A trip down memory lane

So last week I was watching I Love the 80's-3D : 1983 and wow, I really DO love the 80's! I always watch these when I have time, they crap me up and also remind me how stupid things used to be.

Let's review, shall we? 1983 welcomed the following:

• Jaws 3, in 3-D! Horrible movie, but you already knew that.
• The original talent show - Star Search. Ed McMahon rocked the house!
• ZZ Top told us that women like a sharp dressed man.
• Teachers enemy - the Calculator watch. Nerds rejoice!
• Quiet Riot introduced the metal hockey mask and wanted us to bang our heads.
• Book of choice: Truly Tasteless Jokes
• Press Your Luck was a hit game show. NO WHAMMIES!
• Micheal Keaton proved men can stay home in Mr. Mom
• Monchichis
• Jesse Jackson ran for President, but lost any momentum in 1984 by slandering the Jews in New York.
• Reagan introduces his missile defense system, which they cleverly called Star Wars.

Wow, 1983 was quite a year. Yeah, I was only 10, but I do remember all of this. I never did have a calculator watch, or a Monchichi doll, but I did have the Tasteless Jokes book, Quiet Riot album (on cassette) and a ZZ Top key chain. I think I watched Press Your Luck when I was home sick also.

Watch out for those former Idols!

Read this story and tell me what you think caused her to freak out.

I am guessing he said her voice was crap.

As Seen On TV

On my way to work this morning, I happened to look over at the car next to me. I usually don't stare at people when I am driving, but this time I could not help myself. This man was driving an older Chevy station wagon, had a ponytail longer than most women, an American flag bandanna and he was wearing BluBlocker sunglasses!

I went online and looked up BluBlockers, and yeah they have upgraded the design to meet modern styles, but they still look like the original large round lenses that were a huge hit in the 80's and 90's. And you know what, ponytail man was wearing the large rounded frames as well, there was no mistaking it. Classic!


So as I was looking around, I found this site As Seen On TV that has, you guessed it, items that are "only available through this TV offer!". Here you can buy all of the lovely items that you see advertised on TV, from the Hercules Hook to the Yoga Booty Ballet. And for all of those pesky urine odors, don't forget to pick up Urine Gone!!



And who do I see on the website promoting his products? Mr. OxiClean himself, Billy Mays!


Most notable for promoting OxiClean, OrangeGlo, KABOOM! and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products. His direct and "high energy" style and ubiquitous presence on many television commercials and home shopping channels pitching a wide array of products has gained Mays a small amount of celebrity. He is a highly sought after pitch man, and owns and operates his own promotions company. (source: Wikipedia)


I don't know about you, but when this guy pitches an idea, I LISTEN! It is so hard NOT to pick up the phone and call, in the next 15 minutes, so I receive not 1, not 2, but THREE extra cleaning brushes! Why would anyone pay $99 when they get twice as much for ONLY $24.95! Pure genius I tell you.

Paradise, with a burger.

To this day, I still do not see why people love Jimmy Buffet. On lunch I heard what is arguably the worst song ever made, Cheeseburger In Paradise. I actually sat and listened to it and I am still amazed how this song is such a huge hit! I just don't get it.

Thanks buddy!

I don't watch Survivor, but thanks to my cube neighbor, I have heard all about the shocking Tribal Council last night, and how it played out. And he has told at least 2 other people over the phone the same story. Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my Friday.

Random Thoughts

• Who else out there watches LOST? No matter how much people complain about how this season has been slow, this is still one of the most original shows on TV. Last night's episode was awesome and left you with just enough edge to spark the imagination, which is why I love this show. I like mind benders that don't totally leave you in the dark. Some will argue that last sentence, but I think the people that complain the most are those that have no imagination, or are too stubborn to see the bigger picture. That's all I have to say.

