This Month in Media: May 2011

Movies (favorites in bold)

• Fast Five (2011)
• The Hangover Part II (2011)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
• Priest (2011)
• Thor (2011)
• Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths (2010)
• Little Fockers (2010)
• Order of Chaos (2010)
• The Other Guys (2010)
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
• The Last Rites of Ransom Pride (2009)
• The Shortcut (2009)
• The Stepfather (2009)
• Surrogates (2009)
• Terminator Salvation (2009)
• Wake (2009)
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)
• Charlie Bartlett (2007)
• Color Me Kubrick (2005)
• Fever Pitch (2005)
• Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005)
• In Good Company (2004)
• Night of the Living Dorks (2004)
• Anger Management (2003)
• The Station Agent (2003)
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
• American Outlaws (2001)
• America's Sweethearts (2001)
• Rock Star (2001)
• Bicentennial Man (1999)
• Twice Upon a Yesterday (1998)
• Timecop (1994)
• Dazed and Confused (1993)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
• Desk Set (1957)

Video Games

• WWE All-Stars (XBox 360)

Music

• Adele - "Rolling in the Deep"
• Bowling For Soup - Fishin' For Woos
• Bowling For Soup - "Here's Your Freakin' Song"
• Bowling For Soup - "Let's Pretend We're Not In Love"
• Heath McNease - The Gun Show
• Parachute - The Way It Was
• Parachute - "What I Know"
• Sixx:A.M. - "This Is Gonna Hurt"

Theatre

• August: Osage County at the Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA)

OTC at the Decatur Arts Festival

Yesterday I performed two improv shows with the OTC Comedy Troupe at the Decatur Arts Festival. The festival was packed, so we had really good crowds for both shows. I'd actually say that the second show was the best show we've had since I've been working with them. There was a man in the audience who's written a couple books on improv, and he complimented us after the show on how much he enjoyed it, so that was really cool. And then when I was walking around the festival later, a kid ran up to me and tugged on my sleeve to tell me I was really funny, and that always makes me smile.

Below are a couple of the photos from the festival. The full set is up on my Flickr.

Cirque Du Henry

A couple weeks ago I was photographing a benefit for Henry Medical Center at Gateway Event Center in McDonough, GA. The event, Cirque Du Henry, had a circus theme. As part of that, they had silk dancers, jugglers, and servers in mime makeup. It was a pretty fun event. Here are a few of the photos I took (full set here), as well as a video of one of the silk dancers.

Paintball, painball, same thing

Earlier today I played paintball for the first time. Now, I expect a certain amount of pain from that kind of thing. Those things move pretty fast, so I was fully planning on a few welts and bruises. However, I forgot to take two very important details into account: I have terrible luck and a horrible knack for injuring myself.

I was smart enough to at least wear a long sleeve shirt, but unfortunately the only jeans I could find that I didn't care about getting covered in paint had holes in the knees. "No big deal," I thought. "What are the odds of me getting shot there more than once or twice?"

As it turns out, the odds were pretty good. The very first shot I took was directly to the knee, and then fully half of the shots I received after that were to the knees. If that wasn't bad enough, I also twisted my left knee jumping down a hillside to storm the enemy base, which in retrospect probably wasn't a wise idea (except for the fact that we won, so maybe it was.)

All considered, the shots to the exposed knees weren't so bad. Why? Because before too long my friend James shot me directly in the junk, and that's a whole new level of pain that just may rival anything since my car accident. I made the mistake of firing at him through a big pipe, leaving my crotch more or less a bullseye in the center. One shot and bam, I was on the ground for a good few minutes.

The bad luck didn't end there, as in the next game my friend Andrew shot me right in the neck at fairly close range, and then in the next one he nailed me with a paintball smack in the eye through the mask. That one was a little scary, as it was a good minute or two before I was able to see out of that eye again. I'm not positive, but I think the paintball caught me in the mask right on one of the vents at such an angle that when it broke, the paint went straight into my eye at a pretty good speed. The eye's still a bit sore, but I don't think there was any damage done.

And that was my first paintball experience. I'm still limping on one leg, and it's probably good that I'm single right now because my neck has what appears to be a hickey from an overzealous teenager (and that's without even going into the other big hit of the day.)

Does this mean I won't be playing paintball again? Of course not. Just that when I do, I'll be wearing a full suit of plate mail.

The Rapture is nigh!

Apparently the Rapture is tomorrow. You know, according to Harold Camping, one single crazy person who has never been wrong (except when he predicted the world would end in 1994.) So why are we giving this whole thing media attention? Because every now and then, validating the nutjobs makes the rest of us feel better about ourselves.

Now, let's just say the Rapture DOES happen tomorrow, to be followed by the world coming to an end in October. "But Brian," you ask, "You've always been a sane and reasonable person. What makes you think there's any remote chance of that happening?" Well, I've got three great reasons right here!

1.) The CDC posted a blog article last week about how to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. Most people saw that as a funny joke, but I see it for what it really is: A warning. Now, I'm no Bible scholar, but the Bible clearly states that after the Rapture, the living dead shall roam the earth until the prophets Valentine & Redfield arrive to put them in the ground, with the aid of a one-armed man named Ash. You may question the validity of this statement, but since all the Bible scholars will be gone after tomorrow, who's to say otherwise?

Zombies: The new Buddy Christ

2.) One word: Twilight. Don't act like you didn't see this coming. God put up with one movie. He even put up with the first two sequels. But a two part finale? Sorry, folks, but God only has room for one movie series with a two part finale, and that's Harry Potter. Granted, the final Potter film will be released between the Rapture and the end of the world, but there's gotta be a private screening room in Heaven, and I'm sure the zombies will recede long enough to see if Harry dies so they can chow down on some wizards.

