Strangers

Now this is a flick.
5 reels of fun.
The Strangers begins with James proposing to Liv Tyler but she says she isn't ready yet.  He's frusterated but still says "your my girl."  It's like 4 in the morning and there's a knock at the door.  They answer it and it's a little girl asking for someone that doesn't live there. 
Shortly later Liv Tyler runs out of cigarettes so James goes into town to get some more.  Then the crazy shit begins as one of the best scenes of the year happens. 

From the movie poster.  This scene extends very well and the suspense in so many scenes is awesome.  Horror ensues throughout the last 3 reels of the movie and it's basically a cat and mouse game with the couple and the 3 strangers outside, one guy with a potato sack over his head and a suit (I'm so being him for halloween)  and 2 girls with really freaky masks on.

This movie was short but if it was any longer I think it wouldn't have been as good.  Solid horror and suspense all around and one of the best scenes that made me jump ridiculous style occurs when she attempts to hide in a closet.  I won't give it away you'll have to see it yourself.  You will jump.
The only downside I had was at the very end they could have ended it sooner than they did.  There were an additional 2-3 scenes that weren't needed.
9/10
Best horror flick of the year.

Disc Golf 5/28/08

Back in action at Riverbend Disc Golf Park, Oroville, CA
In The Bag-
DX Monster
Champion Orc
Champion Eagle
Firebird
162g Teebird
Beast
Comet
Discraft Soft Challenger
Just a quick note, most all discs I throw are normally 175 grams.
Holy snap we brought a digital camera and I hope to have some pics up soon.
about 25 putts before the round began.
1- Par.  Threw the 162g Teebird with a tailwind and pretty much the identical shot that I threw the last round.  I put no hyzer on it and it went straight and never came back.  Ironically they changed the pin placement and I didn't know it so my shot was better than I thought.  In fact 50% of the holes today had new pin placements.
2- Bogey. (+1)Terrible tee off and I missed a makeable par putt.

3- Bogey. (+2)Hit a tree on the left right off the bat and scrabled for bogey.
4- Par.  Another new pin placement kind of a dogleg left.  I'm having trouble adjusting to these new pin placements, it's like playing the course for the first time.
 5. Bogey.(+3)  Oh boy, I threw my DX Monster forehand into the wind hoping for an S curve but the disc came out of my hand early and just sailed right all the way into the river.  Took a penalty stroke and scrabled again for Bogey.
6- Bogey. (+4) My tee shot with the beast that normally turns left just held a line and sailed right into the bushes and my disc got stuck about 20 feet up, costing me another penalty stroke.
7. Bogey. (+5)Teebird didn't go very far off the pin and I couldn't make a 10 footer, hit the top of the basket and fell out.  Err. frusterating.  On top of that I threw a second shot off the tee with my Orc cause we were messing around with the digital camera and I lost that disc too.  +4 for the round and -2 discs in the bag.
8- Bogey. (+6) Despite having a really good drive off the tee, I followed it up with my worst approach shot of the round landing in the rough and leaving me NO putt to save par.When it's going bad it's going horribly bad. At this point I'm thinking this is shaping up to be my worst round ever. (Note-worst round ever is +7)
9- Par- Solid Tee shot with the Eagle but no love or skip and the disc stopped short in some tall weeds.

Front 9- +6  Ouch.
10-  Bogey- (+7)My tomahawk shot never made it far enough right in the air for it to come down on the right side of the hill.  I landed on top of the hill making for one of the most ridiculous, blind downhill approach shots I can remember ever having.  I landed on the other side of the hill and hoped to get a roll down to the basket.  But with the way this round is going to this point.  No Chance.  My disc stuck on the side of the hill and left me with an awkward 12-15 foot putt with terrible footing and no balance.  I bullet putted and the disc hit the chains solid but with the rotation of the disc I threw it too far to the left and it bounced out.  At this point I threw something at a tree angry to all hell.
 11-  Par.  With nothing overstable left in my bag I really had no chance of throwing as good of a shot here as I did the last round.  I threw my firebird hoping it had some sort of overstableness to it.  Again no chance, and I was off to the left again.  They changed the pin placement on this one as well, I had an incredible approach shot though that missed trees and landed for a drop in par.
12-Par. Another pin change and another Tree Hit right off the tee.  I'm seriously hitting any and every object in my way at this point. Scrambled with a bustin forehand shot with my Comet of all discs that I haven't thrown in weeks.  Landed about 10 feet from the basket and got up and down.
13- Par- This pin is now more to the right which makes for an easier hole than before.
14- Par- Happy they didn't change the placement on this hole I was hoping for another ace run but instead my Eagle flew past the hole about 20 feet but no problem to get in in 3.
15- Par.   Again I hit a tree about 30 feet in front of me. I walked up to my disc and just threw the beast which ended up hitting even more brush and rough. What came next would be the highlight of the round as I forehanded my soft challenger anhyzer and as the disc approached the basket I yell "get in!"  Disc hits the basket flush and I turn in about a 70 footer for Par.  As awesome as it was,walking to 16 I think to myself- Fuck, am I gonna go birdieless on this round?
 16- BIRDIE. yes Birdie. (+6)  Threw my Beast and it turned left as it is supposed to but the pin placement wasn't over there this time it was farther back and straight.  Nonetheless I was left with a wide open 15 footer that I nailed and was happy with that one.
17- Par.  Another long pin placement on this one and my tee shot was less than average but my approach shot was excellent.  Tap in Par.
18- Par. Good tee off but came up short with the wind conditions and left with a 25 footer couldn't put it in for birdie but ended at +6.
Back 9 score- (E)
The cons on this round definately outweigh the pros as I lost 2 discs, don't have any overstable discs left in my bag, and was dominated by 2 penalty strokes.
The highlighted 70 footer on 15 was awesome and it turned my game around.  Having the digital camera there too was cool, We got pics of all 18 holes so I'll put those up soon, except for 10 where this guy and girl were resting and smoking weed.  They let us play through, I didn't want to bust out the camera and take a pic of the hole.
Is this blog long enough?  heh.
Like I said, pics coming soon.

