>>PIXAR POWER RANKINGS

this is probably one of the toughest, most nerve wracking thing i've ever had to decide. but now that i've seen Up, and consequently, all the Pixar movies, i am going to rank the ten movies in order, from most favorite to least favorite. you can argue with me but i'm pretty sure i'm right. (note: it was so hard to decide these, that for all intents and purposes, 1 through 8 are pretty much interchangeable).


1. The Incredibles - the most action filled of them all, and still managed to pull off the humor and suspense. Classic superhero characters. this movie pretty much blew me away.

2. Finding Nemo - just a great story, and classic hilarious characters and situations. debatably the most quotable of all the pixars.

3. Toy Story 2 - better than the first i think, also managed to create action and drama even with a plot so seemingly juvenile (toys?). funny, also some great parody of older movies.

4. Up - in my opinion probably the most well made of all the movies, and the saddest and most character driven.

5. Monster's Inc. - super funny and super quotable, sad moments, best duo of characters, with Mike and Sully.

6. A Bug's Life - I loved this one as a kid, just a classic underdog tale, also pulls off some exciting and funny moments.

7. Toy Story - you can't deny how classic and revolutionary this one was for it's time, also considering this was their first one.

8. Ratatouille - the most beautiful looking of all of them, and while a bit slow at times, still had an excellent story and well crafted characters.

9. WALL-E - i was dissapointed by this movie. While i'll admit it's look and animation was fantastic, i found it boring and nauseatingly nostaligic. i fell asleep when i saw it in theaters.

10. Cars - dumb humor, and not enough heart to get by as a cute underdog story. Dissapointing to me by pixar standards. also, i don't know about having owen wilson as the lead voice, he can get annoying...

>>SKYMALL ALLSTARS

skymall was single handedly the best part of the flight home from dallas. enjoy

hm. comfortable? looks dead to me.

"this person is able to sleep comfortably in any seat! can you say the same? probably not...". this guy is either the envy of the flight, or the laughing stock. i'll bet on the latter.

mole repeller. this is just funny.

>>BLOOD OF MAN

i am getting myself really really excited for Mason Jenning's new album, Blood of Man, released 9.15.09. coming from Brushfire, and the talent that Jennings is, it will assuredly be awesome. i'm stoked. the press photos are getting me excited. as is this short video. knowing his music, i'm expecting a raw, emotional, electric feel to this album, and he will pull it off perfectly.


this is from Mason himself, talking about why he decided to 'plug in' for Blood of Man:

“It all kinda started at Christmas when my sons and I were hanging ornaments on the tree. We have an ornament that is a little electric guitar and my six-year-old son was looking at it and asked, “What’s this, Dad?” I said, “What??? It’s an electric guitar.” To which he replied, “What’s that?” Well, I was kinda horrified so I ran downstairs and pulled out an old hollowbody electric (my wife’s) and an amp and I came upstairs, plugged it in and ripped into “My Generation” by The Who. My one son actually climbed me in point-2 seconds and leaped off my shoulders while the other one looked like I had plugged the lights on the tree into him. They flew around the room dancing for two straight wonderful hours. I got the point. I grew up playing only electric and it was like remembering how to be free. For many reasons, it was so needed. So I got free.”

>>SCOUT CAMP FT. SHAWN CARTER

okay. here's a tale for you, back story. a kid by the name of shawn carter goes from homegrown bountiful boy and suddenly he's a background dancer in high school musical 1, 2, 3. Fast forward to Scout Camp, his first starring role. omfrikingg. worst acted movie i've seen all summer, but gosh darn if it didn't depict scout camp fairly well. but i've never laughed so hard at how dumb a movie was before in my life. but i personally think dumb movies are fun. This movie was also one of the more dumbly quotable movies i've seen since Nacho Libre. this one satisfied by those standards. i'm not trying to bash shawn carter, he's a cool nice kid, was in my history class, funny. i'm not trying to bash anyone. but the movie sucked. but by sucking it was awesome.

that is all. see it. also the scout rap "Born To Be A Scout" featured in the movie is a must hear. throw em up for the bsa.

>>THINGS I LIKE

-the smell left on your hand for hours after you peel an orange.

-old guys. old guys who wear the hats of the ship they served on during the war. old guys who tell you stories about the war without you asking.

-drive thru people who actually talk to you and don't just treat you like another customer.

-strawberry cream cheese from einsteins.

-jesus.

-girls that are chill. guys that aren't cocky or arrogant.

-neil halstead's beard.

-donavon frankenreiter's mustache.

-people who aren't afraid to make fools of themselves, so long as it's the 'funny' kind of foolish and not 'embarrassing for them' foolish.

-sitting on the grass at night when it's a perfect 75 degrees. especially while at a concert.

-any float in a parade that has the decency to NOT throw candy like everyone else.

-swimming in watersheds illegally. they are always more fun anyway.

-bottles of water.

-i think we all take the convenience of sliced bread for granted. if we all sliced our own we'd get smashed bread sticks.