3 hours & 3 minutes!

3 hours & 3 minutes!, originally uploaded by macslost.

To glory!

On the ride to the hotel from the airport I suddenly realized that I can see Hot Fuzz NOW and not wait til April!!! I RULE!

So, uh, we're going tonight, since it's the first night and ya gotta stay out late for the jetlag thing and all that.

North Hollywood Shootout!

North Hollywood Shootout!, originally uploaded by macslost.

So when we hopped in the cab to go to London this morning, the cab driver told us that my bank (Bank of America on Laurel & Kittridge) was the one from the infamous North Hollywood Shootout. Basically, 2 bodybuilders built head-to-toe body armor out of kevlar, packed on the ammo & machine guns and dueled it out with about 60 cops in a bank parking lot.

Look at the map! The red X is our house! They killed the 2nd robber right behind our house!

Now, I'd seen the TV movie '44 Minutes' with Michael Madsen, Ron Livingston & Mario Van Peebles some time ago, but forgot all about it. I'll have to watch it again, now!

Anyway, when we got here, I decided to look it up, and, lo & behold, it happened exactly 10 years ago today. Feb 28, 1997.

Crazy!

Oscars continued!

Oscars continued!, originally uploaded by macslost.

We got off the plane at Heathrow and Dinah sees an old dude on the little handi-cars zipping by and snickered "Hey that guy looks like...wait...no, it IS Peter O'Toole!" On his way back from Sunday's shindigs. He followed us to baggage claim. Then customs, and even to the carpark afterwards.

I think he might have followed us to the hotel as well.

And yes, he does look that creepy in person.

OSCAR 2007!!!

We had our massive Oscar Party again this year and it was a hit, yet again!

I spent some time Photoshopping all of the themed food as well! You can guess what they are for the most part.



Taquitos!



Crab Cakes!



Well, Tea Sandwiches.



Chips! Dips!



We renamed Funch this year!



All you needed to lure in the kids! PB&J, Potato Chips & Dinosaur-shaped Chicken Nuggets!



Lettuce Wraps!



Curly Fries!



Er, Deviled Eggs!



Brie & Crackers!



And all the rest of the Cheeses!

And we musn't forget dessert!



German Chocolate Cupcakes!



And Butterscotch Cookies!

And a few signs to guide the way:





And there you go! Now aren't you sad you missed it?

Unless you made it, in which case you're one of the cool kids.

Cobra Kai Lives!

This thing is really funny, but the music blows.

Mmmmmmm

Mmmmmmm, originally uploaded by macslost.

Yet another reason to watch Smallville. Lynda carter makes an appearance as Chloe's mom.

Super. Sweet.

Super Sweet, originally uploaded by macslost.

Flint = spark = smoke

Flint = spark = smoke, originally uploaded by macslost.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

The Legend of Chuck Norris

Enjoy!

Michael Bay has The Power!

Ooooooooooh!

Ooooooooooh!, originally uploaded by macslost.

OK, I quit buying toys a while ago, but I'm about to start again! Well, statues, anyway.

Check out these kick-ASS Marvel Zombie statues!!! The first set, anyway!

Oooooooh.

Oooooooh., originally uploaded by macslost.

According to Film Ick, rumor has it that Aaron Eckhart is in final talks to play Harvey Dent (a.k.a. Two-Face) in the new Batman flick.

Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaase be true!

Same source has Rachel McAdams attached as the new romantic lead, which is waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than Katie 'Droopy' Holmes.

GREAT WEEK

GOOD WEEK., originally uploaded by macslost.

As you may know, I resigned from my 8-year job as a publicist at an ad agency last October to go freelance. As soon as I did, a friend came to me and had me jump on board a project for a Jaleel White DVD for Fox, but ever since I have only been working part time for Disney. So I filled my time with holiday stuff (shopping, decorating, planning, etc.) and once the holidays passed, I forced myself to redo our garage, which was a disgusting pit of a place. So it's been all busywork, no play for the most part and I finished it all on Monday.

Then the fun began. As soon as I finished, I got an e-mail from Fox, telling me they have a couple of projects coming up for me. Sweet! The next day? Paramount e-mails me. I haven't spoken with them since I interviewed for a job last August and then it got pulled to another department. THEY have a job for me (which I already invoiced and started, so it's a done deal!). Day after that? Another agency I work with had some work for me with Warner Bros.! Already invoiced that one, too. Day after THAT?! Another department at Disney wants to me to do some work for them to help streamline our departments! So. Work is going GREAT.