• I have complained before about the media, and this weeks events at Virginia Tech support my complaints. This was a horrible tragedy, no doubt about that. But for every network to have an interview station set up on campus 3 days later and STILL interviewing people is driving me nuts. Anything they report on now will not change anything, and playing the shooters video on every newscast is making it worse. The media is helping this sicko do exactly what he planned from the beginning, torture people. I look at it this way....he went on a rampage, and those that lived through it are now suffering by seeing his face on TV every 5 minutes. It's just messed up. And, not to take sympathy on the shooter, but what about his family and what they are going through? Not that it needs to be reported, but I am sure they are just as shocked at this and will never be treated the same, all because of the actions of their son. It does, however, raise the question of how he was raised, and that can fall on the parents shoulders. Ok, that's all I have to say about that.

• Sunjaya was voted off Idol last night! I was so heart....oh wait, that's right. I. DON'T. CARE. MamaSlinger watches this and I usually see bits of it, but have actually never seen this kid sing, until last night. And DAMN! How did he get that far? Seriously, he was horrible! granted, he had just stopped crying (come on dude!) after being voted off, so I am sure he was not bringing his A game. Either way, thank god I will stop hearing about this helmet head all over the place.

• My cube neighbor is a nice guy, and a fan of LOST, so we get along pretty well. But I draw the line when he starts telling me that he shaved his beard off so the intimacy with his wife would increase. (he went into much more detail though) I had to tell him "Ok Steve, that's not what I needed to know." Like I said, nice guy, but sometimes he talks too much.

Twenty Four / Drive

24
Well, I sat through another hour of 24, but thankfully I was working on my finances at the same time, so it was not as hard to stomach the boredom. (I know, how can balancing a check book be fun? )

China wants the component, Palmer passes out, V.P. is still in the game (along with his ugly assistant) and Jack and Ricky have a showdown. And oh yeah, Jack will sacrifice everything for a woman, again.

This whole China/Audrey storyline better work wonders for this season.

DRIVE
I watched the second night of the premiere and was pretty happy with it. Nathan Fillion is a damn good actor, and tonight had a little more action/drama in it, I thought. Should be interesting to see how this show does in the ratings, and if FOX will keep it around.

On Sunday night there was a great moment when he was arguing with a woman, and she asked him "How can you cheat in a game without rules?" And he replied "I don't know! I missed the orientation." It was pretty funny the way Fillion delivered the lines, and if you saw the beginning when he did actually show up late to the orientation. This show has some potential to be pretty good, as long as they don't get all stupid with the plot like they did in "Prison Break".

I figure it this way... "Prison Break" is pretty ri-goddammn-diculous, but they have signed it on for a 3rd season, so "Drive" should have a chance to stick around for a few seasons.

How I spent my Friday the 13th

I was watching TV Friday night and totally forgot it was the 13th until I started seeing all these horror movies on every channel. So I decided to watch a few that caught my eye. My first selection?

SHAUN OF THE DEAD


If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Just like Dawn of the Dead, but with British humor.
Simon Pegg is hilarious and has comedic timing and wit like Ricky Gervais, IMO. As Shaun, the appliance salesman, he has to save his ex-girlfriend and his mom, all while trying to beat down zombies with a cricket bat.

One of the taglines was "A romantic comedy. With zombies." Good times!

Then I was surfing around and saw on IFC they were playing House of 1000 Corpses. Having never seen it, and interested to see what Rob Zombie could do, I decided to tune in. It is pretty bizarre, with characters such as Captain Spaulding and Dr. Satan. I had no idea what to expect in this movie, but was pleasantly surprised to see Rainn Wilson in it. Along with Chris Hardwick (you may remember him as the host of MTV's "Singled Out") who was pretty heavy in this movie, and actually kind of funny.



It is your basic chop-shop horror movie, the 4 traveling teenagers go looking for stories of urban legend serial killers, then end up being captured by a back country family of serial killers. Plot is not much, and the filming reminded me of "Natural Born Killers" but it was not horrible. If you are ever in the mood for a typical bloody horror flick, go check it out.

A new favorite.

Lately I have been watching That 70's Show and I have to say, I forgot how hilarious this show was. Channel 50 here in Chicago has it on reruns, as does FX I believe. Once a week, I am not sure of the night, but there is like 3 hours worth of episodes on. I love it! I know it was not as funny in the late years, but I would say the first 5 seasons was some top quality comedy.

