In Apprecation of : The Boondocks

I don't know how many people are watching the animated show The Boondocks, but this is possibly one of the finest shows I've seen in recent memory. I've been DVR'n episodes for about 8 weeks now and I just got around to watching them this evening. Like the comic strip, the cartoon is very heavy handed with it's social commentaries. If you haven't seen it, make it a point to watch it this Sunday. Every Sunday.

.Resaca City Rollie.

iMac = New Home

Ever have one of those mornings where you look over to your loved one, pitch a crazy idea, then find yourself in a car driving out to do up an outrageous purchase?

Woke up Sunday morning and commented to Katheryn that I'd like to make it out to Austin, Texas the next time I came into town so that we could check out Pirate Imports in hopes of securing a project scooter for me to work on.

She half-heartedly agreed... then I commented that we could make an afternoon out of it. I said to her that we could go to Waterloo Records and visit the Austin Apple Store.

I then paused and thought... They just opened an Apple Store in San Antonio.

Katheryn started her Masters Degree program at the University of Incarnate Word last week and she said to me that she was a little worried about her computing situation at home. We discussed the possibility of me bringing up my Powerbook for her to work on for the next 7 weeks... We also discussed the possibility of her securing a refurbished iBook.

I then blurted out. "Let's do breakfast out side of The Shops at La Cantera and check out the Apple Store today."

Kathie's eye's lit up. We got dressed and drove out into the cold drizzly morning in hopes of her getting to become familiar with the Apple product line so that we could procure a new family computer.

We arrived at La Cantera a little bit before 10AM... It was our fist time there and I promise to do a full-length post on the very impressive shopping center at a later date. The Apple Store was closed... and we couldn't find a time listing for Store hours anywhere at the shopping center.

We opted to drive around the area in hopes of finding an iHop to eat at. We couldn't find an iHop in the general UTSA campus... but we stumbled upon a fabulous Mexican Restaurant whose name escapes me at the moment.

While having breaky, Kathie and I discussed Apple offerings and her immediate needs for grad school. I made my case for possibly getting the new iMac, while she felt that an iBook would be a better fit for gradschool. to come to the decision of securing the new Intel Core Duo iMac

We drove back to the Apple Store and walked around every Apple Computer offering. After sitting in front of the iBook and the new iMac, it took Kathie about 10 seconds. With it, we secured an all in one HP Copier/Fax/Printer/Scanner with her Educational discount. While also picking up necessary computer goods for Kathie, I picked up an iSight for my Powerbook so that we could possibly teleconference while away from each other.

Brought it home, got it set up and I can say without any hesitation that it's possibly the Snappiest Mac that I've ever had the pleasure to work on. The machine is very zippy. Hannah and I played with Apple's new program Photo Booth for about an hour.

It rocks hella-wang I tell you!

.Resaca City Rollie.

Hannah turns 5

Want to wish a very special person a very special birthday this morning. My littlest Hannah Smith is turning a wonderous 5 years of age. I won't get a chance to celebrate her birthday until my next trip up to San Antonio... but we got a chance to celebrate early this past weekend.

This one's for you sweetie. I'm forever glad that your mommie had you.

Heart,
Rollie

Love Monkey

Don't know how many people caught the first episode of Love Monkey but I tuned in last night hoping to see a show that I could enjoy watching for obscure music references...

The pilot kicks off with the main character pulling a little Jerry Maguire at a major label he works at - getting himself fired. He then considers starting his own label, but ultimately settles for working at a small fictional independent label called TrueVinyl Records. A name that I think is a little too close to Championship Vinyl from one of my favorite films High Fidelity.

Me think's I'll tune in until the show drops a top 5.

.Rollie.

Four Bros.

Recently had a tiny bit of Detroit-homesickness, so I rented the semi-recently released Four Brothers. The only thing I knew about the film before I rented it, was that parts of the picture were filmed in Detroit. The most visible shot is Walberg driving up Vernor (past the Abandoned Train Station - errr. twice) at the beginning of the film. The rest of the picture had Detroit like buildings and fictional bars/casinos/hockey rinks.