On TOP of work: Dinah's brother Marty decided to come and stay with us in 2 weeks and he hasn't seen out new place yet. Dinah's sister & husband scored a place in Hawaii for 2 weeks and invited us out in March (um, YEAH), we've got friends coming in from Seattle for our Oscar party, I got a great estimate and appointment scheduled to finally give me my outdoor & garage power outlets (OK, that's more exciting if you're a home owner), after waiting a MONTH, one of my trading partners finally sent me a HUGE box of comics I was waiting for all month (which included the 2nd trade of the new X-Factor, which is awesome. And also features Multiple Man in the lead, and we all know how I feel about that.), I found 3 DVD hook ups to send me MOUNDS of DVDs I've been waiting to get, I got free screens to modify for sunlight protection of my garage (you'll see what I mean when it's all done) and, last, but by NO MEANS LEAST:

My new pool table has been scheduled for installation Monday morning.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

Like I said. Great week.

Comics WERE for losers

Comics WERE for losers, originally uploaded by macslost.

Last weekend, my parents decided it was time to haul all of my belongings up and shove them into MY garage instead of them holding on to it forever. GI Joes, Star Wars, my Choose Your Own Adventure books and comics. Lots and lots of comics.

While I was going through them, I ran across the Death of Superman trade paperback and thought to myself "Whoa, I haven't read that in ages! I think I'll read it now!"

In hindsight, I shouldn't have. I should have kept that hazy memory of that final summer in Santa Barbara in 1993 when the whole world knew about the comic event of the century and there, for a brief second, comics were cool and I was in the middle of it (since I worked at the biggest comic shop in the whole city. Like, celebrities came into our store 'n' stuff).

No, instead, I picked this thing up and 4 pages in, I regretted it. Really, really regretted it. And right there, I could see why they had to kill Superman. It's because he SUCKED. His books SUCKED, HE SUCKED. All of the characters and subplots and art, it all SUCKED. Every single panel had a thought bubble explaining the action on the page, every spoken word had an exclamation point! after! every! word! Every character was their own narrator and the beginning of each chapter had to explain WHO everyone was. Again and again and again.

THIS REMEDIAL GARBAGE was why comics were for losers. I mean DAMN. Of course, this is also the era where it all began to change. Villains and anti-heroes like The Punisher, Venom and Sabretooth were becoming more popular, writers got fed up with the character limitations of Marvel & DC and started their own companies and basically the industry died from their own hype and overproduction of Collector's Editions and a new #1 every week.

Nowadays, if you go into a shop, there are no more kids. Comics aren't written for kids anymore. They're written for adults and written pretty damn well. Nearly every popular series is optioned to some studio or another for a feature film, DVD project or TV show. When people come in from out of town, I inevitably end up introducing them to a few comic series and take them shopping for some damn fine reading material.

Granted, there's still some baaaaad stuff out there, but it's no longer the rule, but the exception. And thank god for that.

We're soooo cool

We're soooo cool, originally uploaded by macslost.

Actually, you're all dicks, but that's neither here nor there.

Aside from CSI Miami's habit of just being omniscient in order to solve crimes, ("Hey, this dirt particle on his shoe. I recognize that. It comes from a rare plant that only grows in the Northwest corner of a park on the outskirts of town". Oh, you didn't have to look that up? Good for you.) all 3 CSI's, and pretty much every other crime show, make the assumption that the world was in a vacuum before the crime happened. Or that Maria, the maid, came in and cleaned the entire place just before the murder. Every time they find a hair or fingerprint, it has something to do with the crime. Buuuuuullllshit. You know how much hair and skin particles are floating around in the world? Know what dust is? Human skin, for the most part. You shed hair all day long and it just blows around from place to place. Hairs on a coat could have been from anywhere at anytime. How often do you have coats cleaned?! And then you put it in the closet with all of your other coats and any 'trace' from them. Fingerprints? Last time I checked people of the world are very grabby. Grubby fingerprints are on eeeeeeeeverything. Doorknobs, jams, sinks, walls, glasses, phones, remote controls...not just theirs, either. Think about it. If CSI Miami showed up at your friends house and he had just been killed by, say, a pool stick, and you had played pool there a month ago, they would find your prints on it and you'd be in trouble. OK, not CSI Miami, because they would just 'know' who did it, but never is a case of prints found and they are days, weeks, months old. It's because they did it. And nooooo one else in the world touched it before them.

OK, that was a stupid rant, but it bothers me sometimes. Doesn't stop me from watching though. Except I might quit watching Miami because the guys on the cast ARE all dicks.

Gifts for Ninjas

I forgot to post this at Christmas, but it's still pretty funny. And always applicable!