Johnny Depp is Back

Johnny Depp strikes again with another dark film by Tim Burton. He’s come a long, long way from his days on 21 Jump Street. That’s for sure!

Of all the films that he has done I would have to say that Captain Jack Sparrow is my favorite character. I love the witty banter that he does throughout the movie and the perpetual drunken swagger is a riot! I saw in a behind the scenes show one time and he said that he modeled his swagger after Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. I found that funny since he played Jack’s dad in the last film! He also beats Yoda at talking in circles. For example, take this line “Me? I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly… stupid.” He said that in one of the scenes in the first “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Captain Jack Sparrow always had the best lines!

Another great film is “Edward Scissorhands.” This dark film by Tim Burton was a masterpiece of story telling and visual stunning. It paired darkness with the holidays and opened the doors to a new genera of holiday films. In this film Johnny played a man made being that was incomplete. His creator had died before he was able to finish his hands, so instead of normal fingers he had these scissors. It was brilliant how they showed how complicated it would be to have a disfigurement or some sort of impairment and how society hates anything that is different or they don’t understand. The only down fall to the movie was that Johnny didn’t really have any lines to speak and when he did speak it was very short and usually consisted of about 3 words but he made it all up in body movement and facial expression. Tim Burton’s new film “Sweeney Todd” looks to be another Dark Holiday hit like “Edward Scissorhands” but this time we have Johnny singing and dancing in this film. The new film has that dark edge and gripping story and interwoven humor that is a trademark of Tim Burton. Looking at the previews you can tell that this story was written with Johnny Depp in mind as the lead character. There are several places you can go to see the new previews, you can visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site where you will find the trailers, film stills backgrounds and wallpapers. For you MySpace junkies you can visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace and list him as your friend. I am really looking forward to seeing this film on December 21st I think it will be one of the Holiday Hits to see.

November 30, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Movies, Sponsored Post

2 Comments 

New Goodies

0_200711281907_319.jpg

I finally had the opportunity to spend my $40 Best Buy gift card (slap bracelet) that my in-laws got for me for my birthday. I got a Canon camera case for my new digital camera and a Gorillapod (so you all can scratch that off my wish list).

It used to be that the only Gorillapods available were for big, SLR-type cameras. I’m so glad that they now have a version for ultracompacts because it is awesome. I tried it out last night and you can literally hook it to any surface. I love it!

Incidentally, my gift card came in the form of a cool slap bracelet. When I tried to give it to the cashier, he looked at me kind of strangely. I had to explain that the slap bracelet IS my gift card. I guess he’d never seen them before.

Thank you so much Mom and Dad B!

November 29, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Flickr, Wishlist

Leave a Comment 

Art is in the Air

You know how we have the Final Fridays “Art Crawl” here in Wichita? Well, I recently found out that they have something similar in St. Augustine, Florida. Their gallery crawl occurs on the first Friday of every month, though.

The great thing about the St. Augustine Artwalk is that it is a whole weekend art extravaganza. Instead of just being on one night, the event continues through the first Friday and first Saturday of the month from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Just like our local art crawl, there is a free shuttle that runs for the benefit of the art loving public.

Some of the featured St. Augustine artists include:

The schedule for 2008 is posted on the First Friday Weekend Art Walk web site in case you’re planning a trip to Florida. You can tour the various art galleries for free during the events. This would be a nice, inexpensive addition to ones vacation itinerary.

November 25, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Sponsored Post

Leave a Comment 

WOW Withdrawal!