The film isn't particularly good... possibly because the occurrences that take place in the film make absolutely no sense. I wish I could recommend the film for commendable performances, but Walberg phones it in. Andre Benjamin's character puzzled me... Tyrese Gibson's character made no sense what-so-ever and Garret Hedlund was asked to play the worst Indie/Rock guy ever put on film.

Sucks wang i tell you.

Ghostbustin: Animated .gif

Possibly the finest animated .gif ever to grace the net. I give you Gifbusters:

A Running Commentary On the Golden Globes

Things are rather quiet here at Chez Agado's... Realized late this afternoon that the Golden Globes would be on tonight. Had an early dinner, just finished catching the last 20 minutes of the "Red Carpet" on E!... Thought I'd post my running comments on this year's Golden Globes.


Stay Tuned.

6:58 PM: While looking for my local NBC, I just noticed that the USA network did a "Red Carpet" of their own. I wonder what their coverage was like?

7:02 PM: NBC has just begun their coverage of the Golden Globes. Despite the 7:00PM suggested start, they've decided to give us a quick "Red Carpet" re-cap. Why can't this bloody award show begin promptly at 7?

7:06 PM: Ok... the show's just begun. It's only 6 minutes after five... my fears of the show kicking off at 7:35 are now over. Queen Latifia (sp?) has just did a MLK bit. Also gave a shameful plug for her film.

7:08 PM: Best Supporting Actor George Clooney - Syriana just took home the award for Best Supporting Actor. Haven't seen Syriana yet, but the field didn't look all that intimidating.

Best Supporting Actress Rachel Weiz - The Constant Gardner, takes the B.S. Actress seconds after the B.S.A. was awarded. Like Syriana, the Constant Gardner is also on my "must see" list.

7:24 PM Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or TV Movie... Ok. I've just realized that there's no way I'm going to post the winners for every category. Sandra Oh however just gave (IMHO) one of the most over dramatized acceptance speeches I've seen in recent memory. I've never seen Grey's Anatomy... but I hear it's another medical show of some kind.

Currently on the phone with my friend Heather K. she's not particularly happy to be on the phone with me. I enjoy very much to watch these ceremonies on the phone with her because she fills me in on whose married, divorced, out, etc.

Gina Davis has just been awarded best Actress in a TV Drama. I've just commented to Heather that Gina is looking rather chubby... she's gotten upset and is now even more upset that she's being mentioned on my blog.

"I don't want to be mentioned on YOUR BLOG!" - Heather.

7:41 PM 6 or so awards have been given out... the awards are feeling a little a blah at the moment. Mainly because I don't watch much TV. Heather continues to make the awards memorable, thanks to her disgust about being on my blog.

7:49 PM Empire Falls has just taken in an award for a Television Merit of some kind... very little comment on that accomplishment... just noticed that the walkways to the stage are quite problematic for people to get on stage.

7:51 PM Steve Carrell (sp) has just picked up an award for the US version of the Office. Thankfully, he gave a gracious nod to Ricky and Steve, creators of the British version... sparing him from further nasty comments.

8:00 PM Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy just went to Reese Witherspoon... I wanted Laura Linney to win for her work in The Squid and the Whale, but Heather's pointed out that Reese's performance for the musical Walk the Line - pulled rank.

8:07 PM WEEDS just took home it's second (possibly third) award... Never seen the show, but the premise looks interesting. For some strange reason I thought this show stole a lot of its ideas from Six Feet Under.

8:22 PM Wanted to take a few moments to share a quick appreciation for Scarlett Johansson (two T's and two S's)... She's in her early 20's and she's simply getting it done. Don't know if she had a breast job (my better half Katheryn pointed this out to me during the red carpet portion of the night) but her and the ladies are look marvelous.

8:29 PM Diana Ossana & Larry McMurtry have just picked up the first (of possibly many) award (Best Screenplay) for Brokeback Mountain. I'm still shocked that a story, 11 pages in length has garnered this much attention. Still haven't seen Brokeback Mountain... but Katheryn's informed me that we'll be catching it very soon. Sigh.

