Have you ever heard about the Enzian theater? I’ve mentioned it a few times cuz I’ve been there. Have you? No? Okay, well, if you’ve ever wondered what the interior looks like, here’s a pic I took with my cell phone a few weeks back but never posted. It’s more of a dinner and a movie all-in-one style theater. More upscale. They have stylish tables and chairs. The setup is kinda artsy dartsy (I use that for lack of a better, more educated term). Ambiance is mellow and the atmosphere is just plain chill. No assholes talking during a movie. Polite staff in clean clothes and the public areas are clean too. Big screen with big sound. They specialize more in independent and limited release films. It’s nice when they’re playing something absolutely no one else is. Talk about a monopoly.

It’s also expensive. Ticket prices are cheap enough (even cheaper with a student id) but food is on the up side. The selection ain’t that great and they seem to cater more to the alcoholic with their variety of beverages. During my most recent trip there (to see that piece of shit Blade Runner) I had some smothered steak fries that had more smothering than actual fries. Cost about 8 or 9 bucks I think, but it’ll fill the average person up pretty good. Since I’m not an average person, I had to get seconds of something. Dessert and appetizer variety was limited so I got the pulled pork sandwich with more steak fries on the side. I ate every crumb. Best pulled pork sandwich I ever had was from Bubbalou’s Bodacious BBQ. No comparison. But something had to be consumed and it was either that or a hamburger. Most burgers taste the same to me so it was a no brainer. I assume they make their money from Film Society memberships and high food and drink prices. Parking is free but rough on the wheels as you park on rocks instead of pavement or asphalt. Spin your tires in that bitch and you’re gonna have plenty of insurance claims coming your way.

They keep a low light level during movies so you can read the menu and see what you’re eating and drinking. And for servers to not trip and bust their asses. You hear sudden laughter break out during a tragic scene, you’ll know why. I’m sure they don’t want that. Seats are cushioned but some are more comfy than others. Some are more like sofas while others are padded, reclining wooden chairs. It’s a perfect date place. Gets a bitch in the mood via ambiance. They serve alcohol so you can liquor her ass up just enough to make it easier to tag it. The fact that you know about the place scores you points. It’s mostly whites that work and congregate there, so if you’re a mino, you can make that bitch feel upper class strictly by the company surrounding you. There’s little sit down areas outside that are romantic and well spaced away from everything else. Just right for making out at night before sticking it when you get to her place or yours. Just don’t do anything inside the theater. Servers are always running around being attentive. That’s how they get paid after all. Not a bad thing actually. Yes, they take tips.

I’d recommend getting to the joint early though. If it’s a popular movie, it’ll fill up pretty good, leaving you with a shitty seat. Some people around me complained that too many heads were in the way of the screen. That’s a fault of the design of the place cuz servers pass by, people get up and move around in their seat and shit. Get a view like what you see in the pic. Nobody in front of your ass. Straight forward, centered view of the screen. I flew solo my last time there but couples were all around me, all of them white or could pass for it. Never felt out of place once. So when they’re playing a good flick, it’d help to bring a chic that you’re banging or wanna bang. The sex can turn into something better and different or you could just guarantee yourself some tang from a first date. Trust me, I’ve been there with a chic on my side before. I speak from experience.

I got my Honeywell 50250 Enviracaire air purifier a week or so  ago (I took that pic like that for a reason other than posting it here). Got it online from doitbest.com for $139. Lowest price online and they had site to store so I didn’t pay shipping or tax. Can’t fuck with that. I picked it up at some joint in Winter Park called Miller Hardware. Hard as fuck to find and parking was an even bigger bitch. The store faces the main street (for window shopping pedestrians) but all the biz is taking place in the back. The box is a pretty good size. I did an intense amount of research before buying it. The air quality in my place was mainly dusty as hell with some mild odor from trash. This thing has taken care of all that. Some reviews I read are that it’s heavy. They claim 20 pounds heavy and shit but the goddamn thing was light as a fucking feather. Felt like fucking 2 or 3 pounds. It’s on the bulky side is all and that’s just barely.