Thursday Thirteen

I have been blogging for about a year now, and I have seen too many site to name that have done some version of The Thursday Thirteen list. So I decided to do one of my own, since today seems like a good day to start...

The Thursday Thirteen of random things for this week:

13. No traveling this week for work.
12. Dannielynn has a true daddy.
11. We got 3 inches of snow, IN APRIL.
10. Don Imus apolog.. anyone else sick of this yet?
9. America votes off another Idol , now all ugly ones left.
8. Jennifer Lopez on American Idol, I feel dumber after watching her speak.*
7. Bonaduce soon to be single. Ladies, he is a prize catch, get ready!
6. Leeza Gibbons goes home. She looks really good for being 70, uh I mean 50.
5. Bledsoe calls it a career.
4. NFL 2007 schedule, Broncos on MNF 3 times, and also will play the Bears, IN CHICAGO.
3. Kevin Federline is still a tool.
2. My iPod is playing the perfect mix of NIN and Foo Fighters today.
1. Today is Mama Slinger's BIRTHDAY!!

* I normally do not watch American Idol, but there was seriously NOTHING on TV Tuesday night, so I suffered through this.

Isn't it April?

April snow
Originally uploaded by Slinger5.

We woke up to see this, on April 11th! Was a very heavy wet snow, but looked pretty cool.

I know you all were waiting...

Well, we finally know.

Not that everyone cared, but good to final have closure.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Finally, a good episode of 24! We got to see some good shoot-em up action, and hand to hand combat between Fayed and Jack. With Jack making Fayed a human ornament. Pretty good. A few things that caught my eye were when Doyle got shot, he looked pretty lame when he "played dead". I went back and watched it again after I saw what they planned, and he looked retarded. My dog plays dead better than that. And when Fayed and Jack had the showdown, and Fayed must have horrible aim to miss him from 50 feet away. but I digress...

But, it was a good episode, and of course now that Fayed is neutralized, they leave us with a cliff hanger... Audrey is alive. (we knew that was going to happen, didn't we?) I like Kim Raver so I am not opposed to seeing her back on 24 as Jack's main squeeze. And she is sort of good looking and stuff, ya know?

All in all, a major improvement from the previous 3 weeks, but they still have to close this season out with a bang to make up for the crap they have done this year.

Want more nerdy goodness on 24? Go check out McGone's rundown of the episode, and you will see what a 24 nerd really notices!

It's Playoff Time!

Holy crap! I am sure you forgot, as did I, that the NHL playoffs start this week! Are you as excited as I am!? No? really? well I can't get enoug......Wait...actually...I'm not excited at all. My teams are not in the playoffs, AGAIN, and so I really have no desire to watch. Yeah, I will probably watch a few games, but I really have no team picked to go all the way. I guess I could root for the Sabres, or the Penguins, but I am not going to put much effort into it.

Man, even posting about it is enough effort, maybe too much even, in my opinion.

Why is it so hard?*

How is it that when people park in a parking lot, one person has to park all cock-eyed and screw up the normal parking pattern? And it is usually the person driving the Honda Civic or the small Toyota Matrix.

I could understand if it was a Ford Excursion or a Hummer,I mean those things are huge and probably hard to see the BRIGHT YELLOW lines where you are supposed to park. But the small ones? The driver can probably reach out the window and touch the ground!

I just don't like walking to my truck and having to get in the passenger side, ya know?


* - "That's what she said."

Seriously???

My cube neighbor is watching the PGA Masters Tournament online right now, and all I keep hearing is golf clapping. Are you kidding me?
he also keeps giving me updates on how bad Tiger Woods is doing. Finally after 5 minutes I tell him that I do not like Tiger and am not a huge golf fan.

Yesterday

I was driving to work today listening to Alice in Chains, and I realized what yesterday was. Yesterday, April 5th, is a sad day in history for music fans of Nirvana and Alice in Chains.

Kurt Cobain
On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead in his home. An autopsy report later concluded Cobain's death was a result of a "self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head." The report estimates Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994. He was 27 years old.

