You'd be Justified in picking this up...

One of my favorite shows from last year came out on Blu yesterday. I love Westerns and this show is set to present day but is a throwback from then. It stars Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens who gets shipped back to his hometown in Kentucky and has his work but also people and issues to deal with from his past. Think like a modern day Gunsmoke; sometimes he is on the road tracking fugitives and runs into issues there too. Season 2 begins next month on FX.

Been enjoying the Tron Legacy soundtrack. This sounds alot like John Carpenter scores from the 80's, good stuff. I cannot believe I like music from somebody named Daft Punk.

GO Jets!!!! We do not need Ben Rapelisberger going for another Super Bowl.

007 will be back

MGM has been bankrupt for awhile but has a new partner which has put some money in the pot to get back to movie making. First, they now can release the Red Dawn remake because they have money to market it now and then they can begin production on the Hobbit with Peter Jackson at the helm. Most importantly they announced James Bond 23 will begin production soon for a November 2012 release. They can now fix the mess that was Quantom of Solace and it is confirmed Daniel Craig will return as the suave super spy and Sam Mendes is directing. Great news all around. Also they will get around to releasing the rest of the Bond collection on Blu-Ray in the near future.

Finished Sons of Anarchy Season 1 and liked it so much I have began Season 2.

I am enjoying some new cd's lately in the new Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Neil Young and The Tron Legacy soundtrack. Looking forward to the new R.E.M. and U2 albums later this year.

The Steelers just defeated the Ravens and I want to see the Pats and Jets tomorrow, should be a good game.

The Force turns Blu

After Blu Ray won the format war a few years ago the next question from every other home theater geek was, "When does Stars Wars come out?" Well Fox has answered that question: September 2011.
You can now enjoy the Millennium Falcon in 1080 glory soon enough. Keep your underoos on and view the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvS3OUNKHZw

Purchased the Family Guy Star Wars box set and my review of the Jedi episode "It's a Trap!" is it was okay. The beginning of the show even says they pretty much mailed it in. I agree but still enjoyed it.

What should Arnold do?

Arnold is officially out of work now after finishing his term as governor of California here recently. I am sure he has plenty of offers out there but I came up with a few ideas for him to keep busy. Some examples are :

-Model leather jackets and sunglasses. He looks really cool in them.
-Sell dumbbells.
-Open a prank call service.
-Start a moving company and have a nice little jingle for the commercials-'We MOVE!"
-Get with Mr. Obama and find out where he got his birth certificate at. Arnold: "I just discovered I was born in Hawaii and then moved to Austria."
-Be an alien killer consultant.
-Go back to the movies?


NFL Playoffs: WOW Seattle! Let's see how far you can go and maybe have a .5oo record this year.

The Rangers seemed geared and ready to go after the Adrian Beltre signing. The team has made itself better and should be able to compete in the AL West this year. The most important fact of this signing is he did not going to the Angels. MVP Josh Hamilton is in the hospital with pneumonia, I hope that is what he is in for. I fear the relapse for him.

I highly recommend Ben Affleck's The Town. Great bank robbery movie.

Finishing up Sons's of Anarchy Season 1, great show. Will move right on in to season 2. I would not mess with Sam Crow.

Top 10: Movie Villians

When it comes to movie watching you need a protagonist and an antagonist, or what most would say a good guy and a bad guy. Heroes are are nice but what I think makes a good movie is a really good bad guy. Here is my list of favorites:

1. Darth Vader- Star Wars-The baddest bad guy of all time. You mess with him and all he has to do is raise his finger and you are choking. It would be nice to see him show up again some day. With the way Lucas is whoring the franchise it may happen. "I am your father!"

2. The Joker-The Dark Knight-Heath Ledger- The guy was fantastic and owned every scene he was in and deservedly won the Oscar for it. Too bad he will not be around for more, RIP. "Why so serious?'

3. The Terminator- Arnold Schw?- The role of a lifetime came around to this Champion bodybuilder who was getting his feet wet in Hollywood and it made him a superstar. Did you know OJ Simpson was up for this role? Did you also know Arnold is out of a job as of today? Good, do what you always say, COME BACK! "I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle."