Really, it ain’t even all that big. It looks like a miniature central air and heating unit you’d find in someone’s back yard or some shit like that. I live in an efficiency and I got it propped up smack in the middle. Ain’t obstructing anything at all. It already comes with the filters so all you gotta do is open it up from the bottom and velcro the prefilter over the permanent hepa filter. Plug it in and you’re good to go. It has 3 speeds. I leave it on low when I’m watching tv or listening to music as it’s non-invasive. No louder than a regular fan blowing. Not distracting at all. Fuck these idiots online. They don’t know shit. I leave it on high speed when I’m away or sleeping. And it damn sure helps me sleep better. It’s louder on high speed but I don’t mind that. It’s already quiet where I live, but if there was any sound coming from anywhere, it’d get drowned out by the fan. But that’s only cuz it’s close to my bed.

People also complained that the fan inside of it made a lot of noise as it was wobbly and made clicking sounds or some other dumb shit. I haven’t had that prob. Nothing is rubbing on anything else. Maybe they got a defective model or maybe they’re just stupid as fuck and don’t know what sounds the thing is supposed to make. I’m happy with it. Air quality is much improved. I walk in my joint now and the diff between the outside air and inside air is obvious. It’s just fresher. I rarely use the hvac unit in my pad now. The 50250 keeps the temp pleasant somehow. It helps to have a clean place before using it. The one thing I don’t like is that the fan speed control shines a bright blue. Some people might like that as it provides a stylish night light. But I like it as dark as possible when I sleep, so I stitched together some electrical tape and put it over the control panel when I hit the hay. Gives me the darkness I want and doesn’t leave any smear on the unit.

Some other things going on are that I’m gonna be paying back student loans in a couple months. One loan (subsidized) is close to 4 g’s but I’ll pay that in one lump when the time comes. Might as well earn some compounded interest on my flow before paying it out. The other loan (unsubsidized) is 30 g’s. Ouch. Had to do it in the name of education. I make good money but these motherfuckers want me to pay damn near $400 a month over 10 years to pay off the loan. That don’t help me with my other plans like publishing my book and later starting my concession business. There are options though and I explored them and I’m gonna take full advantage of them.

One is to lower my monthly payment by getting the income sensitive repayment plan. That allows me to save what I need to save for my future business plans. In two years I’d have higher monthly payments but by then I’ll have all my shit ready and be making serious bread and can afford it. Hopefully I’ll have enough to pay it off in full. That’s the plan. Plus they’re giving me interest rate reductions throughout repayment and a rebate towards the end of the repayment schedule. So things are working out the way I’d prefer. To offset that amount though, I’m exploring putting relevant in-text ads on the site. I don’t think they’d be intrusive, they’d generate income and, most importantly, they’d be relevant to my site’s content. I hate visiting a site and seeing irrelevant ads, pop unders, hovering ads, page switching and shit like that. I hate that bullshit. It lowers the visitor experience. So in time, and after much research, my site will have in-text ads only. Any suggestions are welcome.

I’m currently reading Universe X tpb vol. 2 and that thing is full of typos, just like the first volume. Marvel quality control must’ve been shit at the time. The story is interesting as hell but those typos don’t make no damn sense. I don’t see how that many of them could’ve passed the editors. It’s kinda ridiculous really. You think I’m exaggerating but I’m not.

I ordered the Toynami 20^th Anniversary Masterpiece Voltron a week or so ago and just got it. Haven’t opened it up and touched the lions yet, but I can’t fucking wait. Cost me just under $110 so I’m glad I waited to buy it this year instead of during the holidays last year cuz the price was way higher. I got number 14,161 so they’re getting closer to the end of the production run. I’m no toy reviewer but when I get my hands on it, I’ll take some pics and post ‘em.

