the dark knight.

The Dark Knight.

 

It might not be the best movie ever made, but it is certainly the best movie I can remember seeing for myself.

 

I went to see it Saturday at the IMAX which was of course sold out.  When I got to the ticket booth, I asked the guy if there wasn’t one single seat left in the IMAX.  He said no sir, I’m sorry.

 

So I bought a ticket for the regular showing.  But being the sneaky guy I am, I walked into the IMAX theater just to see for myself.  At the IMAX you purchase numbered seats and they have ushers in there to help seat you.  Just so happens as I walked in, the usher on my side was helping someone to their seat up in the middle of the theater leaving the first row unguarded.  And there has a sparkly, golden seat calling my name.

 

Ha ha, suckers.

 

I didn’t feel safe until the lights went down though.  The theater was packed.  And there probably wasn’t a single empty seat.  I am lucky I didn’t get busted.

 

Needless to say, I was blown away.  Awesome is the only word that came to mind as I was walking out of the theater into the blinding sunlight of a humid July day in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

It was so good, I went to see it again the next day.  Just to make sure it was truly as bad ass as I thought it was.

 

It is.

 

It would have been nice to see all the same people reprise their roles from Batman Begins, but apparently Mrs. Tom Cruise didn’t think.  That’s it, she just didn’t think.  How can you not get back in this film?  Just one more reason I hate Tom Cruise.  I’m sure it’s his fault.

 

But that’s okay, Maggie Gyllenhaal looks like her a little bit and acted just like her, really.  I don’t know if she was intentionally trying to be Katie Holmes but she was dead on.  Speech patterns and all.  She’s just not quite as cute as Katie. 

 

Screw you Tom Cruise.

 

This thing was as good if not better the second time I saw it.  I’ll probably see it a third time.  I think it’s easily going to make more money than any movie in history; certainly it will make more money than any other movie this year.  And I know that’s not what gets you Academy Awards, but I’m starting to think they need to take box office draw into consideration.  I mean, gas is four bucks a gallon and it is at least six bucks for a matinee most places.  And if people are forking out that kind of bread two and three times to see the same movie, that means it’s pretty damn good.

 

The Guardian reports opening weekend ticket sales near $200 million.  http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2291950,00.html

 

That’s a lot of bread.

 

Go see this movie.  It is a definite full price, as soon as it comes out on DVD purchase. 

 

I give this film eleven dead Joel Shumachers out of ten dead Joel Shumachers.  Because Joel Shumacher should be buried under alive under the used ticket stubs of this film for what he did the Batman franchise with Batman Forever.  What a douche.

 

Oh, Heath Ledger’s Joker is off the charts frightening and hilarious.  Often times in the same scene.  In both screenings I saw this weekend, the audience reacted to his Joker like I have never seen in any other film.  Ever.  They laughed with him one moment and where scared to silence the next.

snot humor.

i’ve not blogged in like ever.  nor have i read any blogs.  my bad.  i suck.  i did try to comment on someone’s blog a few days ago but myspace was being shitty so i couldn’t.  sorry.

my allergies have been kicking my ass this week.  i finally got the use of both my nostrils back today.  feeling much better.  i gotta wash my sheets because every time i’ve rolled over in bed the last few days this disgusting liquid snot has poured out all over myself and my bed clothes.  i know, gross.  but what are ya gonna do?

i tried to sleep with toilet paper wadded up in my nose but that’s just uncomfortable.  plus after a couple hours the toilet paper gets so saturated with liquid snot it kinda rolls out onto me  and i think that might be nastier than just the straight pour of goo.

now that it’s clearing up, the flem in my nose is starting to harden and stick to my nose hairs so that it’s making my nose hairs stick out of my nose in all kinds of crazy angles.  and my nose is so chaffed and sore from the constant blowing that it really, really hurts to stick my finger up there and try to straiten stuff out.  and it really, really, really hurts to try and pull the little hairs out.

oh, and speaking of nose hairs…

you know you are in a classy establishment when standing at the urinal you look up and see a giant booger staring you in the face.

and you know you are in a really high class place when there’s a nose hair stuck to that giant booger staring you in the face.  i can’t help but wonder if the nose hair came out with the booger of if someone purposely pulled out a nose hair to stick it to the wall with the giant booger.

sometimes.

i’ve not worn a pair of matched socks in weeks.  and it don’t really bother me.  it bothers other people.  but not me.