8:56 PM Sir Anthony Hopkins is about to accept the Cecil B. Demille for his outstanding contribution to the world of entertainment.

They're doing up a small time capsule of his accomplishments on screen. Like everyone in attendance, I'm waiting to see what clip they'll show from Silence of the Lambs. It's frightful to think that there will never be anyone quite like him again.

9:13 PM Best Director With the awards ceremonies coming to a close... the award for Best Director went to Ang Lee for the over hyped Brokeback Mountain.

9:18 PM Best Actor has just been awarded to the disinterested Joaquin Pheonix.... for his role in Walk the Line. I'm beginning to suspect that I'm only one of a handful of people who've seen The Squid and the Whale... a fucking injustice I tell you.

9:28 PM Walk the Line just snubbed the Squid and the Whale for the third time tonight in the category of Best Musical or Comedy. Am I the only person who feels that this film is cashing in too soon after the success of Ray?

9:38 PM ... As much as I may like the TV show LOST, is there a need to invite the entire cast upstage to accept ONE award?

9:43 PM Ok, Felicity Huffman just picked up the award for Best Actress in a Drama this evening... big ups for that. How sucky is it to finally win an award and have to go up the stage with Dolly Parton playing in the background.

9:50 PM Let the Oscar BUZZ Begin In what has to be an upsets of sorts... Philip Seymour Hoffman just won Best Actor in a Drama this evening for the amazing motion picture Capote. I honestly think that he (Hoffman) thought, he had little chance to win the award this evening.

9:55 PM Best Motion Picture goes to... yawn... Brokeback Mountain.

All in all I think this was the award ceremony where Brokeback Mountain would do well in. I highly doubt that they'll do this well at the Spirit / Oscars.

.Resaca City Rollie.

MLK Jr. Day

For many out there, MLK Jr day is being observed... If you happen to swing by this website today - take some time and check out Wikipedia's entry on MLK. I'm observing the day by eating crackers at work... I TEASE. I TEASE.

Not too many businesses are closed around these parts (South Texas) but that may have a lot more to do with the heavy Latin American presence here. Happy to report that my home town (San Benito) had their schools close, in observation of the King's Birthday.

.resacaCityrollie.

Z Channel

Caught a wonderful documentary last night, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obession on DVD last night... Before the days of HBO... a small pay-cable-tv station (available only in Los Angeles) appeared on the map in 1974. The channel flurioushed because of its wonderful programing, by film fanatic Jerry Harvey. The first part of the documentary details the importance of the Z Channel and the films they were able to introduce to Los Angeles audiances in the late 70's and early 80's. The second part (last quarter really) examines Jerry Harvey and his depressive state that leads to the murdersuicide of him and his wife in 1987.

Home Network

Finally got around to networking all of my Mac's at home this weekend... On Tuesday, my sister and I heard that our local Target was having a Home/Office clearance-sale. Found (and assembled) the desk seen in the picture, mid week and installed a Airport Card into the Graphite iMac on the far left. Currently having to broadcast my wifi signal through my G4 iMac... but I hope to get my Airport Express in the mail this week.

Abigail turns 1

Things are unusually quiet here in South Texas this morning... very little to report on the personal front. I plan to attend a BBQ this afternoon, so if all goes well, I'll take my camera with me and take some photos of drinks and eats with friends.

Taking a little time this weekend to celebrate the 1 year birthday of our little pet: Abigial. Didn't drive up to San Antonio to spend it with her... but I'm thinking of her none the less.

Happiest of B. Days Abbie,
.rollie.

The Nintendo DS : Restoring my faith in video games

A few months back, I chimed in at length about Ninentdo's new console control for the upcoming system "the Revolution". I argued (then) that the Remote Control - looking device, was one of the worst Nintendo offerings to date. I left out at the time, the Nintendo DS handheld in the console history timeline. My rational, the DS is a handheld device that follows the Gameboy/Gameboy Color/Gameboy Advance-SP-micro in some form or another. Never quite understood the appeal of the DS... the device is large (has 2 screens) and most of the games on the system, insist on using the touch screen/stylus.