Disc Golf 5/24/08

Despite a drizzle of rain and mid range winds we decided to play a round at Oroville Riverbend Park.
In The Bag-
DX Firebird
Champion Eagle
Champion Orc
DX Beast
Champion Monster
Discraft Challenger
DX Teebird 162g  (debut)
Debuting the Teebird and weighing in at a light and feathery 162 grams I thought I could get some extra distance with holes with a tailwind.  It worked a little bit but not as well as I would have liked
1- Threw the Teebird but with a tailwind minimal fade and went way right off the tee into the rough.  Solid approach shot though with a tomahawk and got up and down for par.
2- I was unsure of the pin placement and played it the way I remember it last time, Threw the Orc and it came up a bit short and didn't fade left the way I wanted it.  It worked out perfectly though because as I walked up to where the pin should have been and it had been moved back as my disc lay 15 feet from the pin.  Birdie!  (-1)
3- Tough hole.  Tried a forehand shot with the eagle but hit a tree early and struggled to a bogey (E)
4- N/A- There was no pin as they were doing maintenence on the hole and putting in a new pin placement.  Guess we're playing 17 holes.
5- Par
6- Par
7- Par
8- Bogey, missed a comebacker putt hit the front of the basket. (+1)
9- Bogey- Another couple of forehand shots that found nothing but trees. (+2)
10- Par- Missed birdie chance, again hitting the front off the basket after a 15 footer.
11- Nemisis Hole. Decided to try something new.  I threw my Monster attempting to do a forehand S curve.  It worked out pretty good landing in the fairway about 30-35 feet from the pin.  I had an awkward putt around a tree directly in front of me.  I put a little hyzer on it and got it to stick.  Birdie on 11?  crazy.  (+1)
12- Par
13- Par
14- Bogey.  Hah leave it to me to Bogey my favorite hole and Birdie my most hated hole today. Just a botched putt (+2)
15- Par  Hit a longer putt to save par.
16- Par- hit metal on birdie putt but didn't stick.
17- Bogey (+3) They moved the pin placement back on this one making it play way longer than normal.
18- Birdie (+2)
Me and IOS both ended the round tied at +2 so we went to playoff holes
Bonus Holes
18- Both Birdied again, playoff 2
18- IOS' drive went too far and landed OB.  All I had to do was keep my drive in play.  I dangerously landed about 3 feet from the OB marker, hah and got up and down for Par and the win on the tiebreaker.
+2 not terrible for the conditions we were playing in, just one other group out playing so no waiting which was also nice.

Raw Thoughts 5/19/08

Kicking off Raw with Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga rematch from last week that saw Hardy pull the upset with the whisper in the wind.
Tonights Match ends in a double count out and building toward a match at One Night Stand, Falls Count Anywhere.
Let me add that Hardy is crazy over like I haven't heard in a long time.  Just don't mess up again Jeff or that's strike 3 and you'll be wrestling Teddy Hart in the indies for the rest of your career.
Kansas City you did well tonight, for the first time in months I actually felt the crowd energy all night. 
Jericho/Batista was good I enjoyed seeing Dave sell a potential leg injury and Jericho work it the majority of the match.  Some leg holds I hadn't seen on Raw in a long time.  Used to seeing them in Dragongate and Japan matches but not WWE.  I enjoyed the finish, breakdown blocked into batista bomb with Jericho fighting it the entire way. 
Something that I do not agree with is the match that was made by Vince with a loser is fired stipulation with Kennedy and Regal.  I was more blew away by Kennedy going over and Regal's program as evil general manager/King of the ring being scrapped. 
Barring any injury or medical condition to Regal that he needs to take some time off,  This booking move was fucking stupid.  Regal was really getting good heat for about 3 weeks now and to kill it was such a poor move in my opinion.
Main Event was ok, but nothing special.  JBL and Orton go over with them having the stipulations for One Night Stand, JBL getting a first blood match vs. Cena and Orton getting last man standing vs. HHH.  Throw in a Stretcher match with HBK/Dave and this is the card so far for One Night Stand:
Falls count anywhere
Jeff hardy vs. Umaga
Stretcher Match
HBK vs. Dave
First Blood
JBL vs. Cena
Last Man Standing for WWE Title
Randy Orton vs. HHH
Eh... Nothing special for me here and notice it's no longer "ECW presents" one night stand? 

