Over-saturation

I remember, not too long ago, when “Enterprise” was failing, the Trek film franchise was doing poorly and everyone had more than their share of “Star Trek.”  There was talk of over saturation of the property, that people needed a break from the universe since we’d seen the property in one form or another since TNG appeared. 

Well, I personally don’t believe the break was long enough.  Here we have an article from IGN: Next Star Trek a Two-Parter?  In short, it describes a comment from “Star Trek” screenwriter Robert Orci giving a vague sentence or two that hinted the next movie would actually be two movies filmed back to back. 

The general fact that they were already planning another movie before the first reboot was even released tells me that we’re going to be sick of “Star Trek” again very soon.  There are some properties that can benefit from quick turn around between releases.  The “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Harry Potter” are two excellent examples.  But “Star Trek,” or even “Star Wars,” for anyone thinking I’m showing bias, just aren’t on my list.  They are already too widely spread into our culture in novels, comics, cartoons and movies. 

Over Saturation.  Too much.

Slow & Steady Weekend Wins the Race

I’ve been trying really hard to make this weekend as relaxing as possible.  So far, it seems I’m succeeding!  The only thing I did yesterday, that required any real energy, was getting out with the family to have lunch at Cheddars, and picking up my schedule for the next two weeks at Lowes. 

On a spur of the moment decision, I also picked up the “Watchmen” movie on blu ray and hope to watch it tonight.  3-hour director’s cut of the movie plus a “free” digital copy for your PC and a bonus disc with some extras.  It was advertised online at Target for $17, but our local store carried it for $21, which still isn’t bad for a blu ray movie, these days.  “Push,” which was roasted a bit by critics, was $25 by comparison, and I’d like to check that out, too.

But for now, I’m preparing for the second most energy draining task of my weekend: taking off the trash.  I really need to break down and look into getting curb-side pick up. 

Much Work = Not So Much Blog

It seems that when I plan on doing more blogging, I do less!  So, here is my promise to myself: I’ll blog when I can, just to get the writing in.  A word a day, a sentence at a time, building paragraphs that couldn’t hold a coherent thought …  That’s me!

For anyone I mentioned it to, I started in yet another new department at Lowes.  The OPE (aka Seasonal) department.  This is where your lawn mowers, air conditioners, grills, etc are located during the Spring, Summer and Fall.  The rough part comes in on the fact that they’ve had me on a 6AM ‘til schedule.  I say “’til” because I worked some odd hours last week.  This week, I figure it’ll suck more because my regular schedule will be in affect.  This is a 6AM to 2PM, 8 hour schedule.  The only positive is that it seems to be a Monday through Friday schedule, meaning I’ll have the weekend off at both jobs to rest. 

There is one other issue I have, but it doesn’t really upset me that much.  I guess it bothers me because the folks I have the issue with seem to think I care a tad bit more than I do.  Basically it involves my job being pretty much threatened if I don’t do a certain task by next Friday, and they are trying to be all serious about it.  Being as nice as I could, I pretended to be slightly concerned, but found it rather humorous.

At Parthenon, things are day-by-day.  We’ll be busy all night one day, then the next we’ll be searching for something to keep us busy.  It’s a great job, pays me well and I would hate to lose it, so I’m really, really, really praying things take an upward swing in the next month.

This weekend has been a bit of a disappointment.  We woke up yesterday looking for something to do.  Evidently, I had a wild hair because I decided, spur of the moment, that we should go to Beech Bend Park  in Bowling Green, KY.  Everyone finally agreed and we headed out.  After what seemed like 2 hours of driving, heavy traffic, a flat tire and some slighty bickering, we ended up not even going into the park.  Aside from the tiny issues just mentioned, once we got there, the weather was much cooler in Bowling Green than back home in Smyrna.  People were going in with jackets and sweaters on and we were standing there in shorts and t-shirts.  On top of that, several of the kids rides were closed for some unstated reason and it was sprinkling and cloudy.  So we ended up going to their mall and Toys R Us, grabbing a bite to eat and then heading back.  Thankfully, as with almost all trips, the ride home goes by much faster.

Today, we’re getting a bad start early, so maybe that means we’ll end up in a much better evening.  Getting ready to have lunch w/ the wife and in-laws before heading out to meet some more of her relatives.  Yes, 6 years of marriage and I still haven’t met them all.  They just keep popping up out of nowhere!! 

So, I’m out.  Hope everyone has/had a great weekend, and will have a much better week.

In Poor Taste for Today’s Memorial Service

In my contribution to poor taste for todays Michael Jackson memorial service, I present a comment one of my coworkers had.

“Only in America can you grow up a poor black boy only to die a rich white woman.”

Seriously folks, it’s been two weeks …  bury what’s left of the man and move on.

