Call to Arms

Well, perhaps my expectations are unrealistic. This blog has always been a personal outlet, but I’ve always tried to write it in a way so that it’s entertaining. I tend to forget sometimes that my audience here is actually pretty small. Should I advertise…hell, should I monetize?

Why is that even a word? Monetize…everything else in this world, we would just say that we were going to sell it, but on the Internet, for some reason we like to come up with special terms.

Regardless, however I take off, I don’t see it coming from humble little scribe sessions here. Humble…ha, I have such a swollen ego here.

You know what can really easily humble your ego? Most everyone has a favorite video game, or book, or show, or something from which they can claim that they know the entire universe backwards and forwards. Well, I stumbled upon this game recently, called Akinator…

…in which this genie dude asks you to think of a character…any character (alive, dead, fictional, historical, from a movie, book, video game, anything you can think of really), and within a couple rounds of questioning he can guess your character. This dude is good. My track record against him is pretty loss heavy.

You start off just like this. Pick a character, any character, and hit go. If you try and pick any kind of main character, he’ll guess it every time. Like 100/100, top billed casts and characters central to narratives, he’ll never miss. That’s why I tell you to think of media for which you know everything in the universe…you have to dig deep. So, for example, I’ll pick some ancillary character from the Mass Effect series, and hit go. He’ll go through a few baseline questions to get his bearings: male of female, real of fictional, human or other, etc. Once he starts getting into the attributes of your character, you think that there’s no way he’ll guess, the questions are pretty vague.

At some point though, he asks a question in which you just know…he’s got it.

Once you get there, it’s all over pretty quick. Very rarely does he guess incorrectly. This was not one of those cases.

Out of 77 times, I’ve only beaten him on 7 occasions. It’s addictive trying to dig deep into the worlds that you know so well, and trying to find something that will stump him. You can play him for free for a few times at the Akinator website, and at some point he’ll direct you to the App Store to buy the game for smartphone or whatever. It’s 2 bucks on the iTunes app store, and probably similarly priced on the Android marketplace, and the markets for Windows phone and Blackberry. It’s fun, and definitely makes you get closer to your favorites if you’re going to stand any chance of beating him.

That’s a nice little boredom deterrent whenever you have an internet connection. I wish though that I could find more of my people to get together with in Denton though, so that I wasn’t constantly needing to privately entertain myself. I know that my people are out there somewhere, but I still haven’t found them in droves yet.
I’ve been thinking…Denton has a pretty good bar scene. Between Fry Street and the Square, we have a pretty good little collection of watering holes. There’s got to be at least one of them that would be willing to set up a Geeks Who Drink night.

Geeks Who Drink is a themed pub/bar quiz setup that bars can pick up and host once a week. It brings together friendly competition, nerding out, and social drinking. A lot of non-nerds might feel turned off by a name like Geeks Who Drink, but I feel like Denton would be perfect for this kind of thing. A lot of people describe Denton as an amalgamation of various eclectic personalities, kind of like a miniature Austin, of which many would probably fall under that classification.
We game, we drink, we socialize…let’s make it happen.

I don’t know why nerds get such the straight-laced reputation that we do. Sure, I may not be the biggest partier in the world, and ridiculous crowds get me kind of edgy, but I love myself a good beer once and a while. I’m far from being the only one too. In fact, I probably have a more rounded taste in beer than most of my friends. I always kind of wonder what went wrong when I ask a person what type of beers they like, and I get a response like, “Something light and crisp, like a Natty Light or something.” It’s possible that I’ve been hanging out with too many younglings, but there is so much more out there than the typical American light beers…Natty Light, Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Rolling Rock, Keystone Light…ugh, you get the picture. Most places I go, this is what I see in the fridge 90% of the time.

People, we can do better.

I know that for most of us, we make our alcohol purchasing decisions based on the content of our bank accounts, but at some point you have to cultivate a little taste. So, I really want to ask the question; if money was not an issue, what criteria would y’all use for picking a beer, and what types of qualities do you look for in a beer?

If I was responding to the question, I’d first say that I don’t like a beer that is extremely bitter or hoppy. So a Sam Adams Boston Lager, or any kind of IPA is something that I try to stay away from. I also don’t like anything that is extremely stout. I have a running joke with my buddy Jason that drinking a Guinness Draught is essentially the same as drinking mashed potatoes.