if someone notices, they say, hey.  you know you got different color socks on.  and i say.  yeah. 

sometimes i’ll get chippy with them just for fun and say something like, it’s laundry day.  what of it?

someimes they get chippy back and say something like, watch your tone with me young man.

sometimes i have to smack some old ladies walker out from under her because she made fun of my one white sock and my one black sock.

sometimes.

the fourth.

i hope everyone’s fourth was as cool as mine.  i got to eat my weight in ale-8’s and set off some explosives within close range of juveniles. 

my brother has a big fourth of july bash every year where we all go to his place and grill out, play some corn hole and washers, and when the sun goes down set about five hundred bucks in projectile explosives off in his front yard.  what fun.

this year we had a four man team shooting off the mortars.  me, clay, and his neighbors on either side of him.  me and chris on one side and clay and aubry on the other.  aubry was a newbie to the festivities so we’ll give him a pass but he better get on his game for next year.

it was a good show though.  me and chris would get ours lit and up in the air and while they were still burning colors in the sky, clay and aubry would have thier two mortars lit.  it’s a pretty impressive show for a neighborhood fireworks display.  and we set off a couple of those boxes full of mini mortars for the grand finale.  with me and chris still launching some of the big mortars behind the little ones.

i’d say the show ran a good twenty five minutes this year.  that’s about as long as it needs to be.  any more than that and i feel like chevy chase at the grand canyon.  yeah, yeah, let’s go.

good times, good times.

i think i got myself fired from my resturant job though.  hey, i told them on tuesday i wasn’t going to be there on saturday night.  sorry.  i’ve been working on prioritizing my life and clay’s fourth of july party trumps the part time resturant gig. 

norma left a mean message for me on my voice mail that said something like it was my responsibilty to get someone to cover my shift and if i didn’t get someone to cover or show up myself she would take me off the schedule permantly.  so, i kinda wonder if i’m fired or just taken off the schedule.  that would be sweet.  then i could just work when i wanted to.  which is kinda what i do anyway.

oh well, i need a better second job anyway.  who am i kidding.  i need a better first job.

one more thing, check out my other blogs.  cal’s don’t be fat blog at calsdontbefatblog.wordpress.com and cal’s movie blog at calsmovieblog.wordpress.com.

today’s a pretty good day.

gotta love that global warming.  it’s barely gonna break 80 today if it even does.  it’s almost july.  in kentucky.  al gore’s such an idiot.

job for today blew out.  i love it when that happens.  nothing like showing up to a job site and not working.  good times.  until i’m broke.  then it kinda sucks.  maybe i should work on my resume a little.  only problem is i really don’t wanna work anyway.  so i guess it all works out.

went to the gym this morning since we didn’t work.  i suppose that’s doing someting at least half way productive with my time.  doing some laundry the rest of the day.  that half way productive as well.  got band practice tonight.  that’s only productive about half the time.  so i guess that would be about a quarter of the way productive regardless of what goes down.

fixed some kick ass stir fry for lunch today.  it’s good to fix your own food.  cheaper, healthier, funner. 

i cut up two chicken breast and cooked them in my wok, then added some frozen stir fry veggies.  in a separate pot i cooked some wild rice.  i love wild rice.  i need a bigger wok though so i could have put the rice and everything in there and stir fried it.  but we just had to put the rice in it when we ate it.  it was still good.  i put some crushed chili peppers in mine.  you know that stuff on the top shelf of the oriental food aisle.  it looks like liquid red pepper flakes.  and i suppose that’s what it is.  mmm…good stuff.

burned myself a cd to listen to in the car.  secret samadi by live.  that’s a good band. 

oh, i started a new work out today designed to sculpt a v shaped torso.  i’ll let ya know how that goes.  my back is kinda sore though.  that sucks.  you’d think bending over all day laying a floor would get my back in pretty good shape.  but after about 25 dead lifts, i can sure feel it.

i gotta work on my chin ups.  i can do like four in a row.  and i don’t even think i do them right.  in the men’s health magazine, where i glean all my health knowledge, it says that a correct chin up is when you bring yourself all the way up and touch your chest to the bar.  i can’t even do one of those…

almost had to drive with mom to el paso.  she’s on her way out there to pick up little emily.  but since we had a full week on the schedule she got a plane ticket to fly her out there and she’s bringing em back on the greyhound.  that’s gonna suck.  greyhound is a cheap way to travel i reckon, but it’s not exactly comfortable.