Transformers 2

Warning: Spoilers Below

 First edit on July 10, 2009 for content.

Thursday evening I attended a viewing of Michael Bay’s Transformers 2.  For a Thursday evening, the theater was packed, and the movie had been out for a week already!  I was a tad bit surprised by the audience size, but let me also add that my opinion may be a tad bit tainted as I wasn’t feeling well this particular day.  In fact, it was the start of a 2 day illness.  I’ll try to take that into consideration as I type, as well.

So, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock the past month, you know that the Internet has lambasted Bay’s second installment of the Transformers series.  All explosions, no substance.  A mindless retelling of the first movie.  Bad acting.  Action scenes that blend into one another to the point that you can’t tell what the heck is going on.

I guess I’ll go ahead and say, yeah, for the most part, these folks are all right in some way or another.  It is a big old mess of explosions, over/under acting and forced humor that just doesn’t work when it needs to.  Megan Fox was everything but naked as her clothing options must have dwindled as the budget got larger.  Rumor has it that her lips were the most expensive CG effect in the movie – always pursed and pouty and on the verge of a quiver.  In fact, all the human actors were the downfall of this film.  They brought back many of the original cast, even though Duhamel and Gibson were wasted with the mish-mashed story.

Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh, after all, this is a movie series based on a cartoon created for the sole purpose of selling a toyline.  Let me back up and say that this is an ideal Summer movie.  Check your brain at the door, enjoy the popcorn and soda and watch the action unfold.  The movie is good, just don’t go in looking for deep plots, interesting subplots and three dimensional characters.  Like I said, ideal Summer movie.  If you want to pontificate on the moral decay or growth of characters with invested interest and incredibly involved and intricate storylines, then the next Harry Potter movie will be out very soon!

Two of the three writers behind Transformers 2 are the same guys that brought us the storyline for the relaunch of Star Trek.  Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.  I didn’t pay attention, but I have heard that they actually aren’t even credited at the intro of the film, which I kinda wonder if that is at their request or not.

Story … er … action-wise, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen picks up two years after the first movie.  The Autobots are part of a Transformer/Human elite military unit that have the job of keeping the robots existence on Earth secret.  Yes, for two years, the governments have somehow managed to cover up the destructive battles of giant alien robots that can transform.  Hmm, evidently there really IS more than meets the eye to this story. 

The movie opens with the elite squad tracking down a Decepticon in Japan (or maybe it’s China).  After many explosions and casualties, we get to the meat and potatoes by having them call in The Big Guy …  Optimus Prime comes in and saves the day where numerous Autobots and highly trained military personnel have failed.  The last words of the Decepticon lead us to the rest of the movie as he proclaims the Fallen are coming.

We discover that the Fallen is the first Decepticon, and he has been to Earth before, as have the “elders” of the Transformers.  In fact, their history is mixed with our own, as we come to find out.  The Decepticons and Autobots/Humans are on a mission to find an ancient construction that can harvest entire suns for energy.  This creates a variation on the Matrix of Leadership, as it comes into play as a key to activate the powersource.  And for old school Transformers fans, no, it isn’t in Optimus Prime’s chest.

Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) is the best part of both Transformers movies.  He was the original voice in the cartoon series and was brilliantly recast for the movies.  Also making appearances in Revenge of the Fallen are Soundwave, Arcee and several other motorcycle-bots, Devestator, Jetfire (who I was highly disappointed in) and Ravage.  Soundwave – the super cool tapedeck in the old cartoon – is a satellite orbiting the Earth.  Ravage is a cat/dog like robot that Soundwave launches for a couple of missions in the movie.  And Jetfire?  Oh my lord, they’ve taken my second favorite Transformer and raped his image in my mind.

There is also some controversy for three other characters.  First and second are the jive-talking twins.  All I can say is: get over it.  The movie is made, grossing millions of dollars and they aren’t going away any time soon.  Third is something of a spoiler if I post it here, but since you were warned above, I’ll say it.  The girl that is actually a robot.  I haven’t followed all variations of the Transformers universe, but I’m assured that she (or at least those like her) do exist in the lore.  So, it is nice to see Michael Bay and the writers digging in and spanning the entire Transformers universe to create the movie universe.

Transformers 2 is a must see for fans, especially if you like the first movie.  Don’t let my negative takes or anyone elses discourage you from going to see it.  It is fun, and after the initial viewing I’d recommend a second one, just so you can focus more on what is going on and not so much on what everyone is saying and trying to do. 

Happy Independence Day ‘09

It’s been a long time since I last posted anything not WoW related, and even though this will have a bit of that, too, I’ll try to limit it a bit.  But, it’s good to be back and writting a little something.  Most of my time, these days, is spent working many hours at both Parthenon (full time) and Lowes (part time).  The hours, which are usually about 70-75 a week total, aren’t really that bad.  As long as I’m schedule for both jobs on the same day, I’m good, but it’s the lull in the day when I only have to work at one or the other that throws me off track.  Seriously, it’s better for me to have a full day of work than a half one.