It’s just so heavy, I feel like it’s not a beer anymore. Guinness Black Lager though, definitely on my radar.
I tend to like untraditional flavors too, like flavors that aren’t based in wheats and grains. For example, I’ve really jumped on the Redd’s Apple Ale bandwagon recently. Crisp, clean, and brut, to steal some of their marketing terms.

Okay, weird, sidebar real quick. Looking for that picture, I just found out that there is also a Redd’s Strawberry Apple Ale.

This may be one of those ‘pot calling the kettle black’ situations, but…weird.

So yea, the qualities I look for would probably be crisp, clean, and full-bodied flavor. It sounds really abstract, but I’m not trying to describe just 1 beer.

How about a top 10…yea, my Top 10 Favorite Beers at the moment.

1) Redd’s Apple Ale
2) Rahr & Sons Ugly Pug
3) Dos Equis
4) Ziegenbock
5) Guinness Black Lager
6) Shiner Bock
7) Blue Moon
8) Leinenkugel’s Lemon Berry Shandy
9) Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat
And to round it out, I’ve got a beer that I keep in my fridge for special occasions. Just in case I have something worth celebrating, it’s there for me to bust open, and it’s probably the fruitiest thing that could be on any list. So finally, no homo…
10) Lindemans Framboise

I am fully aware that that is far from being the manliest list in existence, but like I said, I’m a fan of flavor. The flavor can be more traditional, or be really wild, but don’t give me a bland beer.

Alright boys and girls, I think I’m going to call it a day. Before I go though, I’m sad to say that this past Saturday morning, the DFW area, and for what it’s worth the entire world as well, has lost one of its’ great radio icons, David Cradick (aka Kidd Kraddick). Kraddick was hosting a charity golf event in New Orleans when he suffered a fatal brain aneurism. Kraddick was best known now for being the voice of morning drive, on Kiss-FM’s morning show, syndicated in numerous markets throughout the United States. This past Monday, in an odd thought process, Kraddick talked about how a lot of people die suddenly, without getting the chance to thank the people in their lives, and express the love they have for all the friends and family that make their lives that much more rich. I don’t know if that was transpiring there, but he got the rare opportunity to thank his loved ones, and express the gratitude for the opportunities he’d been granted, and the blessed life he’d been fortunate to live. Kidd Kraddick was 53, and he shall be greatly missed.

I hate to sign off on a somber note, so maybe instead I can solicit y’alls participation again in a fun little exercise. In the following image is a list of various video game/movie/anime items. If you could only pick 1 of the following 10 items, what would it be, and why? Click the image if you need to blow it up some.

Think about it, and get back to me. I’ll tell you next week what my pick is. Until then…

Keep your heads up, your minds sharp, and your hearts open.

– CVSleen

The Royal’s Bagels and Deli version of a Reuben

Failure to Communicate

It has legitimately been a long week. Not that somehow, magically, this week had like 8 days or something…just that, you know, there’s been some stuff.
I think I’ve found a few more chinks in the shiny armor of my new job. There doesn’t seem to be very strong communication between different levels of this company. I went in on Saturday, only to find out that no one in my department was scheduled to come in that day (how thoughtful of them to tell me). One of my bosses tried to put me to work somewhere out in the warehouse, but my body gave up after not long out there, really. It’s probably about 10 degrees warmer in there than outside, not great air circulation, and I’m just not used to doing repetitive and involved manual labor. Within an hour, I was sweating harder than I can remember in a long time, breathing hard, slightly dizzy, and had the onset of a headache. Normally I’d try to power through it, but I didn’t want to be that guy that passes out at work, so I noped out of that as soon as I finished my pallet.

That was kind of a humbling moment. I know that I’m not in the best of shape, but I didn’t realize how out of shape I really am. I need to do something about this. The worst thing is that I still feel like I’ll need more motivation to get back into some kind of regular workout routine. I thought this might be the catalyst to provoke a change in behavior, but all I really feel like doing are trying to improve my eating drinking habits. I need some help here…like a personal trainer, or a girlfriend, or something. I think what I have here is the gasoline, I just need to find the spark somewhere else.

Bah, enough self loathing. I’ve got some content here for y’all. Firstly, I’ve got another one of my summer movies ready to talk about, just one. Let’s take a quick look.