it’s a lot cheaper though than driving out there.  i think she said gas would have been like 250 and we’d a had to get at least one motel.  probably two.  i remember back in the day i could get in my car and drive straight to dodge city, kansas.  i can barely make it to winchester these days without having to stop.

oh well.  maybe i’ll drive back out at the end of summer when emmies gotta go home for school.  it mom don’t just keep her here.

alex’s bass guitar is the best thing i’ve ever stolen

Okay, here’s a few random things I’ve been wanting to say something about but have been to fat and lazy to.

 

The incredible hulk is incredible.  It is really good.  How could I forget how wonderful Liv Tyler is?  She is amazing.  She also looks pretty good.

 

This one is far, far, immeasurably better than the last one they made with what’s his name?  Played Hector in the crappy movie with Brad Pitt as Achilles?  He’s also in Munich, which is very good…Eric Bana, yeah.  The one where he was the Hulk was terrible.  Although Jennifer Conley is worth the price of most admissions…

 

I mean, what’s the last bad movie you saw with Ed Norton?  Or Tim Roth?  Guys like that tend to pick pretty good scripts.  A good script and a dump truck full of twenties…

 

I also saw Kung Fu Panda.  It was chocked full of awesomeness.  That’s really all you need to know.  It was even more awesome because I saw it on IMAX.  IMAX is awesome.  Not sure it’s worth friggin’ eleven bucks a ticket…but it is awesome.

 

David Cross as Crane was pretty funny, but when I heard his voice I just had trouble picturing a bad ass kung fu master.  Didn’t even recognize Angelina Jolie as Tigress.  Or Jackie Chan as Monkey for that matter.

 

But it is hilarious.  Big fat panda kick major ass.

 

The White Brother Funk is alive and well.  Had another jam session with Phil and Steven in Lexington.  It’s pretty awesome.  I really enjoy playing my bass guitar.  It’s good therapy for my slightly deranged mind.

 

I thought the Tunesmith’s had a pretty good practice last week.  Maybe we didn’t get much accomplished in the way of solidifying some song structures and stuff like that.  But we did get in some pretty good jams and got some of the best takes on stuff we’d been working on.  At least I thought so.

 

Playing bass guitar is fun times regardless.  And it really does help me focus my thoughts.  I focus on playing the guitar and kinda gets all my brains muscles working toward the same goal, which is to rock ass on bass guitar, and it’s almost like my mind stays focused a little better for some time afterwards. 

 

I guess that means I should play my bass more.

 

Going to the Y feels like that too.  I should go to the Y more.  In fact, the day after rocking out my bass real good, I actually made it to the gym.  Thank the good lord in heaven.  I’m getting so fat I disgust myself.

 

I mean, I still look good.  Don’t get me wrong.  But minus 15 pounds and the little girls just don’t stand a chance.

 

Alex’s bass is the best thing I’ve ever stolen.  I wish I had stolen someone’s bass twenty years ago.  Or at least right after high school when i sat my trumpet down.

 

Oh well.  I’m a late bloomer.  A very, very, very late bloomer.

i am completely worthless.

sometimes i really feel that way.  and sometimes it’s completely true.

i go through seasonal depression every year.  i’m a very sensitive soul, ya see.  and when the seasons clash against each other as they do here in my beloved bluegrass, i get a little outta whack.  as if i’m ever in whack. 

it’s totally summer now and i should be snapping out of this funk just any time now.  i think writing about it helps.  so i hope it hurries up.  i’ve not even cleaned my room in a month.  i’ve got three stacks of clothes in my floor.  one is clean, one is dirty and one is in between.

i’ve not been writing very much.  i’ve not been playing my bass very much.  i’ve not even been to the movies since iron man.  well, i did go see indiana jones and the worst sequel ever.  but that was such a pile i’m not counting it.

i’ve been getting fat too.  i’ve only been to the y once in the last two weeks.  i can feel it.  i’ve been so lethargic and out of energy and tired all the time.  going to the gym helps with all that.  and i know it.  i’ve just been a lazy POS.

been eating lots of fast food because i’m too lazy to go to the grocery.  i can feel that too.  god i’m getting old.

