Category: personal

• The Full House drinking game

  Lexrob has posted the rules to the Full House drinking game. It’s a hilarious read:

  The way I sees it, if you’re gonna watch Full House, you might as well go ahead and get completely ripped in the process. After all, a half hour of your life doesn’t have to be the only thing getting wasted, right? For this reason, I have created The Full House Drinking Game.

  Required Equipment

  • Liquid refreshment
  • At least one shot glass for each player
  • One comb (any other hair care item will work if a comb is unavailable)
  • One pair of sunglasses

  …

  Rule #9: How Rude!
  If Stephanie says, “How rude,” it means she feels slighted in some way, and that should make you feel bad. All players must take one shot, repeat the catch phrase, and then take another shot.

  Rule #10: Cleanliness
  Whenever Danny Tanner is cleaning, all players must take one shot. If he is cleaning a cleaning product or item (such as a bottle of detergent or a vacuum cleaner), all players must take two shots.

  Rule #11: The Gibbler Rules
  Any time Kimmy Gibbler says, “Tanneritos,” “Mr. T.,” or “Squirt,” all players must take one shot. Upon any reference of her parents’ desire to disown her or get her out of the house, all players must take one shot. Whenever she mentions professional wrestling, all players must take one shot. Upon any mention of Kimmy’s foot odor, all players must take one shot.

   

  2006.01.08

• Phoenix, Witherspoon deliver in ‘Line

  For several weeks I saw Joaquin Phoenix in movie trailers looking a little less like Johnny Cash than I had hoped for since learning of Walk the Line’s production a couple years ago.

  I’ve been a Cash fan since my college roommate introduced me to a few of his albums seven years ago. Since then, I’ve been hooked on both the man and the myth, though differentiating between the two is often difficult.

  My fear was not only that Phoenix, who I admire for his role in Signs, was not quite Johnny-esque enough in character and stature, but that Reese Witherspoon would also fall short in the role of June Carter.

  My fears were unfounded. Producers surely made a mistake by using the trailers and adverts to hype the believability of Phoenix as Cash (which I still feel failed). Instead, they could have captured the intense and endearing story the film tells. Instead of falling into the typical trappings of rock and roll hero storytelling – flawed but genius hero wrestling addiction and evading redemption and the women who love him – we actually see multidimensional characters struggling with complex sets of ambitions, motives and deep-seated insecurities and weaknesses.

  Sun Records founder and mythic music legend Sam Phillips is only briefly potrayed, and Elvis Presley makes several appearances as a womanizing, chili-fry eating mischief who has yet to collapse under the weight of his own fame. The depths of supporting characters outside of Cash and Carter are carefully subdued as if not to steal the thunder that is brewing between them throughout the film’s initial acts.

  Director James Mangold took a cue from Ray and took trust in the audience’s ability to see several layers and elements of depth to musical characters instead of relying on tired cliches. I went in with little trust of Magold, Phoenix and Witherspoon’s ability to effectively tell this story, but within minutes found myself on the edge of my seat anticipating the outcome of a story I already knew.

  Though I have yet to see Capote, Walk the Line gets my vote for best film of 2005.

  michael castellon

  2006.01.03

• The price of a bottle of wine

  Proving once and for all that there is indeed a relationship between the price of a bottle of wine and said bottle’s dimple (the bump under the bottle), ItchySquirrel conducts some pretty serious research to prove the theory.

  2006.01.02

• Clerks 2 update

  Kevin Smith updates us on the status of Clerks 2 in a series of small video vignettes, most of which are pretty interesting – if you’re a hardcore Clerks fan.

  2006.01.02

• Reflections of a carpetbagger on a trip

  I’ve driven across Texas, or at least the bulk of it, at least 15 times. The round trip from Lubbock to Dallas- by both air and highway- is especially familiar to me now. The trip, which takes 55 minutes from gate-to-gate on a 737, takes roughly six hours by car.

  This calculation, however, is rarely presented in a way that is truly accurate. The trip by air requires at least a 30-minute drive to Love Field which varies depending on your location in the city. It’s also recommended you arrive to the airport at least one hour early – and even earlier on days that someone has determined the terror threat is unusually high.

  Account for another hour to deboard said 737 after arriving to Lubbock and trekking across Lubbock International’s parking lot which is curiously oversized.

  All facts considered, I don’t detest the 350-mile drive, which Lauren and I made last week to visit friends and family for Thanksgiving. Long distance travel have always seemed therapeutic to me.

  The countryside, especially throughout the Southwest, seems to tell a unique story that isn’t yet fully muted by malls and fast food chains, although Dairy Queen and Dollar General, which have yet to let out a final death rattle brought on by Wal-Mart, pepper the landscape of nearly every town. Through a series of towns every demographic will be represented sooner or later.

  The smell of cattle and oil and dust, however, remains the same, as if in celebration of Texas stereotypes that can be both revered and detested. The trip can represent a string of tired cliches and caricatures, but always provides a setting I can lose myself in.

  2005.11.28

• Evolution in the bible, says Vatican

  The Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally.

  Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin’s theory of evolution were “perfectly compatible” if the Bible were read correctly. (more)
  michael castellon
  mike castellon
  

  2005.11.07

• The Tiger Strikes Again

  Ten years after Bill Watterson called it quits on Calvin and Hobbs, the Washington Post examines why. And what made the comic strip so brilliant, anyway?

  “Calvin and Hobbes,” the best kid strip since [Peanuts], worked on the conceit that Hobbes was a stuffed animal to everyone in the world but Calvin, an only child. Only when he and Calvin are alone in the panel does Hobbes spring to life — a tiger who walks on two feet, makes cheesecake grins at girls and appears to be more mature than Calvin by oh, about an hour and a half.

  They wrestle, pull the covers back and forth at bedtime and make goofy faces at one another while sitting in the back seat of the family car — best friends of the type boys no longer have after age 12. The only other kids in the strip were Susie, who lived around the block, and Moe, the school bully. Calvin’s parents did not have names. They lived in a house that had a sort of American foursquare sensibility to it, in a nameless town that seemed lost on the Midwestern prairie. It all bespoke a certain Sunday-afternoon loneliness. (more)

  2005.10.11

• Harvey Danger offers fans plesant surprise

  Harvey Danger has released their latest album, Little by Little, as a free Bit Torrent download from their website:
  

  We’re not streaming, or offering 30-second song samples, or annoying you with digital rights management software; we’re putting up the whole record, for free, forever. Full stop. Please help yourself; if you like it, please share with friends
  …
  We embark on this experiment with both enthusiasm and curiosity—and, ok, maybe a twinge of anxiety. Why are we doing this? The short answer is simply that we want a lot of people to hear the record.

  The album is also available through a full direct download.

  2005.10.03