4. Hans Grubber-Die Hard- Alan Rickman- I never saw this guy before this but he is brilliant as a terrorist/thief in one of the best action flicks of all time. I think we were all worried about Bruce Willis being in an action movie at the time. "Now put down the gun and give me my detonators."

5. Lex Luthor-Superman-Gene Hackman- One of the best comic book movies of all time and Gene set the stage in this one for many big time actors to follow in his steps and play the bad guy. Shout out to Miss TeschMacher! "Otisburg. Otisburg?"

6. The Joker- Batman-Jack Nicholson- Great casting at the time. He was set before Batman was cast. Received a whopping $6 million up front and structured his deal to receive percentage profits and royalties off video home sales. The rumor is he has made over $50 million on the deal, the largest ever for an actor. Robin Williams wanted this role badly. "Never rub another man's rhubarb."

7. Dick Jones/Vilos Cohaagen-Ronny Cox- Robocop/Total Recall- He seems like the same guy in both of these movies but he sure was fantastic in them. Over the top lines sealed the deal in the Verhoeven classics. "Would you like to play along? Good, or I will erase your ass!"

8. Ernst Stavro Blofeld- Donald Pleasence-You Only Live Twice- There are many great Bond villains but this was the first time we see Blofeld and he may be the only one that just wants to shoot Bond right on the spot. No Sharks or lasers for him. "We are now impenetrable"

9. Eric Qualen-John Lithgow-Cliffhanger- At the time you would have never expected this suave stage actor to be a villain but he was good at it. "Don't bother to buckle up...You may not want to survive this."

10. Sheriff Buford T. Justice-Jackie Gleason- Smokey and the Bandit-Not really a bad guy but he is the antagonist. The director gave him the role and let him come up with everything to do with the character. Is given credit for creating the word 'Sumbitch'. Way too many great quotes from this one but I will go with one of my favorites. "Give me a diablo sandwich and a Dr. Pepper. And make it snappy, I'm in a god-d%*ned hurry!"

It is a quiet off season for the Rangers as they lost out on Cliff Lee. Time to move on and fill other holes. I cannot wait until pitchers and catchers report.

The Cowgirls just finished their lousy season at 6-10. Impressive for a team that many thought would go to the Superbowl. Many of changes coming for this team.

TV Shows: The Walking Dead was fantastic and I am bummed we have to wait until October for more. I am now on Sons of Anarchy Season 1.

Happy New Year to all and I hope you have a good one. I am blessed to have spent a lot of time with my family and I am walking this way because the future is bright.

Top 10: Horror Movies

It is that time of the year! I always take the month to watch as many scary movies as I can. The wife decorates the house all up and that just makes the spooky atmosphere that much better. Here are some of my faves:

1. John Carpenter's Halloween: The original and the best. This pic was shot in 3 weeks and on of budget of $300, 000. At the time this was the most profitable movie ever made. Carpenter's score makes it that much better. Mikey Myers is my favorite horror icon.

2. The Exorcist: Probably the scariest movie on the list. Those stairs, that split pea soup throw up, the sounds. The only horror movie to ever be nominated for an Oscar. Director William Friedkin was in his prime back then.

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre '74: I love me some Leatherface. Anything with a chainsaw rocks! This movie was financed by the mob so it is impossible to really know how profitable this movie was. It ran for theaters for years and was a drive in main stay for quite some time. My dad had to sneak me in to see it. The cast saw very little money for their work.

4. Psycho: The granddaddy of horror movies. Alfred Hitchcock created this master peace using his tv crew to keep the budget modest. Anthony Perkins was perfect as Norman Bates and this haunted him for awhile until later on he embraced the role and made 3 more sequels. Look for the director cameo at the beginning of the film.

5. The Thing: John Carpenter is the only director to makes this list twice. The setting is perfect as a group of scientists are alone in Antarctica. The special effects were one of a kind back in the day. One of the few movies Carpenter did not do his own music.

6. An American Werewolf in London: This was a first as this horror movie had quite a bit of comedy in it and it worked very well. The special effects team of Rick Baker made werewolf's look real. Remember the Alamo!

7. Phantasm: I have been a phan for a long time. The Tall Man scared the piss out of me when I would catch this greatness on HBO late at night. I love all the car scenes in the pic.