The Lone Ranger

It’s not Pirates of the Caribbean…but it’s very very close. There are only a few directors out there whose influence in a movie is so easily recognized, but it’s impossible to watch this flick and not go, “Oh yea, Gore Verbinski did this, didn’t he?” I can also think of Michael Bay, Spike Lee, maybe Christopher Nolan as well…but none have quite the recognizable rhythm that Verbinski does. I don’t know what he’d do at this point without Johnny Depp (he’s been in 5 of the last 6 of his movies). Getting him to team  with Helena Bonham Carter again was just icing on the cake (it’s interesting mentioning that they have appeared on screen together 6 times now, the first 5 times were movies all directed by Tim Burton).

The problem that you run into with reusing actors again and again and again is that you begin to fall into a rut…which can be just fine when your movies are sequels, and more of the same is merited, but I think Verbinski forgot that this wasn’t another Pirates’ sequel.
Johnny Depp said in a number of interviews early on that he really wanted to do true justice to the character of Tonto, and one would think that with his supposed distant Cherokee bloodline, and his adoption by the Comanche Nation in 2012, that this would be a sincere statement. The role however reeks of Jack Sparrow, both in demeanor and sometimes in dialogue. Some of that he couldn’t help, sure, but it was kind of sad to see that promise fall flat.
Armie Hammer‘s portrayal of TLR also felt reminiscent of another Pirate’s character…Will Turner. He started off as such a naive sissy, but slowly grew into his role under the tutelage of Mr. Sparrow…er…Tonto, sorry…same difference. Whether I’m talking about Mr. Turner or TLR, both turn into badasses in their own right at the end of the trilogy/movie.

I just never felt like the characters were who they were supposed to be. Speaking of characters feeling off, what was the deal with old Tonto?

There was just something about that version of the character that was wildly unsettling. I can’t place my finger on it at all, but maybe if you watch it, you can pick up on what I’m saying.

I also feel like I’m nitpicking here, but their use of the original Lone Ranger music in select places felt extremely hokey to me. This is a Lone Ranger for a new day and age, and the stylization of that kind of music just didn’t fit this film…this version of TLR. I don’t know if they were trying to tie the old together with the new, but it felt so out of place.

With those gripes out of the way, the story was good, the effects fit the style of the film, and the rest of the music felt organic to the theme. Despite everything I just said, this was really a pretty good movie. I just wish Disney or whoever could have made the decision to bring on either Verbinski or Depp…but not both. The bond between actor and director is an important thing, but sometimes being too close can work against a film, and this is all to well an example of that. It’s good, but it could have been so much better.
The Lone Ranger – 6 out of 10

There is one good thing I can say about this movie, on a more personal level. I think it killed my boner for Johnny Depp. After seeing him as Tonto, I’m just not as impressed by him anymore. I  need to find myself a new celebrity crush now, maybe someone a bit more traditional to fawn over. After seeing Pacific Rim again recently, I’m already sold on who’s going to be filling that role for the foreseeable future: Rinko Kikuchi.

I’ve fallen in love with this actress. I could watch her all day with a giddy little smile on my face. That’s for a different place though…like Tumblr or whatever. The good news is that I got my buddy Jason to watch the movie as well, and I don’t know if he likes near as much as I do, but it’s up there for him.

Alright guys, I need to switch gears here for a little while. I know that movies are kind of my thing now, but I’ve been laying them out really heavily over the past several posts, and I’ve failed to communicate all the things that have really been going through my head. I want to be more multifaceted than just movies, so I think it’s time for some new content. Here’s my idea…

Nerds of the Future
A look at the future of technology through the eyes of a Nerd

Many of us quite often fantasize or theorize as to what the future holds for the technology that powers our everyday lives, and this is a subject my friends and I can always milk for hours on end. There are so many different categories for the common things that we interact with everyday, that this topic could almost be endless. For the sake of time though, and attention span, let’s keep ourselves restricted down to one category. I say we, because I’d love for this to be something that a number of people weigh in on, and that we can get a good dialogue going in the comments here. I wouldn’t want to lead you into a dark alley without a flashlight though, so I’ll get the ball rolling, and y’all can pile on at the conclusion. Without further ado, let’s have a topic…

Wanted Features in New and Future Cars

Whether you drive, walk, bike, take the bus, or have your roommates/parents take you everywhere, chances are you’ve gotta deal with cars on a daily basis (I feel like this is a “Well Duh!” kind of statement, but if this were a school paper, this is the thesis you’d see). Everyone has their favorite car, and features that they love, but let’s look forward…possibly into the realm of science fiction in some cases and think of some features we would like to see in the vehicles that will hit the showroom floor in coming years and decades.