Can you believe a movie about a bunch of old geezers hit #1 at the box office last week? What I don’t like about The Bucket List is that it’s not original. There was a tv show called Twenty Good Years on NBC with a similar premise about 2 older guys (Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow) who concluded that they had 20 good years left to enjoy in their lives so they might as well live them to their fullest and do all the things that they’ve always wanted to do and some things that they didn’t or wouldn’t. It was very funny but bit the dust as most sitcoms have these days. I guess The Bucket List has bigger star power, a bigger budget, better marketing, and a grander venue so that’s why their idea succeeded where NBC’s failed. Can’t really compare tv to a movie but it sucks when the networks don’t support quality programming. Same idea, different medium. One failed, one didn’t. You just gotta wonder sometimes what’s going on in these executives’ heads. A few weeks and a shifting time slot isn’t gonna help a show to build an audience. Get a clue.

Last but not least is I’ve run into some probs with the company that provides my file storage for streaming media. The Comebacks that I posted for one of this week’s freeview movies got corrupted along with the mp3’s in the playlist. Somehow, anything I uploaded via ftp was fucked up when streamed or downloaded as opposed to being uploaded via http, everything was fine. The mp3’s are streaming in good quality now but the movie file is just too big for uploading via http so I gotta wait for them to fix shit on their end and then upload it via ftp when that’s all done. If too much time goes by, I’ll just take the movie down and post it some other day.

Speaking of milk, Milena Velba fans, you’re gonna wanna come back this Friday cuz if you haven’t seen it, I’m gonna post her first full-length vid that shares the same namesake as the dairy product. Just giving you a heads up. That last scene with Sunny Wagner? All I got to say is, “Unbelievable.” I get so envious (and hard) every time I watch it. But you’ll see for yourself what I’m talking about.

I mentioned in a previous article that I was gonna be switching to RealPlayer as my media player of choice for video files here. Turns out that it won’t play streamed .flv files. I tried so many different code configurations in IE and Firefox but nothing worked the way I wanted. So for now I’ll keep using a version of the Jeroen Wijering flv media player.

The 2 movies I’m most looking forward to aren’t even American at all. Appleseed: Ex Machina is coming to dvd here on March 11 according to the American dvd site. Yet the jap site has a March 14 dvd release date for its home country. Weird. How are we gettin’ shit before them? Would be nice to see it in theaters. Hopefully there won’t be any editing like what happened with Casshern. And L change the WorLd hits jap theaters on February 9. Probably gonna be a while before it’s available online since a region 1 dvd is unlikely. Not that that can’t be cracked. I do plan on seeing Cloverfield sometime this weekend. Expecting good things considering who’s involved in the creative process. But if it sucks, believe me, I’ll let you know. And if it’s good, I’ll do the same. Fair is fair.

Let’s talk tv. I checked out this new half hour long Canadian show via download called Sophie. The title character (Natalie Brown) and her best friend are both hot as hell and very easy on the eyes. But looks isn’t the only thing that makes for good tv in my book. It starts with her getting a revelation from some whacked out psychic that her life is gonna go downhill like a California mudslide. Then we find out she’s a talent agent whose bf knocked her up and cheated on her with her bff. Breaking up with her bf causes a big scene in her office and her secretary leaves. Then all her talent hightails it left and right. Then there’s the twist ending ala The Brothers Solomon. Remember, she’s preggers.

The acting wasn’t all that great and there is no laugh track. The plot was kinda weak and just not funny enough. A little more absurdity and some physical comedy would’ve helped. I won’t be giving this show any more viewings. Just wasn’t good enough. If this is Canadian sitcom standards, then I might not be giving anymore shows from that country a chance.