Its been three days since my WOW account stopped and I am already having withdrawal. I am so board without my WOW that it’s almost unbearable, its so bad that I tried to make a deal with my wife today so that I could get my account reactivated. She was wanting to put the T-Mobile bill on the Bank of America card because she wanted to accelerate our World Points Collection. I have been reluctant because I don’t want to get into the habit of using the credit card again. I am still not wanting to use the credit card but she wants to use it for everything and then pay one bill every month. However, I foresee the possibility of the spending getting out of hand and thats what worries me. So today I decided to make a deal with her, I told her that I would put the T-Mobile bill on the card if I could reactivate my WOW account. She said fine (very reluctantly) and waited till I started to input the information for the bill and then asked me if I could wait till after the holidays to reactivate my account because I had asked for a 60 day card for Christmas. I was like “fine, you hate me playing that game anyway” in a rather pissy tone, I was actually excited that she agreed to the deal. I went ahead and input the credit card information because I was already there and knew it would cause grief if I said “fine, no WOW no Credit Card”. She is afraid that I wont work on the house if I have my WOW account active. I know I have better will power that that but I can see her concern, I have a tendency to get very lost in that game. It’s not a game that you can just sit down and play for a few minutes then move on to the next thing its something that you set aside several hours to play. If you go into a RAID or an Instance you could be playing for hours. This is going to drive me crazy because I just got to 70 and this is when things start to change. I don’t play like the other WOW geeks, I cant grind for hours on end to level up so I quest and try to find groups for instances. I thought I would have more time to play in the Battle Grounds to upgrade my Armor but I ended up running out of time just as my Honor Points reached enough to get a new piece of armor. I was trying to get good armor so that I could get into a Raid group to get better armor so that I would have a fighting chance when the expansion comes out next year. The last time the expansion came out I had just hit 60 and all my gear was weak. I figured that I would work up my toon or get a second toon up to 70 so that I could have options in the next expansion. I have a hunter that is at mid 40′s and I figure that if I can get my account reactivated then I can work to get it up to 70 and that would make me a more valuable player. Listen to me, I sound like one of those addicts, “Just one more fix is all I need”. I gave my dad my X-Box to watch over for a while so that it wouldn’t get messed up in the remodel so I don’t even have that to fall back on. I have had to resort to an online text based game called O-Game to play. I may just have to look into some of these new Free MMORPG’s that I see coming up. I have already played one but I didn’t like the game play, it didn’t play well. In the end, I guess I need to use the withdrawal that I am experiencing to drive me to finish the remodel and get this house done. We will see if I can hold out or go insane from the lack of WOW play. I got to give it to the people at Blizzard! they made a game that if maintained with Expansions and Patches, will go on for a life time and I will be one of the faithful Zombies that religiously plays.

November 25, 2007 | Posted by Brian under Games, Life

Leave a Comment 

Eek, It’s a Real Tarantula!

Cannady Girl posted this video of Logan on their web site. It’s so creepy! Brian said he would have screamed like a little girl. I guess you can say that Brian and I are not too fond of exotic pets. Sugargliders are as exotic as we can get. No snakes (Logan has one) or spiders for us. This tarantula happens to be Jude’s. I think this video is as close I want to get. LOL!

November 24, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Family

Leave a Comment 

Happy Birthday to Jen

It’s hard to believe that Jen is turning 27. Gosh, you’re getting old! Only three more years before the big 30 like me! We need to get you married.

0_200711231949_317.jpg

This photo was taken last night at Margarita’s where we celebrated Jen’s birthday. A few people showed up, mostly Jen’s coworkers. Several no shows. Good excuses, though. You know what was noticeably missing? A significant other. Time to set my sister up.

I’m seriously thinking of putting up an online personal add for my sister. Kind of like what Diane Keaton did for her Mandy Moore in Because I Said So. Hey, it worked for Mandy Moore!

Anyway, there are several free personals web sites out there. Date Hookup is probably the best, though. They have forums for members to share thoughts on relationships, videos, pictures, discuss religion, politics and other general stuff. The feature I like most is the “date ideas” section. Members share date ideas with one another. Brian and I tried to create a web site like this, but I have been too busy to put much work into it. Theirs is searchable. You can even search for date ideas specific to your geographic location.

Feel free to check out their web site. Look for Jen’s ad. LOL!

November 24, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Sponsored Post

Leave a Comment 

Happy Thanksgiving

0_200711221436_315.jpg

We had an abundance of food at Thanksgiving today. Per usual, we spent Thanksgiving with Brian’s family. His mom is a wonderful cook who enjoys having everyone over. Bill and Lisa, from across the street, and their kids Mia and Charlie were with us also.

