Out Amongst The Masses

Geez, they aren't kidding when they say the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. My family and I decided to go ahead and get some of our Christmas shopping out of the way, so we ventured to the mall and Wal-Mart down in Elizabethtown. And holy freaking crap, were those places packed.

Thank God Black Friday is only one day a year, because I'd dread having to go out amongst that sea of humanity on a daily basis. I probably didn't even need to go out today, since I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done late yesterday afternoon. But I did manage to score some DVDs for myself at a discounted price, so the day wasn't all bad.

But we're now just under four full weeks from Christmas, and five weeks away from ushering in 2009. Time flies, doesn't it?

Happy Turkey Day

Welcome back to the MSX, folks, and happy Thanksgiving. I hope you guys are having a good one. And for my international readers, uh... happy Thursday?

As for me, I'm having a pretty good Thanksgiving thus far. For one reason for another, my immediate family doesn't have anything big lined up for today, so I'm celebrating by watching NBC's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I grew up watching the Macy's parade every year, so it's become something of a tradition for yours truly.

But it feels like I'm not in the parade's target demographic anymore. Do I want to watch a bunch of high school marching band do a lame 30-second routine? Do I want to watch Miley Cyrus and a bunch of other D-list celebrities lip-sync crappy pop songs? Do I want to see glorified advertisements for Broadway musicals that 98% of the American population will probably never see? No, no, and no. I'm not interested in any of that, which means all I have left to enjoy are the floats and the balloons, which I like. I can't complain about them.

It's weird, though. Back when I was a kid, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was absolutely crammed full of whatever the hottest things in kid-oriented pop culture each year. But nowadays, it's usually just balloons and floats that have been in the parade for years, along with random floats and the occasional pop star(s) that nobody's ever heard of and that'll be forgotten just as quickly. Take, for example, today's "performance" by a band called PushPlay. Has anyone ever heard of them before? I haven't. Sure, I could be out of the loop, but still, is anybody ever going to think back to that legendary Thanksgiving Day performance by PushPlay? Unless they completely bomb it like John Ratzenberger in the 1984 parade, I doubt anybody will remember a musical performance in the parade. And I'm not even sure why they give the singers microphones or instruments when none of them are actually performing. (Is it wrong to hope that one day, the music starts skipping during the lip-syncing?)

But yeah, in spite of my complaints about the parade (including the similar complaints I had last year), I can't help but watch it. And whoever decided to use the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends float to Rickroll the parade is my new hero.

Because "Badass Courier 3" Was A Lame Title

Just got back from the movies a little while ago. Despite not seeing the first two chapters in the franchise, the movie of choice was Transporter 3. And if I may be succinct, I thought the movie was a lot of fun.

I keep saying it, but entertainment should be one of the most important parts of movies like this. And Transporter 3 delivers, for sure. Yeah, the plot may be relatively anemic, but it has such an energy to it that you never really worry about it. The whole movie is an excuse for Jason Statham to get into fights, engage in car chases, and make out with some pretty Eastern European redhead. And it's got better editing and camerawork than Death Race, the movie that Statham starred in back in August. The camera didn't bounce around like the movie was being filmed during an earthquake and it didn't have any of that annoying super-choppy editing, which made it that much easier to follow all of the action scenes. So that's a plus, right? Sure, totally.

But I liked Transporter 3 a lot. I can't really complain about it. So I'm going to give it three and a half stars and a big thumbs up. And now I guess I'll have to go swing by Netflix and rent the first two Transporter movies, right?

Shaken, Not Stirred

It's been two weeks since I could get out to see a movie, but I managed to get out today and see the new James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. I'll admit that I'm not exactly the world's biggest Bond fan. It's not that I don't like the franchise or anything, but I'd only seen three Bond movies all the way through prior today. But one of those movies was Casino Royale, and I liked it enough to justify seeing its followup.

So what did I think about Quantum of Solace? I thought it was okay enough. It was a solid movie in spite of a few flaws, and it was fun to watch. The only problem I had was that it's forgettable. I can only recall bits and pieces of it right now, and come tomorrow, I won't doubt that I'll remember even less.

Do I feel it the movie earned my money? Yeah. Okay, Quantum of Solace isn't as good as Casino Royale, but I enjoyed it enough to give it three and a half stars on the Sutton Scale. If you're a Bond fan, go check it out.

License To Drive

All the way back in 2007, I made a New Year's resolution to "move forward." That phrase was kind of a mantra I used to describe all the changes I wanted to make in life. In essence, I wanted to start growing up. Though I got the ball rolling back then, I decided to make that same resolution for 2008. I'll probably even do the same thing for 2009, but for this year, I can say "mission accomplished."

I say that because I finally got my driver's license this afternoon, ten years after I first gained eligibility for it. The fact that it took me that long has never been something I've been eager to brag about. But now that I've actually got the job done, I don't think it's anything I have to worry about anymore. And that's fantastic.

Now I have to start thinking about job prospects. Sigh.

Reflecting Upon October 31

Hello, dear readers, and welcome back to my silly little corner of cyberspace. You've arrived for a very special post: number 800. Yep, after seven years of operating the MSX, I've finally hit 800 posts. I just wonder how long it'll take me to hit the magic number of 1000.