I remember when this happened, but not being too shocked by it. I actually figured he would have died from an overdose before anything else. But I did love Nirvana, and since they are noted as changing the music world in 1990, it was sad to see someone with so much talent and influence go out like that, so soon.

Layne Staley
"When police kicked in the door to Layne Staley's University District apartment on April 19, 2002... there, on a couch, lit by a flickering TV, next to several spray-paint cans on the floor, not far from a small stash of cocaine, near two crack pipes on the coffee table, reposed the remains of the rock musician." He was 34 years old. The autopsy report later concluded that Staley died after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball". By coincidence, the coroner's office estimated that Staley had died on April 5, the same date that fellow Seattle Grunge rocker Kurt Cobain was estimated to have died eight years earlier.

It was reported that Layne had been suffering horribly from the effects of years of drug use, and he was in so much pain on a daily basis, that he did not want to live anymore. I WAS shocked when I heard this, or maybe I was more sad. I, still to this day, love the music Alice in Chains created, Layne's voice is one of those unique sounds that will never be matched, in my opinion.

But when you look at the songs they wrote, mainly on DIRT (my personal favorite AIC album), there is no denying the inspiration behind the songs. Tracks such as "Sickman", "Junkhead", "Dirt," "God Smack," "Hate To Feel" and "Angry Chair" were related to Staley's heroin use. And then there are songs that point to death; "Them Bones", "Rain when I die", "Down in a Hole".

I was just thinking about this today, so figured I would post it. Not sure many people know they both died on the same day, and hell, you might not have even been big fans. But at least now you have learned something new!

My job takes me to exoctic locations...

Today, I had the pleasure of driving to the beautiful town of Woodstock, IL. Home of Hollywood's favorite ground hog, Punxsutawney Phil. For those that don't know, Ground Hog Day was filmed in downtown Woodstock. I know, pretty exciting huh?


So as I was walking across the famous Woodstock Square, I called McGone, here is our conversation..


McGone: Hello?
Slinger: Hey, what's up? Guess where I am?
M: Uh.... I don't know.
S: I'll give you a hint.. "Phil? Phil Connors?"
M: Are you in Punxsutawney?
S: WOODSTOCK BABY!
M: Ah, nice! "It's me, Ned! Ned Ryerson!"

On my drive home, I encountered a LOT of bad drivers going through Huntley. I just had to listen to Phil's advice of "Don't drive angry!"

I know, sounds gay, and this may have been a total waste of your last 2 minutes....but it was funny at the time.

My television/movie commentary

Prison Break

I'm really not sure why I still watch this show. It has gotten so unbelievable, yet I keep recording it and watching it.

The brothers were basically free, but Michael gets a guilty conscience and tries to get T-bag, who is still alive after losing his left hand, TWICE. And the only medical attention he had was from a veterinarian. I told you it was dumb. Well season 2 ends with Michael getting busted in Panama, thrown in a hell hole and they WANT him to escape again. Lincoln is free and has been exonerated of all charges, but you know he will now try to bust out his brother.

I really do not see how Season 3 will go, but I know I will probably tune in to see.

24

Man, this is so lame this year. If I wanted to watch a political pissing contest, I would have watched "West Wing"! I am about ready to give up on this show unless I see more torturing and ass-kicking.

AVP: Alien vs. Predator

On FX last night, I watched Alien vs. Predator. Why? I'm really not sure. But I paused it a few times and actually watched the whole thing. It was not very good, took about an hour for any action to really take place. I liked Predator and the Alien movies, but this was just dumb. I know it is based on the video game, but still pretty bad. And it was pretty stupid that they had Lance Henriksen as the main backer for the research team that found the creatures. In case you didn't know, he played the part of Bishop in the second and third Alien films.

Overall, some decent action scenes, but the aliens were not scary at all, not like they were in Aliens, which is by far the best one in the franchise, which is a total of 4 films. To sum up, it took me about 3 hours to watch a movie on FX because I kept pausing to deal with the kids. But I was determined to finish it!