i have been getting lots of, um, attention from the ladies recently despite my fatness and laziness and depression.  and that don’t even help my mood.

it’s about time i do something i suppose.

mail in rebate

what exactly is the deal with mail in rebates?  i mean, why can’t you just give me my rebate right now? 

my phone is about to completely crap out on me.  i can only recieve and make calls every other day.  i can text all the time which is fine.  i’d just as well do that than talk to you probably anyway, but still.  sometimes you need the phone to work, right?

so i go into the local at and t store to purchase a new phone.  i think i’m gonna get the blackjack ii this time around.  my blackberry has been pretty good to me, but i just don’t need it.  the blackjack does everything i want it to do and it’s fifty bucks cheaper.  it’s still a hunny, but i figure that’s not really that bad.

only thing is those jerks want me to pay two hunny, then they say they’ll send me my other hunny back in the mail. 

so i said hey guys, i’ll save you the postage and the work to get it all in the mail.  just let me give you a hunny right now and we’ll call it even.

yeah, they didn’t go for it.  but man, i really don’t got two hunny to drop on a phone.  i really don’t have one hunny, but one is tolerable.  two just isn’t right now.  besides, my brother mike still hasn’t gotten his fifty dollar mail in rebate from when he bought his phone.  he did get a letter explaining why he didn’t get it though.

that crap should be illegal. 

so screw you at and t.  i’ll just buy a refurbished one online.  take that you jerks.

reading a new book.

it’s called under the banner of heaven, a story of violent faith.  about some fundamentalist lds dudes that killed thier sister in law and infant daughter.  nice, huh?  i’ve only finished one chapter so far but it looks as if it’s going to be very interesting.

the whole fundamentalist lds thing is pretty interesting.  so this should be good.

also picked up to kill a mockingbird at the barnes and noble yesterday.  i read it way back in the day and for some reason was thinking about it.  then i just happened upon it.  so i bought it.  it’s a nice hard back edition that will look nice on my book shelf.  if i ever get a book shelf.

went yard saling with an angel this weekend.  i almost screw it up.  i used my jedi mind skills to get her to agree to go with me.  early.  i said i’d be there at 7:30.  i, of course, went out the night before and slept past the point of being able to make it to winchester at 7:30.  she sent me a text at 7:23.  she was gonna fix breakfast.

why am i so dumb?

so i high tailed it down there and got some bacon and tomato and fixed her breakfast.  think i might have saved it.  we went yard saleing all day and it was good.  she went to work at five and then i came back to her place when she got off work.  there were other people there.  she likes to entertain.  which is awesome.

going to try and spend as much time with her as possible.  you can go on and call me a gas guzzlin’ sumbitch if you’d like.  ’cause i’m gonna burn up some fuel chasing this one.

the de-evolution of the american society can be seen at your local wal-mart.

had short conversations with three people tonight at the wal-mart yet i spoke to no one at the mega store.  i interacted with exactly zero people in regards to my shopping experience.

i talked to my sister and my neice to wish them a happy mother’s day on the phone and exchanged text with a friend in st. louis while browsing the shelves and wandering around looking for the cottage cheese.  i thought i saw this sexy old cougar checking me out but that’s the extent of my human interaction.

i really hate how that place is set up.  it makes me sick.  but it’s hella cheaper than the kroger on everything.  fifty cents a pound for bananas?  two fifty for a gallon of milk?  two bucks for yoplait strawberry banana yogurt?  come on man.  you just can’t beat that.

and while i was there i was able to pick up a new pair of work pants, a travel bottle for shampoo, a travel soap dish and a hannah montana poster.

there were only two check out lines with human people.  the one where you gotta buy your cigs and one twenty or less lane all the way to one end that was hung up with a group of mexican’s who were having some language problems with the little white girl running that register.  i’m just thinking how ironic it is to have the only human lane clogged by the people they have installed all the multilingual express check outs for.

i don’t get it.

and if you aren’t going to give me human assistance in anyway, wal-mart, is it possible for me to get a little more room at the auto check out?  i mean, there are only two bag things right?  well, sometimes i get more than two bags of stuff.  but if i move one bag out of the way and into my basket so i can load up some more crap, the idiot auto register tells me to replace the item or push the go back button.

it’s like, dude, i can’t fit all my stuff into one bag.  i gotta kinda swap them out, ya know. 

but fifty cents a pound on bananas is, well, bananas.