying it is the ghost of Micheal Jackson, or even necessarily a ghost at all, but it sure is fucking weird.
The Vancouver Olympics were incredible, great television from CTV. So much better coverage than the CBC had been doing for a number of years (I remember when the CBC did good work televising the Games, but they had fallen apart for the last three or four before they lost the bid to televise them to CTV). Already looking forward to their coverage of the Summer Olympic Games from London, England in 2012. You know, as long as the impending end of the world doesn't mess with them or anything.
Topping my list of movies for the year are "Paranormal Activity 2," "Iron Man 2," "The Expendables," and of course "Inception." I've only listed movies I've seen, in case you are wondering where the hell "Toy Story 3" is. Well, I have it on Blu-Ray thanks to Scott, but I have yet to watch it as I am depressed enough as it is without viewing a movie loudly being touted as a real tearjerker. Once I feel up to it, I'll watch it, and if necessary I will come back and edit this blog at that time. So there.
New television shows that I've enjoyed this year include "No Ordinary Family," "Rookie Blue" (a Canadian cop show filmed in Toronto very obviously), "Blue Bloods," and "Outsourced." Also liked "Mike & Molly," the new "Hawaii 5-0," and "Raising Hope." Some others looked really promising, but fell by the wayside in this household. Titles such as "The Event" and "Running Wilde" were off our list early. And, as usual, some really good shows were cancelled way too early, like "Undercovers," and "My Generation." Oh, and I'm ignoring the fact that we also watch "Hellcats," me for the hotties in skimpy cheerleading uniforms, Andi for the storylines. Yeah, right. I suck.
Musically, not much to say. I love The Lonely Island, and got their first CD this Christmas (thanks again to Scott), but other than that I really didn't grab on to any new music this year. See my previous blog post for info on why.
Video game titles are too numerous to mention here, but I do certainly agree with the VGA top honour going to "Red Dead Redemption" as Game Of The Year. I am one of those people who don't finish games because, well, now it's done, there is no more of that title left to play. Scott does the same thing. With RDR, however, I had to finish it just to see where the story ended, and it was worth it. I'm now starting on what may be considered the best of this year's DLC (that's DownLoadable Content for all you virgins) which is Zombie Apocalypse for RDR, so we'll see how that goes. Tough as nails so far, or as Scott would like to hear, tough as "Thompson's Teeth - teeth so strong they can chew other teeth!"
So, that's what affected me, personally, in the year 2010. I am looking forward to a few things for next year, but I guess that'll have to wait until tomorrow's post. Until then, Happy New year to all, and to all a good afternoon, or morning, or whatever, depending on where you are reading this from. If in fact anyone IS reading this, as nobody actually read my blog for the last 22 hours. Whatever, maybe I'm back to writing for myself again already.
12/30/10
Last Non-Holiday Day Of 2010
So, here we are on what is basically the last day of the calendar year which isn't somehow directly or indirectly related to a holiday. Nobody who is working today is getting off early due to what tomorrow is, nobody who was working yesterday is being given today off as a special prezzie. Nope, today, just like most days of every year, is just a normal, boring, middle of the week day. It isn't shiny like Christmas, sorrowful like Easter (if you discount the eggs and bunnies), scary like Halloween or green like St. Patrick's Day. People aren't declaring their love today, like they do on Valentine's Day; nobody's parent's are getting special treatment like on Mother's or Father's Day. No, today is just Thursday, and that's just how it is.
Of course, if you are high school age or younger, or attend University or College, it is in fact in the middle of your Christmas break, but that still doesn't give the day any special meaning or anything. Thursday. Its just Thursday. Pathetic little nearly the end of the week Thursday. It isn't even a special weekday either. It isn't Hump Day or T.G.I.F. even. It used to be special, Thursdays did. Once upon a time, it was Must See T.V. night, but then things changed and Thursdays aren't so important anymore. Even Survivor left Thursday for Hump Day's greener pastures.
So, what I'm simply stating is that today is no big deal in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Two days from the end of the year, and you might as well be a Tuesday in July for all the world cares. Poor, disgusting, shabby little Thursday before New Year's Eve. I pity you.
But hey, at least you aren't April 28th. That'd be REALLY depressing.
Of course, if you are high school age or younger, or attend University or College, it is in fact in the middle of your Christmas break, but that still doesn't give the day any special meaning or anything. Thursday. Its just Thursday. Pathetic little nearly the end of the week Thursday. It isn't even a special weekday either. It isn't Hump Day or T.G.I.F. even. It used to be special, Thursdays did. Once upon a time, it was Must See T.V. night, but then things changed and Thursdays aren't so important anymore. Even Survivor left Thursday for Hump Day's greener pastures.
So, what I'm simply stating is that today is no big deal in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Two days from the end of the year, and you might as well be a Tuesday in July for all the world cares. Poor, disgusting, shabby little Thursday before New Year's Eve. I pity you.
But hey, at least you aren't April 28th. That'd be REALLY depressing.
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