I feel like the obvious thing that most people would throw out first would be Auto Pilot, or Vehicle Autonomy. I’d say that 90% of cars on the market today have Cruise Control, to give our legs a rest. Giving our full body and minds a break is the extension. There are hundreds of GPS programs on the market in various forms and fashions, and there are numerous cars on the market today that have an array of cameras all around them for parking purposes. There are also a few luxury cars out there that can sense cars stopping in front of you, cars to your side when shifting lanes, even detect drowsy eyes. All that seems to be lacking is an algorithm that combines all various inputs from the car, and sets the car off towards a destination, and another algorithm that can negotiate traffic conditions.
I know that there are companies out there that are beta testing such technologies, and that we are constantly within 5 years of having a functional prototype. I just know that someone has to be working on this.

The second thing that I see most people mentioning is some form of Limited Flight Capability. That…well, flight for the common civilian is something that still scares me to think about. It sounds very cool in theory, but putting a hovercraft within the reach of every Joe Blow that can buy a car is a thought that irks me at this point of the game. Cool, but dangerous.

What about In-Car WiFi Hotspots? Phone’s are capable of creating small hotspots in like a 5-10 foot radius, I feel like this would be a lot more useful in cars, especially on road trips with a few passengers. Think about being able to pull up Netflix on a tablet for kids in the backseat, or get some games going back and forth on various mobile devices. I know that there’s usually some carrier network in most places that we go, but it’s always so slow, and I constantly find myself in need of a WiFi signal, if only for like 5 minutes or so.
While we’re here, what about better Smartphone Compatibility in cars? Most everything now requires bluetooth or a hard link, both of which are limited in their capabilities. With a WiFi hotspot, wouldn’t it be possible to establish a Local Area Network to pass data back and forth. It could work like Apple TV in a sense, you could pull up various forms of media and push it to your car…music, podcasts, videos (if you have the required hardware). I know that bluetooth gets a lot of this done, but I’m thinking a little beyond this too. Maybe you could push pins from maps to GPS devices to easily input destinations. Maybe the car could also push its stats to your phone, like if the tire pressure is getting a little low, or the engine is running a little hot. I think there are far more applications for an in car local area network than I can think of. What kind of stuff do y’all think would be possible?

Maybe that’s thinking a little far outside the box. How many of y’all have ever spilled a drink when cornering or stopping a little too hard? What would y’all think of Gyroscopic Cup Holders? Never spill a drink again due to car momentum. I know I wouldn’t be the only one excited if this were news.

A friend has thought about this prospect with me before, Auto-Tinting Glass. I’ve got these glasses that have Transitions® lenses that darken and lighten depending on the ambient light level at the time. What if our car windows could respond to sunlight and changing weather conditions like that? What if you’re having a really bad hair day or something, and want to manually dial up the window tint to keep people from seeing you? Pretty neat right?
Why stop at tinting? What about a Full Windshield Heads Up Display? Expand all that segmented info that usually fits in a 7 or so inch space behind your steering wheel to occupy your full range of vision…without obstructing your view of the road. All your info could be right in front of you, without being hidden behind several layers of menus.
How about a layer further than that, with force feedback through Haptic Adaptive Interfaces? Have the windshield become a touchscreen that actually gives some tactile feedback when you interact with it. That’s the main issue I have with the touchscreen in my car, I’ve got to take my eyes off the road if I want to change anything because I can’t feel what I’m playing at. Anyone remember the days when texting and driving wasn’t an issue, because since you could feel the buttons you never had to take your eyes off the road?

I’ve got another idea here that’s kind of out of left field, but hear me out. A Cabin Energy Recapture System…a system that takes the kinetic energy of your own movements within the car, and uses them to charge the battery. It sounds kind of useless in a gasoline engine, but we won’t be using fossil fuels forever. Think instead about the potential in electric cars right now. I’ve heard of cars that can recapture the energy expended in braking the car, what about trying to take advantage of all of our constant fidgeting?
And let’s be honest, electric cars have come a long way from…Priuses(Toyota actually says that the plural of Prius is Prii…ha) and the like. Don’t think so? Ever seen a Tesla? Believe me, electric cars have come a long way, and stand to go a lot further.