Maybe if the vampires were less shiny & had self-respect, we'd be allowed to live

3.) The Mayans were getting just a bit too cocky about the whole 2012 thing. For years, it's all anyone's been able to talk about, and it's bred its own brand of crazy. For a dead civilization, they sure do have a great press guy. I mean, they got John freakin' Cusack to be in their movie. Who was the best they could get for the Rapture? The kid from "Growing Pains."

Those suspenders only make you WISH for the end times

Come on. If you're going to get an 80s star, at least get one who's still relevant.

So, will the Rapture really be happening tomorrow? Doubtful. However, I will be spending it playing paintball and pregaming on communion wine. I figure that covers most of my bases in case anything goes down. And I really hope it doesn't. Not because of the whole end of the world thing, but because then the crazies will NEVER let us hear the end of it.

The Graetest Ice Cream Ever!

No, that title isn't a typo. I'm about to let you all in on a secret, for which you can thank me later. A day I've been waiting eighteen years for has finally come: Graeter's ice cream has gone nationwide!

Of all the things I miss about Ohio, Graeter's ice cream is at the top of the list. When we were little my parents would take us there for a treat, and it was the absolute best. The inside of the store was exactly what a little kid would picture when thinking of an ice cream shop: all white, counters with spinning stools, and rows and rows of flavors. And oh my god, the flavors. They had the most amazing Mint Chip, a Chocolate Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip that tastes just like an Almond Joy, and a Chocolate Chocolate Chip that was to die for. But the flavor that trumps everything else on the face of the earth was their Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip.

Under that lid? Heaven.

Nothing compares to it. Nothing. It's smooth, it's creamy, and it tastes like pure euphoria. For years I've been trying to find a black raspberry ice cream that is in the same league, and it's been a futile attempt.  Sure, I've encountered a few, but unlike Graeter's, none of the others had been blessed by angels (the only explanation I can come up with for how good it is.) And it's not just the ice cream itself that makes it so good: It's the chocolate. To call them chocolate chips is a bit of a misnomer; they're actually chunks of chocolate. And not the hard kind of chocolate you get mixed into your ice cream at Baskin Robbins. No, this chocolate melts in your mouth. Also, this is how big the chocolate chips are:

Those are chocolate chips in strawberry ice cream. Oh yeah.

Yeah. It's pretty insane. Two Christmases ago, my mom & sister ordered a bunch of pints of Graeter's and had them shipped in from Ohio on dry ice. So it was pretty much the best thing ever.

And then, a few weeks ago, I was walking through the ice cream aisle at Kroger, curious about the new Jimmy Fallon ice cream from Ben & Jerry's that had potato chips in it. And there it was, the most glorious sight one has ever spotted in a grocery store: Rows of Graeter's ice cream.

The Valhalla of ice cream

I immediately texted my family and told them of my find (worthy of an Indiana Jones sequel.) My sister who's living in Texas ran out to her local Kroger and found it there too, confirming that Graeter's has gone nationwide! Since then, I've been telling all my friends or dragging them to Kroger myself to get it for them. Soon, the world will know what they were missing.

So do yourself a favor: Go out to your nearest Kroger and buy some Graeter's ice cream. Even if you only eat ice cream after a bad break up, take my word for it: This ice cream is worth getting dumped.

Full plates are the best kind

So if you're wondering why my posts have been more sporadic lately, it's because I've got a number of things on my plate. Aside from the usual work stuff, I've got two big projects I'm working on:

1.) I'm in pre-production on my first feature film, Uncommon Law. This has been consuming most of my non-work hours lately. I'm working on screenplay revisions now, along with researching equipment to buy. I was on the phone today ordering replacement parts for my tripod (harder to track down than you'd think), debating on fronting the cost for some high-end lights, and hoping I can find someone who'll loan me a Canon 7D so I don't have to buy that, too. It'd be great if I could find a reliable production manager who I could delegate some of the planning tasks to, so I can focus more on the artistic side.

2.) Still slowly chipping away on my novel. I started work on it last November, but recently I decided to toss out the existing chapters and start from scratch. It wasn't that the writing was bad, but more that I felt the story could be better told in a different style. I had been writing the book from multiple POVs (ala A Song of Ice & Fire), but realized that the story didn't NEED multiple perspectives in order to be told. Beyond that, I realized that the story I was telling wasn't the most effective way to open up an ongoing series and introduce people to this world. So I've put all that to the side, and am instead starting fresh with something new. I've got tons of pages worth of notes about the characters and the world they inhabit (Scrivener is my friend), and I'm excited to go further with it. You know, after I've got the movie wrapped; until then, this is low priority.

I've got a couple other things in the works, but they're still in the very early stages. I'm meeting with someone about another project tomorrow, and if all goes well I'll have something else to announce here soon.

Westerosi cuisine!

If you thought the cooking project from Julie & Julia was ambitious, you ain't seen nothing yet. The Inn at the Crossroads is a blog by a pair of chefs/Game of Thrones fans who have set out to create the dishes mentioned in Martin's books. If you've read the books, you know how big a project it is, considering they were written by a man who loves his food and spends a great deal of time describing the meals the characters eat.

Just looking through these, I'm seeing tons of dishes I'd love to try. Kinda makes me wish I was a better cook. Aside from the food itself, the blog posts are fun to read, and they've got some really good photos of everything.

Apple Fritters. Want.

A day to remember

Today was a monumental day. I'd say it's ten years in the making, but in truth it's been significantly longer. Finally, after years of blood, sweat, and tears, it's happened.

Christian won the WWE World Title.

Time to turn on the news to see if anything else happened today.