Rapid Pict-fire

LeBrea Tarpits - Pockets of methane gas bubble up to the surface. Smells terrible.

Tar seeps up through the ground and takes over everything.

This fire occurred yesterday at an apartment complex behind our apartment.

In Vegas with my aunt-in-law, we played Wii bowling for a coupon good for a buy one, get one free shrimp cocktail. We were on the big screen at Fremont Street.

Tiffany and Mom-in-law on Fremont St.

Wedding Chapel - yes, you can drive through and get married.

Sign at cleaners... love it.

Just got this headset for my X-box 360. It came from Hong Kong.
See if you can figure out what it's trying to say.

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Gentlemen Broncos

Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) plays Dr. Ronald Chevalier

Last night was a lot of fun. Tiffany and I were able to go to a screening of Gentlemen Broncos.

My first reaction to this film: Totally Hilarious.

I dare say that anyone who is a Jared Hess fan, or a fan of Napoleon Dynamite should go to see this movie in theaters many many times. And bring friends.

IMDb describes the movie thus:

Benjamin (Angarano), home-schooled by his eccentric mother (Coolidge), is a loner whose passion for writing leads him on an journey as his story first gets ripped off by the legendary fantasy novelist, Ronald Chevalier (Clement) and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town's most prolific homespun filmmaker.

I was very impressed by the actors of the film. Michael Angarano did a fantastic job as Benjamin, the timid high school sci-fi writer. His performance is one of the most satisfying and interesting that I have seen in a long time. I also thought that Sam Rockwell's depiction of not only manly-man Bronco, but also extremely twisted Brutus was memorable and legendary. I also give much kudos to Mike White, Jennifer Coolidge, Hector Jimenez (loved him in Nacho Libre), Halley Fiefer, and of course - I can't forget - the incredible Jemaine Clement (all you Chonchord fans know what I'm talking about).

I will not give away any fantastic plot points or divulge any narrative or thematic elements. Just know that this is another brilliant and fun film by one of my favorite directors Jared Hess:

I also think that his wife Jerusha Hess is pretty amazing. They both got Exec. Producer credit on this one (and Mike White got Producer) which I think is incredible. Anyone in the position to barter for that position on a major film - should.
Side story: I met Jerusha at a Utah Film Commission banquet once, it was a lot of fun. My friend and I came in late and we were in the elevator with her and her assistant. When we went to sit down there was only a few tables left so we all sat at the same table. She's way cool. A lot of people came up and talked to her and she was very nice to everyone. I asked her if anyone pitches wacky projects to her and Jared, she told me of some twins that came and pitched a musical and both twins played male and female parts. Very fun.

When this hits theaters (whenever that may be) go out and pay the 10 bucks to see it. It will be so worth it.

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Selling my soul for free stuff:

Hey Blogets (that's the name I decided on for my blogging friends),

Most of you know that I am currently unemployed.


Because of this fact, it has seriously limited me in gaining the material goods that I have been so longing to have.

Last year I had tried doing a "complete an offer for a free iPod Nano" deal. Amazingly, it worked! I was sent an iPod Nano through Amazon.com in a few days. Here's a picture:So anyway, I had a friend go through and do the same thing for an Xbox 360 and a PS3 and so I wanted one too. I have setup a website and have completed my offer. Now I am waiting for enough people to complete an offer so I can get one.

While I have been waiting, my friend Bryce has been able to get a PS3 and a Nintendo Wii from this process:
http://randlereruns.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-free-playstation-3.html

I have had enough people sign up, but not enough of their offers went through.This put me in a weird position because I didn't want to bug them about trying to get their offer to work for them. They were being gracious enough to do this for me. If they're reading this, please don't give up on me! If you need any help let me know.

And to all of you out there, please take a look at this website and help a brother out!

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Troubled Waters

Hello Beautiful

As some of you may know, our desktop was the recipient of the coveted Trojan Virus Award this last weekend. We had the Satiloler virus. For those of you who don't know much about what a trojan virus does:

A class of computer threats that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions that allow unauthorized access to the host machine, giving them the ability to save their files on the user's computer or even watch the user's screen and control the computer.