I could see this being used for evil quite often, but how about a P.A. System. I see people do this to their cars all the time, but to my knowledge it has never been a standard feature. I’m wondering now if there might be some kind of law against it, as cops use it…but if not, why not try to standardize it, or at least make a more commercialized mod kit.

Lastly, and I know that this is something that most of us have thought about, especially when a little bit ticked-off in traffic, but what about Programmable Signs, visible to other cars. Ever wish you could light up a sign behind you that reads, “Get off my rear!” or a sign in front of you that reads something to the point of, “Nice signal, buddy.” There are plenty more uses for less angry people as well, for instance thanking someone for letting you merge…or how about this, “We’re having a baby!” to let people know that you’re driving frantically trying to get to the hospital. I can see tons of potential uses here.

That’s all I can really think of when it comes to the future of cars. Now, I want to hear what you have to say. What are y’alls thoughts on the future of driving technology. I’m sure there’s plenty that I’m not thinking of that y’all can contribute, and I’d love to hear what y’all think about my suggestions.

I’ll leave it at that for now. Please leave me some love. I promise you that these new topics will work better as a dialogue, all that’s needed are viewers like you!

Alright, my PBS moment is over. I’ll catch y’all next time, and hopefully I’ll see you in the comments section!

Keep your heads up, your minds sharp, and your hearts open.

– CVSleen

America Pizza with Bacon, Blue Potatoes, and Alfredo Sauce

Dare You to Move

My last post was certainly pretty somber. Please don’t think I’ve been beating myself up though. What was there was a good thing, but many people know this expression to be true: All good things must come to an end. I never thought it would last forever, though I never expected it to end so soon. Hardly though is it the end of me, and while others may choose to sulk, hesitate, or stagnate, I shall dare to move on.

In the wake of my resignation, I have a lot of unutilized ideas that fell on deaf ears at the last venture that need a new home…and one way or another I think this venue here can be made a home. I’ve done a Vlog before when I didn’t feel much like writing…and if there’s one thing I know how to do well, it’s audio recording. I’ve got lots of different ways that I can shove my thoughts into your brain matter, and possibly altogether improve this Blog.

Before we get too crazy though, I’ve been to a few more movies that I’d like to weigh in on. So without further adue, let’s do some movie review.

The Bling Ring

This movie had my love before I ever entered the theater. Heck, I could have just seen this next picture and I would have been sold…

…but then the movie started. And alas, my hopes were shattered. This movie lost me from the very beginning. The high school kids, their behavior was so clichéd of the past…unless these kids in Posh City California really are the snotty brat heathens that we make them out to be. They missed their chance to connect the characters with the audience almost immediately. The characters themselves were the biggest bunch of scum bags imaginable. Leave it to these kids to make Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan look like victims.

The only redeeming quality of this film is that it was based on true events, and maybe Sophia Coppola‘s intent was to make this kids look like the scum of the earth. Maybe that was the intent of the film, and a risky goal if I do say so. Empathy, if it can be created, is one of the best tools a director can utilize. Using it in reverse…interesting.

I’m kinda coming up with this new theory on the fly, so my judgement is being actively malleable.

The sound design was very solid, everything felt organic.
The cinematography felt a little bit strange though, I felt pretty distant for a lot of the movie…maybe that was also a choice to try and distance the audience from the characters.
I usually see movies that I can talk about the graphics, so I’m a little out of my element.

I was prepared to render a pretty bad rating on this movie, but I’m realizing that Coppola might have intended the dislike for the characters…and if that was the intent, then it was well executed. None the less, I still disliked the film, so…
The Bling Ring – 5 out of 10

World War Z

This movie made quite a lot of people fussy. Before it was announced that Brad Pitt would be the top billing for this movie, there was already a substantial amount of buzz around the name alone. World War Z was first an acclaimed novel by author Max Brooks, son of the legendary Mel Brooks. There is an expectation that with such a prestigious title, there would be a tall order to stay pretty faithful to the source material. If the filmmakers of Harry Potter took liberties with the source material, you’d have been a little up in arms about it, would you not? This is where they lost a lot of people. I’m told that if you read the book, there is no way you could possibly think that the zombies were fast zombies…no way. In blatant disregard, the filmmakers decided that they wanted the zombies to be more animalistic, more rabid. Pitt himself said something to the point that they wanted it to look like you’d just stirred up a colony of ants.
The point in all of this being…if you’ve read the book, you’ll have a hard time shrugging off the changes that they’ve made, and you probably won’t like it.

