ARSEiam
Some cool messing around in Flash.

My family ditched the house for Halloween, so we have all the candy for ourselves. Which amounts to about one bag of Reese's Fast Break bars I bought at Walmart. Spent the day watching We Were Soldiers (thumbs up, altho Madeleine Stowe looks astonishingly fake) and going out to dinner.

Foosball.com
Everyone's favorite summertime activity. Why didn't I run across this earlier? Although not as cool as finding Berke Breathed's site (cartoonist for "Outland" and "Bloom County").

Jam Master Jay Dies in NYC Shooting
Rest in peace.

Saw The Ring earlier this evening. It's a good creepy movie, but I think another one with a female Australian lead, The Others, is better. I do want to eventually see the original Japanese version. Just as a sidenote, Northbrook Court 14 can kiss my ass with their $7 matinee ($9 regular adult admission?!). Definitely taking my business elsewhere.

Warning: pissed off Canadians closer than they appear.

20 Worst Games of All-Time
"Extreme Sports With the Berenstein Bears"? Ugh. I'm glad I spent more time in my childhood playing with GoBots.

I ran across this years ago, but this is an entertaining read for those of you who haven't heard of it: The $95,000 adventure

The Smoking Gun has a list of Tom Green's intellectual property rights from his settlement with Drew Barrymore.

I Googled a bit looking for information on bull riding (rodeo-style), but couldn't find the specific information I was kinda looking for. Why? Well, my friend Karl was in over the weekend, and we were vegging out in front of the TV, when we flipped upon rodeo on ESPN. Karl is from Texas, so I asked him what the deal was with rodeo. We watched a little, and bull-riding came on. I'm sure everyone knows what bull-riding is; the thing where the rider can only hold on with one hand and has to hang on for dear life as long as possible.

I asked Karl what they used to make the bull buck so wildly. Because, I thought, doesn't the bull sometimes not want to go? I was imagining maybe they used spurs or electric shock, even. Karl sort of uncomfortably replied that they tugged on rope tied to the bull's, uh, unspeakables. I realized just then what a suburban, sheltered life I've lived. Oh of course! Yank on the bull's nads! That makes perfect sense. It kinda blows my mind. I mean, it makes sense, I just didn't think it would be anything so mean.

I went for Japanese food with the parents tonight, which was good. Makes me want to go visit Matsuya in the city.

Ryder Told Saks She Was Researching Role
Please.

Jackass jumps to top of box-office
Todd did you want to watch this? Sorry. Give me a call dude.

Read what they found in Saddam's inbox. Or it might be simpler to go to Crazythoughts.com.

Went out to see The Truth About Charlie. Normally, I try to be pretty educated about my movie choices, but on this one I had failed to catch that this was a remake of Charade, with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, one of my favorite movies of all-time. I went in thinking only that Charlie would be a caper plot, somebody stealing someone else's money, clever twists, yadda yadda. Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) directing couldn't be a bad thing either. In other words, I was primed for disappointment.

There are very few times a remake is ever as good as the original, so it loses out there. But the editing? I've never left a movie having a headache from what I saw onscreen. The film jumps back and forth at a frenetic, presumably edgily artistic, manner, with lots of quick panning and out-of-focus shots. And everything felt too close; as stunning as Thandie Newton is, I don't need to see up her nose on every shot of hers. The camera felt about 2 feet too close to whatever it was pointed at, which didn't help when the quick panning kicked in. Anyway. That's a lot of blather about something not worth watching. Shoulda checked reviews before going out, or else I woulda seen The Ring.

The evening was redeemed by a brace of folks who surprised me for dinner after the movie. Thanks to all who attended; I was not expecting a birthday gathering at all, and had thought I'd done a good job of keeping that secret.

Congrats to the Angels. I was rooting for Bonds and the Giants, but either team winning is a good story. Anaheim's balanced attack overcame, just barely, the individual dominance of Barry Bonds, and it's sad because who knows when either of these teams will be back in the Series, and it looks like Bonds will finish his career with no championship.

Enjoy some Unspeakably Stupid stories while you're working for the man.