In our case, the virus deposited itself in our system files and created a false windows front. That way whatever applications or internet sites we visited it would be able to steal any information.


I noticed it because I have a specific look that I like to keep my computer on all the time. When something is changed, like a font or a graphic - I notice. In this case, the start button looked different...a bit antiquated. The same was with the taskbar on Firefox - it just didn't look right.

I searched the registry and found that a great deal of the files had been corrupted. Thanks viruscan.
The Symantec Antivirus didn't detect it because once the virus was downloaded (and we don't know who did it, me or Tiffany) it disabled our firewall and virus protection.

Anywho, after a great deal of struggling to get rid of the virus I decided to just get rid of everything and nuke the hard drive.

After I did that, we had no way of re-loading Windows because our software was in Provo (something I had thought about bringing down with us the last time we were there, but forgot). I called my mom and asked her to send down Windows and anything else that I had. It got here a few days later and I was able to re-establish our great ole computer.

What did I do that whole time you ask? Movies. Lots of them.
Watching Netflix streaming through my X-box 360 is awesome.


I of course went to see Watchmen on the big screen. I have not read the graphic novel so I wasn't sure what to expect. Everyone wanted to know how I followed the story without knowing anything prior. I was able to follow the story quite well, I don't see what all the fuss was about with people on Rotten Tomatoes not being able to figure it out.

It was an okay movie. I enjoyed it. There was a lot of fun moments and a lot of really bad makeup. I really liked the slow-mo action that Zack Snyder is so good at. I don't care if people hate it, I like it.

Currently Listening to...

This is my alltime favorite radio station that no longer exists on regular radio. Luckily for you, you can stream it online by clicking on the logo.

I am currently listening to it now.

Cheers to good music!!



One last thing...

I really really really hate not having a job. It's such a drag.
Every day I waste time on the computer or watching movies, but I'm not being productive in the least. I always feel much better about myself and others when I'm working.
There's something in me that needs to keep busy to be happy.

So I'll put it out there into the void:

JOB -------> COME TO ME NOW!

(Side note: What do you all think of this nickname for those that follow my blog?
Blogets, Bluddies, Bloriends, Fregs, Blog-Buds)

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Movie Reviews

It's been a while since I've reviewed movies on here, so I thought I would fill you in on a few movies that I've seen lately (in the order I've seen them).

Meet the Robinsons

This film is confusing at best. It's a wonder it made it through the storyboard phase. The main problem - too many characters. It is confusing enough when you have a character going back and forth through time, it is too much when you introduce a bunch of people that confuse and disturb the story. Overall it had a good message and was kind of fun to see how they weave the story through time, but mostly I was confused through a great part of it. (Spencer points out to me that the problem may be the amount of writers that were on the project).

Hannah and Her Sisters

Typical Woody Allen relationships and neuroses. I love Woody Allen films simply because he is able to share pieces of lives of people that actually seem to exist. While this film is definitely not as intriguing as Annie Hall or Love and Death, it certainly has heart and drama which is rare for most of Allen's work. I especially loved how subtle he was with the characters, it reminded me a lot of the drama that exists in the show Mad Men (which is also great). Overall I think I would have preferred Allen's wackiness to this more serious venture, but it was definitely worth a look.

The Night Listener

Definitely creepy. This is the sort of film that can raise a certain amount of suspense, but never fully delivers. Nothing really happens. It is like a slow moving symphony that threatens to pick up, but never delivers. I absolutely love Toni Collete and she was perfectly crazy in this film. It's no wonder she was given the role of Tara. As for predictability, this one was up there, but it didn't spoil the movie for me, it was just a "meh" at best. It did show that you don't need people dying and/or killing each other to create suspense.

Crossing Over

I don't know where this film came from. I had not seen any trailers and I have read absolutely no reviews for it. We were given free passes to see it at the theater so we decided why not. All I can really say that was good about the film was they were able to raise a lot of tension in very hostile situations. If anyone deserves a medal for being in this movie it would have to be Summer Bishil for her portrayal of the precocious young teenager who is way in too deep. I also give kudos to Ray Liotta who, although playing the same purv-ey stereotype he always does, was able to bring it together in the end with a subtle and sad depiction of a broken man. As for the film itself - whatever.

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