However, if you’re like me; haven’t read the book, and you’re just aware on the surface of these issues…then this flick might be a better movie for you. You can take it at face value: it’s an action-packed zombie movie, starring Brad Pitt. The zombies are vicious, and plenty scary. The action is intense. The story is great, but it feels incomplete(as it should, I’m told that there was so much good material in this book, of which they could only take so much). There aren’t any plot holes, but even without reading the book, you can almost palpably feel the content that has been skipped around.

With all of that being taken into account, I really enjoyed the movie. As a Texan, I definitely buy into the hype, I’m a zombie movie fan, and this is a great movie.
World War Z – 7 out of 10

Pacific Rim

This was the movie on my list for this summer that I was most excited for. The thing I’ve been complaining most about to my friends about movies lately, is the lack of original stories. The majority of the movies out there this summer have source material that is not the script written for it. We’ve got a ton of remakes, reboots, re-imaginings, and adaptations. The big thing for a couple of years now has been reworking classic superhero stories and fairy tales so that they are more relevant for today’s audiences. A completely new and original story is such a breath of fresh air for me, and the fact that it happened to be a Sci-Fi movie is just that much more icing on the cake.

So, what about that story? This movie is heavily influenced by big monster movies from our parents era. The best example I can think of is Godzilla.

The creatures in the film certainly live up to their predecessors; they’re gigantic, they’re foreign, they’re fearsome, and they’re certainly powerful. Another thing harkens back to is pitting these creatures against other creatures equally as powerful and fearsome, also in the tradition of Godzilla.

In Pacific Rim, are fearsome creatures are dubbed Kaijus, a Japanese term that literally translates to “strange beasts” but has taken on the meaning of “giant monsters” in English. They’re as tall as office buildings in some cases and capable of far more destruction that Godzilla could ever accomplish. These creatures come from a dimensional rift at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, a rift that through all attempts to date seems to be unidirectional. Without a way to attack the Kaijus where they come from, a great defense had to be created. The theory in this movie is that the best defense is a good offense, in the form or our own monsters…the Jaegers. Jaeger is a German word, meaning “hunter”, and these hunters, these gargantuan piloted mechs are every bit as deadly. As effective as the Jaegers are, they aren’t without issues. They cost an immense amount to build and maintain, and the time it takes to actually build them is tremendous.
(Most of this is revealed in the first 10-15 minutes of the film, so I hope I’m not giving away any spoilers here.)

I quit rambling though. Obviously, the story caught me and held me. It’s a classic monster movie mixed with a sci-fi tech brawler. The graphics and visual effects in the movie are incredible. It was flashy, but still gritty as well…it was futuristic, but still modern enough for it to be a believable future. The casting and the acting was spot on. Everyone felt perfect in their roles; nothing over-the-top and nothing underplayed. I feel like two of the big gems are Rinko Kikuchi and Charlie Day. I don’t know where the Guillermo del Toro found Rinko, but I fell in love with her the second I saw her. Her character, Mako, was so sweet, yet so fierce, and incredibly complex. And Charlie Day, as Dr. Newton Geiszler; he’s done a lot recently, but I only really know him from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as the lovable buffoon. He still has his eccentricities, but they’re redirected as more of a mad scientist. He and his mathematician counterpart account for the majority comic relief in this movie. Charlie day’s character was also charming and endearing.

This movie had all the strengths of the flashy effects driven Transformers with none of the drawbacks. It is a fantastic summer movie, but I feel it has the potential to be a classic, standing shoulder to shoulder with the movies from which it draws a lot of inspiration. I fully intend on seeing this movie again before it leaves theaters.
Pacific Rim – 10 out of 10

This really was the big movie that I wanted to see this summer, but I’m also really excited about Ender’s Game. I didn’t really know much of anything about Ender’s Game until the guys at Rooster Teeth got excited about it in there podcast. I’ve since recently finished reading the book and I’m even more excited. Rooster Teeth’s enthusiasm would have been enough, but this story is awesome. There’s still time to get it read before the movie comes out in November.