Anyway, I might as well make the most of this milestone. So while I'm here and I have your attention (hopefully), I figure I'll go back and talk about my experiences during Halloween last week. No, I don't mean how I saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno, because I've already talked about that. Instead, I wanted to discuss trick or treating.

Unfortunately, I'm too old too old to go trick or treating without it being really creepy. It's a bummer, I know. But since my forced retirement from the game, I've started helping my uncle hand out candy at his house. It's been a lot of fun, but I'm noticing more and more that the times, they are a-changin'. And by that, I mean that it seems that kids just don't take Halloween as seriously as they did when I was little. It's bad enough that about half of them couldn't be bothered to say "trick or treat" or "thank you," but there were a sizable amount that were wearing outfits that barely qualify as costumes at all. It was just their regular clothes with some cheap mask, or maybe a little face paint. And there were two kids who weren't even wearing costumes at all. They just showed up wearing T-shirts with "Happy Halloween" scribbled on them with a magic marker.

I'll admit that my neighborhood isn't what you would call "financially blessed." Just about everyone around here is either a farmer or a factory worker, so it's not like we're upper class or anything. But does that mean parents and kids can't afford to put at least a little effort into Halloween costumes? Or am I the only person in this town who gives a crap about Halloween anymore?

I will admit to seeing some really good costumes, though. One little girl had a great Supergirl costume, while an adult acquaintance of mine was helping her cousins trick or treat in a fantastic Phantom of the Opera outfit. She had a great Jack Sparrow costume last year, so at least I can count on somebody to have a spiffy costume every year.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. But if when you can't even put forth the effort to half-ass it, why bother at all? If I see some kid with no costume next year, I'm going to make him or her do something to earn the candy. Sing a song, tell a joke, do a magic trick, throw down some breakdancing moves out in the front yard, drink from the fire hose, anything they can think of to get that candy in their basket. Otherwise, no dice. Sorry, kids, but that's the way it's gotta be.

88 Miles Per Hour

Yeah, everybody's talking about Barack Obama winning the election. But more important is that today is the fifty-third anniversary of the most groundbreaking scientific breakthrough in history: the conception of the flux capacitor.

Back on November 5, 1955, an amateur scientist from Hill Valley, California, slipped off his toilet while hanging a clock. He hit his head on the sink, at which point he had a vision of an important piece of technology that would make time travel possible. And while it took him thirty years to complete the creation of the flux capacitor, his idea was nothing short of revolutionary.

So thank you, Dr. Emmett Brown, for taking us back to the future. And thanks for keeping the universe from exploding due to some wacky paradox. Now where can I go buy my own flying DeLorean?

Who Didn't See This Coming?

Folks, it's official: Barack Obama is the next President of the United States of America.

I can't say I'm all that shocked or surprised, because he had this thing wrapped up as soon as he got the nomination. And although I can't say I agree with all of his platforms or that he had my support during his campaign, I'm still optimistic. I know America hasn't turned into some crappy third-world hellhole or anything, but things could be better, and I'm hoping that when Obama actually enters office, he'll be able to pull the country at least partially out of the slump it's been in. We'll just have to wait and see... and hope he doesn't follow in the footsteps of his predecessor by doing something incredibly stupid.

But that's about it for the political talk. Politics really aren't my forte, so to speak. But this is a pretty huge moment in American history, so I had to say something about it. How could I not?

Seven Weeks Early

Okay, I'll admit it: I think I'm already in the Christmas spirit.

All truth be told, it was really starting to look that way when I was doing those posts about the holidays last month. And as much as I love Halloween and Thanksgiving, it's always been Christmas that has been my true favorite amongst the three. And now that only Thanksgiving stands between the world and Christmas, I'm starting to get more excited than before. We're still seven weeks away, but I can't help myself.

It isn't helping things that stores have had their Christmas sections set up halfway through October. I even heard Christmas carols playing over the PA system at Wal-Mart this past weekend. And I'm conflicted about it, too. Part of me has no problem with getting ready for Christmas this early in November, because I have a lot of fun with it. But on the other hand, is it too hard to wait until Black Friday before stores start going totally gung-ho with the Christmas stuff? I can understand selling trees and decorations so people can be ready, but other than that, it's nuts.

You know what? To heck with it, I'm not worried. I'm going ahead and letting myself get into the Christmas mood. I won't go full bore into it until Black Friday, but I'm still going to watch Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas special on YouTube, along with my downloaded copies of A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I've been doing that already, and I think I might just go ahead and do that again now.

Happy Seventh Anniversary!

Welcome back to the MSX, folks. I'm glad you're here, because today is a big day. Why? Today marks the seventh anniversary of the very blog you're reading right now. Yeah, I've been operating this silly waste of cyberspace for seven years. I can hardly believe it myself.

The MSX has had its ups and downs in the time since I made my first post on that cheap Tripod website from a college dorm room back in 2001. I've covered the MSX's history in past anniversary celebrations, but I can't help but reflect on my blog's past. I can barely remember a time when I wasn't doing at least something with the MSX, and there's been so much that's happened since its inception. Check the archives if you don't believe me. I'm also a little bummed that just about every blog started by the members of the online community I fraternized with back in 2002 and 2003 has shut down within the last year or two. It's weird knowing that the MSX has outlived then all, but you know what? I'm still here. I've made it seven years. Now let's see if I can hit ten and make it an even decade.

Here's to the future.