8. Frankenstein: The Boris Karloff one. The movie was made almost 80 years ago but the monster is magnificent. This must have scarred the piss out of everyone back in those days. The scene where the monster throws the little girl in the water was deemed too graphic then and was not reinserted back into the picture until the 60s.

9.Dawn of the Dead: I will get cheap here and say I like both the Romero and Snyder versions. I do enjoy the original a bit more because of the great gore effects by the great Tom Savini who also has a role in the pic. Living in a mall with a gun store, that would be cool.

10. The Strangers: This is the newest pic of the list. It is so simple and that is what makes it great. A couple at a lake house in the middle of no where and some people messing with them. Your eyes will not be able to leave the screen. You can tell the makers of this are big Carpenter fans.

Honorable Mention: Psycho 2: This is probably the best horror sequel there is. At the time it was unheard of to try to make a sequel of a movie twenty something years later but the studio wanted to cash on the success of horror movies of the time. It relaunched Anthony Perkins career and his performance is just as good as the original. Tidbit: When Norman enters his mother's room for the first time look for Hitchcock's shadow on the right if the screen.

A Dream Comes True

Why not win the World Series? It has been an unbelievable season so far so why not continue? Going into Spring Training this team definitely had playoff potential but they exceeded every one's expectations this season. A look back on the season:

Day 1 on Spring Training, manager Ron Washington admits to failing a drug test last year testing positive for cocaine. This surely accounts for some of the strange moves he made during the season. What a way to start the season.

A walk off opening day win on a sac fly by our catcher of the future in Jarod Saltalamacchia starts the season off in the win column. The dude goes on the DL a few days later never to be seen in a Ranger uniform again and gets shipped off to Boston later in the season.

The Rangers stumble through the first 2 months of the season but all the sudden Josh Hamilton heats up, throws this team on his back and they go on a tear to get into first place and never look back. Meanwhile the sale process of the team has been heating up as the creditors are not happy with the deal Tom "the Rodent" Hicks and the Greenburg-Ryan group have in place so far. The team declares bankruptcy to speed things up. It is later determined the sale process will go to auction and this of course invites new potential owners into the process that no Ranger fan wants.

Meanwhile Jon Daniels is trying to maintain and build his lead in the American League West and pulls off what is now known as the greatest trade in team history. The Rangers finally get an ace. I remember reading that morning that Cliff Lee to the Yanks was all but a done deal. The Mariners were not quite satisfied with their return and decided to invite the bankrupt but prospect rich Rangers to the table. Justin Smoak made the deal for the Rangers. It was a hard decision for sure, this guy will haunt the Rangers for years to come but if you want to win now these are the kind of moves you have to make. Cliff Lee is brought here to lead the rotation to the playoffs and beyond. Never mind that he is a free agent after the season, this is about now!

The Ryan-Greenburg group are victorious in acquiring the team and this just energizes them more as they runaway with the division and are the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff spot. The Rangers are the only professional sports franchise to have never won a playoff series. They fixed that by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round and got to face off with their old playoff foes: The Damn Yankees!

A bullpen meltdown in game 1 really put a damper on the beginning of the series but these Rangers are resilient and shook that off and came right back to even things up. They took 2 of 3 in The Big Apple and finished the Yanks off at home to make their first trip to the World Series! What a moment. I had to sit back and reflect on all the Ranger games I have watched and just enjoy the moment. I knew this time would happen, I just did not know it would happen so soon. I tell my kids there are people in Chicago and Boston that went generations without seeing their team go to the series.

The Rangers are facing off against the San Francisco Giants in the fall classic. On paper the Rangers are the favorite but unfortunately the do have to play the games. After losing both games in San Francisco the Rangers come to try to get back on track and were victorious when hosting their first series game. Hopefully they can even things up tonight. Claws and Antlers!

Cowboys:1-5, getting whipped by Jacksonville right now. Romo is out for awhile so the season is definitely over.

Tv show of the week: History Channel's Swamp People. I find guys gator hunting in Louisiana amazing. These dudes are nuts. On top of gators they hunt snakes and frogs on top of that. Give it a try, highly recommended.