Switching gears on y’all here, Comic Con starts here in a few days, and I’m honestly worrying about how extensive the coverage is going to be. G4 used to be the place to go to get exclusive coverage of Comic Con, as well as E3, and with them gone Spike has taken over that responsibility…sort of. I’ve said my piece on Spike’s cover of E3 about a month ago, and I’m worried that it’s gonna be the same story with Comic Con. I really don’t want to see Spike give us about 3 hours of coverage and then shove everything else off to the web so they can play some rerun marathons. Make a commitment, and stick to it. They’ve got an opportunity here to win back a few hearts here, I hope they don’t blow it.

Speaking of how they’re blowing it right now, they’re running some ads that are really old. They’ve got an ad for R.I.P.D. right now that references the Mantlers from their Spike Man Awards…which happened on June 12th. They’ve also got a Sonic ad they’re running that’s at least a month and a half old. Someone’s dropping the bar over there.

That’s all the media related news I’ve got for you guys. That’s unless I wanted to include that new job of mine in the media news. I’ve been working at Freeman A/V now for a little over a week, and I can tell this is something I’m going to enjoy doing. At my last job at Lone Star Park cross-training was something I was told was a possibility, but I never really saw any of it. At Freeman, not only was I told that I could do some cross-training, but I experienced it from day 1. This isn’t a complaint, I want to learn, and I love seeing that not only do they let you branch out a little bit, but they encourage it. Some departments have heavier days than others, and if we’re all able to pick up each others’ slack, we function better as a team and a company. I’ve learned most of what is required of my job in Q.C. and I’ve also learned a little of what goes on back in video services and a little bit about how the truck squares get populated with equipment. I enjoying everything about this place…with one little exception: the start time. You guys know me; I’m a night owl, not a morning person…not at all. Our start time…is 8AM. I…am struggling with this…so much. Probably my biggest issue here is getting my butt in bed before midnight so that I’ll be in any kind of condition to get up at 5:45. Yea…I have to drive from Denton to Dallas, so I’ve got to get up extra early. Ugh.
I’m not saying I can’t do it…I’m saying that I’m struggling with it.

I’ll figure it out, or it’ll end up naturally working itself out in some way or another. Things are good, and I’m not going to let one  little aspect of this job ruin it for me. Things really are good too, I’m even talking to this Gabrielle Union looking chick who I met at a party last weekend. Though things sucked early last week, things have turned around pretty well.

I’ve got some ideas for some new stuff to do here, so hopefully starting next post I’ll have a few new idea to bring to the table for y’all. Stay tuned sports fans, we’ve got good things just around the corner.

Keep your heads up, your minds sharp, and your hearts open.

– CVSleen

Garlic Ciabatta Bread and Cheese and Lobster Ravioli in a 4 Cheese Rosa Sauce

Somewhere Between Dreams and Nightmares

It gives me no pleasure to announce that The Status Bro Show is undergoing some major changes at this time. Whatever direction the show goes from here, it will be without me.

A lot of decisions were made tonight…at the fruition of which, Melissa was let go from her roles in the show. I couldn’t abide by the move to let her go, the proposed direction of things to come, or the way in which everything went down…so I offered my resignation, which was accepted. I didn’t want to leave, but I also couldn’t be a part of what was happening…I could see no alternative than stepping aside, especially with myself now sitting in the minority of decisions with Melissa gone.

I don’t harbor any ill will for what is left of the show, but I can’t endorse it any further. I’m not asking anyone to quit listening…if you’ve enjoyed the subject matter recently, you’ll probably continue to. Just don’t be surprised when and if the show resumes, that Melissa and I are no longer a part of it.

This sucks, but it’s needed to happen for a while…we’ve been off our game for a number of weeks, partly because of this internal conflict that came to a head tonight. I can’t let this consume me though; if anything this gives me more opportunity to channel my energies here, or maybe another venture.

What once was the ride of my dreams come true started on a track to somewhere that I truly didn’t want to go, so it’s probably better that I jumped off this train before it arrived at its next station. I’ll find my place to settle somewhere out in the desert, and hopefully build my own oasis.

Keep your heads up, your minds sharp, and your hearts open…
and I promise I’ll try to as well,

– CVSleen