After a hearty meal, Brian fixed a plate for Chad and took the food to him at work. That was a really nice gesture. By the time he returned, we were ready for dessert. We had Cheesecake Factory’s Italian cream cake, the kind you get at Sam’s. I had to keep grandma and Lisa from eating too much of the homemade moose munch mix (Brian and I mixed chocolate covered caramel popcorn, peanut butter M & M’s, and chocolate covered pretzels together so that Brian could feel like he actually made something) so that they would have room for cake. Lisa wasn’t happy about the 400 calories. I quickly pointed out that the calories from the caker were the least of our worries. The meal we had was an easy two to three thousand calories, but who cares? It’s Thanksgiving. You’re supposed to eat your heart out.

After dessert we played several rounds of Catchphrase (many thanks to Cannady Girl for giving it to me for my birthday). I love that game! We had played it at Bill and Lisa’s new year’s eve party over a year ago and I wanted the game ever since. We couldn’t find it at Wal-Mart when we checked, though. Then we figured I could just add it to a birthday or Christmas list and maybe someone would get it for me. ;)

Brian, Lisa, and I teamed up against grandma, David, and Bill. Our team lost every single round. It wasn’t until we traded Brian for grandma that we actually won one. I couldn’t tell if it was losing Brian that helped us win or if it was grandma’s contribution to the team. It was so much fun playing, though.

Before going home, Brian and I went to my parents’ house to drop off some presents. While there, we played some more Catchphrase. It was super fun. Mom found the game a bit of a challenge, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy it. She is actually considering getting their own game so I can practice.

I found out that mom, dad, and Jen all went to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Tejanos in Newton. All of Tita Esper’s kids (except for the eldest) were home for the holidays. Maybe if we can get into our new house by Thanksgiving next year we can bring everyone together, both the Brubakers and the Alonsos, for Thanksgiving. We’ll probably need to get help from Picadilly like we did last year when we did Thanksgiving for the grandparents. David and Donna were in Texas.

Anyway, if we can’t get into our new house until much later that will be okay too. I’m sure that there will be many, many more Thanksgiving holidays to celebrate with family in the years to come. I just wish that the family would reunite (Brian’s brother Kevin has been estranged for some time but we found him accidentally through our fall parade of homes adventures). Lisa had some pretty good ideas this afternoon. Grandma said she didn’t think that Kevin would return until after she passes. Donna said probably not until after she is gone. I think it will happen much, much sooner than that specially if we heed Lisa’s advice. It’s time to get the family back together.

November 23, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Family, Flickr

Leave a Comment 

Academic Achievement Recognition

invite

I’ve been invited to an academic achievement regonition ceremony at WSU on December 3rd.

Does anyone want to go? If so, please let me know as soon as possible because I have to RSVP by November 26.

November 19, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Flickr, School

Leave a Comment 

Durable Fake Rocks

The last time Brian and I went over to mom and dad’s house (this would have been yesterday, actually) I noticed that there was something noticeably lacking in their $10,000 landscaping. They need a decorative boulder. I’ve seen these fancy schmancy decorative boulders at other homes. They are actually pretty nifty. Some of them even have address plaques or “Welcome” messages.

Most people have their address displayed either above or next to their garage, and then some display their address on their mailbox. Using a decorative boulder to showcase your address is a much more stylish alternative. The only downside is that it’s not cheap. For those who don’t have the money to spend on a thousand-pound boulder, there’s always Artificial Rocks Factory. Artificial Rocks Factory offers four models of realistic fake boulders with custom address or welcome plaques. In addition, Artificial Rocks Factory has about 20 different models of fake boulders which are hollow and are open at the bottom.

I think it is a pretty neat idea. I wonder if mom and dad would like one. The fake rocks are on sale right now and shipping is only $50. What do you guys think? Look at the picture of the front of mom and dad’s house below. Do you think it could use a decorative boulder?

November 19, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Sponsored Post

1 Comment 

Ching’s Christmas Wishlist

Gorillapod

P.S. I will periodically add to this list as I think of stuff. Please be sure to keep checking back.

November 19, 2007 | Posted by Ching under Toys, Wishlist

Leave a Comment 

Next Page →