Reasons not to watch TNA

Reasons to not watch TNA
No chance of TNA writers having anything original any time in 2008?
Vince Russo Ridiculousness
They will not ever be on a competitive level with WWE.
Black Machismo/So Cal Val Marrage Proposal rip off of Savage/Elizabeth
Stone Cold Shark Boy- Steve Austin
Abyss- Mankind
Jimmy Rave- Recycled Jeff Hardy
WCW Washouts
Kevin Nash
Sting
Jeff Jarrett
Scott Steiner
Shitty Commentary from Don West
The talent that they do have is being wasted in ridiculous
Kurt Angle is out with a neck injury.
Team 3D
Kip James
BG James
Kaz
Gail Kim
In fact the only reason to watch TNA is
Motorcity Machineguns and the occasional Women's match that does not include Gail Kim.
Take my advice and throw down $10 bucks and order a ROH dvd at www.rohwrestling.com  it's well worth it and they ship them priority so you get them in just a couple days.

Pagan Fest 2008

Paganfest 2008 @ The Boardwalk in Orangevale was incredible to say the least.  This is the first "fest" I've ever been to and forgot that means a shit load more bands than I thought.  Nowhere near an ozzfest or warped tour number of bands but still 6 bands was the most I've ever seen on one show. 
Opening up the show as we are waiting in line the busting began with high schoolers standing in front of us talking about Magic The Gathering, Growing old and pretending to have alsheimers and then schooling people on X Box Live, and Getting 50 cats to throw at people.  I can't make this shit up...
Opening was a local band from Yuba City, At Dawn,  and they were ok, not really fitting in with the pagan style but a decent somewhat more hardcore technical metal band. I wasn't really into it although their last song was pretty good.
Next was Suidakra from Germany and they were more celtic metal so a good switch to really get into the show.  I have heard a few of their songs and they were good.
Next up was Eluveitie from Switzerland which was the entire reason for me going to Paganfest because they're an 8 piece band with Instruments including Flute, Mandola, fiddle, Hurdygurdy,gaita, etc.  They blew the roof off the Boardwalk and best live metal band ever seen, IOS agrees.  They played a way longer set than I thought they would too which was even better. 

Turisas followed who were also Awesome.  Turisas got the biggest crowd reaction of the night as they seriously knew how to work a crowd and included singing happy birthday to someone in the front row and splitting the crowd into two teams to see who could scream louder.  Turisas includes a fiddle and accordion player and accordion in a metal band is crazy unique and also awesome. The best finish to a set of the night.  Lead singer announced they wouldn't be playing their normal finishing song and instead since they were so close to San Francisco that they would end with a Gay Ballad.  Hillarious.  People were initially pissed but then got into it swaying their hands in the air.  It ended and a thank you good night, two steps toward the back of the stage and then Bam!  right into Battle Metal Anthem to finish the set.  Fucking Great.
TYR from Scandinavia followed and they were a little calmer than the other bands with a definite folk metal sound.  I wasn't near the stage at this point I was at the bar getting some pics with the band members from Eluveitie as you can probably already see me marking out for.
Ensiferum from Helsinki, Finland headlined and I had already seen the bands I wanted to see.  The music for Ensiferum was good but their stage presence just wasn't at that High Energy Level that Eluveitie and Turisas was.  In fact it seemed like after every song Ensiferum tried to get the crowd to scream loud and were disappointed and would say louder, louder like 3 or 4 times.  Obviously these bands are used to playing in Europe where crowds are in the thousands so to play a show at the boardwalk in front of maybe 250+ is a step back.  Some members of the band had their back to the audience for a part of their set, this reminded me of Maynard James Kennan doing the same thing when I saw A Perfect Circle open for Nine Inch Nails.  Kind of put me in a mood of disgust.  All in all though this show is probably the best experince at a concert I've had since the first time I saw Nine Inch Nails in 2001.
One other cool thing to note would be this is the first time all these bands (except At Dawn) had been to the United States.
Quote of the night-  "Thank You very many." ensiferum-
Shirt of the night-  Drug Free for Satan  -At Dawn Bass Player