Parthenon is still an iffy deal.  We were busy right before the one week of shut down.  I attribute the bustle to a few customers wanting to build up stock before the holiday, but we’ll see come next week.  As far as any more layoff’s go … pardon me, the term for 2009 is Riff … so as far as any more riffs go, I’d dare say things still aren’t on stable ground.  I still worry for my job.  I say MY job because it has gotten to the point where it is every man for himself.  I hate to say that, but yeah.  If someone else gets the boot, that means I’m more likely to stay, you know?  That may be bad karma or whatever, but it is the truth, my friends.

At Lowes, my part time seasonal job seems to have been expanded.  I was promoted from Loader to Building Materials (Lumber) and now have been moved on to the sales floor as an OPE (Outdoor Power Equipment) team member.  The HR director assures me that she’s received nothing but awesome reports, so I’m a tad bit happy about that.  I’m just there to do a job, you know?  And if I happen to make some friends along the way, all the more the merrier.  The only downside of the job is the early hours and the 2 week pay periods.  I’m a little spoiled by the weekly pay at Parthenon, but it’s all good.  At least, at Lowes, I get pretty much straight pay – no insurance or other unnecessary items get deducted.

Of course, there is always a downside to everything, and the part time job is no exception.  This particular downside is: my son misses me.  He asks me how much longer I’ll have to work two jobs, when I’ll be able to quit and come home.  I explain and he seems to understand the reason why I’m working two jobs, he just doesn’t like it (any more than I do, I’ll admit).  Even though I’m worn out and tired, I try to make the most of my days / half days off and spend time with him.  Sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way, though, as there are chores to be done around the house.  My wife is doing a pretty good job of keeping things tied down here while I’m at work, but even she can’t do it all and babysit, too.  Yes, she does work from home, and as such much of her attention during the day is focused on that and keeping our son entertained.  So, it’s not like either one of us is out busting our chops expecting the other will hold down the home front.  In todays times, I still say that, while I’d be proud to have my wife stay at home and take care of our children, it does still require pretty much two incomes (two and a half) to make a middle-class lifestyle work.  We could rely on only my income, but we’d have to make alot of cuts in our expenses, and not even my wife would want to do that unless it was necessary.  We’re spoiled that way – use to our car payments, cell phones and cable television.

And finally … in my small attempts to keep some sanity in my little world, I seek entertainment and gameplay.  As I like to say, videogames are my hobby.  Working two jobs and maintaining a family is no small task, so the few wee hours I have left that aren’t spent sleeping, are spent relaxing with a good game.  True, I do need to catch up on my reading, but I already own the videogames and they aren’t taking up any more room.  Ahem … now if I had a Kindle, perhaps I’d find a little more time to read <wink,wink>

I’m still playing the same two games … aren’t I always?  Fallout 3 on the 360, which I’ve downloaded the Broken Steel expansion for.  Broken Steel sort of eliminates the end of the game so that you can continue to play after completing the main storyline.  I’m still enjoying the Fallout 3 world and badly want the other expansions.  And of course, on the PC, I’m playing World of Warcraft.  I’m doing a fairly decent job of sticking to my guns and leveling only my warlock.  With this week off from Parthenon, I’ve managed to work him up to 50 (almost 51) and upgraded my gear a bit.  I’m wanting to find some nice spellpower enchants to boost my damage, but haven’t felt like bartering with the various folk.  Actually, I’m waiting for my pal to come online and hook me up for a small fee.  B, if you’re reading this, get your butt online!  I’ve also been playing my hunter main, working on some dailies, here and there, and doing alot of Icecrown quests I skipped over leveling up.  Making some decent money on there, and that makes me a happy camper since I’m 80 and still don’t have my epic flying skill. 

Movie-wise, I’ve broken down and actually been to a few movies this Summer.  First was Star Trek, which I reviewed awhile back.  We went to see Disney/Pixar’s UP, which was a fantastic movie.  The best Pixar movie to date.  I can’t wait to get that one on bluray when it comes out.  And last but not least, I saw Transformers 2 this past Thursday.  I’ll try to talk more about it later in a different post, but yeah, it was typical Michael Bay action.

So that’s it.  That is my life in a nutshell of the past few weeks/months.  Not much to tell, not much to share … but there you go.  I’m a working fool who dreams great things in the common threads of the now.  Maybe I will be able to pick back up my blogging again, too.  I need to get those fingers banging out some text every now and then. 

Til next time chiiiiiiiiildren … This is Three Dog …