Needless to say... I was left unimpressed

That was until... I began to hear about how well some of my favorite titles were doing on the new system. So at the very last minute, I suggest to family and loved ones that the Mario Kart DS bundle would do me nicely for the holidays.

Much to my surprise, the system was delivered and I haven't put it down since.

The system is Ferrari Red and it came with a little sheet of decals/stickers. Haven't adorned any to my DS, but may do something up if it begins to look plain to me... With it, my lovely Katheryn secured me a copy of Animal Crossing to play with her and the kiddies when up in San Antonio for visits. This game has admittedly taken over my life. It's possibly twice as addictive as the Gamecube version. Just the other day I picked up an infectious puzzle game called: Meteos. Haven't had a lot of time with that title just yet, but hope to rock it out a little more this week.

What I'm looking most forward to is picking up a copy of Advance Wars DS & and new title called Electroplankton.

I have to really give credit to Nintendo... Never in my wildest dream did I think interactive games like the ones listed above could ever do well on a system like the DS. I can't wait to see what the Revolution has to offer.

.rollie.

The Squid and the Whale

While in San Antonio over the weekend, Katheryn and I got a chance to catch Noah Baumbach's The Squid and The Whale. A film beautifully captures the difficulties of divorce. While I don't have any first hand experience with parental divorce, the recommendation to see the film came from a friend who saw it and got so choked up recommending it to my by email that she had to stop writing.

The acting and character progression are some of the best I've seen in recent memory. My favorite aspect was the films look and feel... Noah Baumbach recently worked with Wes Anderson on the Life Aquatic... (Wes Anderson got a co-production credit on Squid and the Whale) The attention to detail, I think was helped because of the collaboration... Thankfully, the details and feel of the picture don't become a character of their own like Anderson films do...


Hopefully a little of this film will rub off on Wes.

All in all, one of the best pictures I've seen in a VERY long time.

.rollie.

The Game

We're roughly through 3 quarters of regulation in tonight's National Championship Game between the USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns... The Horns are currently down by 1 point but the game has the making of being one of the best championship contests I've seen since Miami/Ohio State in 2001(errr... 2?)

Thoughts on the game thus far...

University of Texas has the WORST band uniforms in college athletics.
Anyone who tells you that they're a die-hard USC fan is full of shit. The program was left for dead 10 years ago.
If pressed to pick between the Trojan Band and the Big Drum - the Trojan Band would win.
If Vince Young wins this game, he should be referred as "Mr. Pasadena" (At the completion of this sentence... Young bolted for a 40+ yard gain... he has 150 rushing for the game and 1000 even for the season)

rawk,
.rollie.

San Antonio Bound: Again

Had the opportunity to ring in the New Year with my girlfriend and her loving family over the weekend in San Antonio, Texas... The trip marked my 3rd weekend visit in 4 consecutive weekends. We hoped to calm the trips down a little bit in the month of January because of busy schedules, but it looks like I'll be up again this weekend to take back our little dog, Abigail.

I brought Abigail down on Monday morning, with the hope of not having to have the dog stay with a person she wasn't familiar with on Katheryn's planned trip to Dallas next weekend. My options on Monday were to a.) Take Abigail for 3 weeks b.) Drive up for a 3rd consecutive weekend (which isn't all that bad... I get to see Katheryn after all) and take Abie for 2 weeks or c.) Let Abigail stay with Kathie and have the dog stay with someone she's never met - at a place she's never been - and with a pair of dogs that she's never been in contact with.

We elected to go with option A.).

Things have been a little problematic with Abigail's stay at Chez Agado's... I can tell that she misses Katheryn very much. She's not physically ill, but I can't shake the feeling that she's high strung and upset about her routine and surroundings being turned completely upside down.



While at my house I've observed her do a couple of things that I've never seen her do before: A.) Eat's very strangely out of her dish. B.) Has refused to play with her stuffed animals. C.) Has barked viciously at anyone or anything around me.

In summation: I'll be taking the little one back to San Antonio this weekend.

.Rollie.