Yes, I watched Cashmere Mafia. I never watched Sex and the City but I’m sick and goddamn tired of all these new shows that pop up claiming to be the next version of it (Lipstick Jungle is the next one). Stop it, motherfuckers, cuz every fucking show that’s said that has been cancelled (Emily’s Reasons Why Not and The Bad Girl’s Guide are two of them). Get a fucking clue. Just cuz this has creative ties to that series doesn’t guarantee it’s gonna stick around. This is chic tv all the way. Straight up and down. I watched the whole ep (an hour long) cuz it kept my interest, so I’ll give them some credit. The cast is as attractive as you might expect. Everyone had their own situation and all of them were explored in enough depth that it didn’t feel rushed. Everyone had an identity and unique character traits. So far, so good.

I’d say the show has potential since the writing is strong but since this is network tv, the language and dialogue is gonna be watered down severely. Women know how women really talk just like men know how women really talk. “Ooh girl, I wanted to suck his dick right then and there.” This just won’t be able to do that. If you can look past how all these successful women converse amongst themselves and with others, this will be enjoyable. Just not for me cuz I ain’t watching it again. Doesn’t appeal to me. Probably cuz I’m a guy. I’m not the target audience.

The most significant thing about the show to me is Miranda Otto’s character. It’s not original. Not for her anyway. I never read the book but I did watch The Starter Wife miniseries on USA Network and was very impressed with it. I loved it. Especially Debra Messing. She can fucking act! Otto was in that too, playing a wife whose husband cheated on her and she knew about it. To get back at him, she thought it best to sleep with someone else but couldn’t go through with it. By the end, she and her hubby were back on good terms. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it? This is a different kind of typecasting. Like Rose Byrne who always dies in her movies. Seen 28 Weeks Later (sucked) and Sunshine (damn good)? Then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Frances O’Connor’s character is pretty dynamic. She’s a high-powered exec. Hubby and kids. Nice house. Plenty of bread. But her time is thin like pre-baby Nicole Richie. She needs a nanny for her kids, and found one, but things didn’t quite work out. So what happens? She becomes another one of those pathetic ass bitches who has to bring her kids to work cuz she’s got no one to take care of them. Hubby has to work too, ya know. Oh, she can afford a nanny. She just made a bad choice and had to suffer for it. The representation was pretty accurate as the kids were being kids while she was trying to get work done. Just goes to show that no matter what position a female may have, none of them are immune from having tag-along kids. Bring-your-kids-to-work day everyday and shit. Sad.

I just watched the second ep of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I gotta tell ya, the first ep wasn’t all that great. I was gonna stop watching the series as a whole based on two things: The first being when the male Terminator had John Connor at point blank range between those cars at the school and he hesitated to shoot. I suppose the director was trying to build up the suspense but what he really accomplished was fucking up the scene. Terminators don’t hesitate. The movies have taught us this. He hesitated for so damn long only to get ran over by the female Terminator. As soon as he raised that gun to shoot John, that’s the exact moment when he shoulda got ran over. No need for that long ass pause.

The second fuck up was when the male went into the bank. He looked directly at the SWAT team members who didn’t raise their guns to him and didn’t try to stop him or anything as he walked right past them and into the bank. That’s complete and total bullshit. Regardless of the condition the male was in, even if the SWAT members couldn’t believe their eyes, there’s no way on planet Earth they would’ve let anyone, and I mean anyone, just waltz right past them considering the seriousness of the situation. If SWAT’s gotta get called out in the first place, then you know it’s a big deal. And when the male was destroying the vault, no one tried to stop him. They didn’t even show a scene of people in disbelief that a human could do such a thing. That scene had the opportunity to be as great as the scene in the first movie when Arnold wiped out everyone at that police station. But the director dropped the ball again. Really the writer’s fault. Fuck it, I’ll blame ‘em all. These fuck ups were avoidable.

These people are dealing with a beloved franchise. The first movie is one of the greatest movies of all time in my book. I’ve seen it countless times. Know it scene by scene. All the dialogue. That’s how great that movie is even after all these decades. It’s timeless. Part 2 I’ve seen but I don’t remember it all that well. Guess I should watch that again since this series takes place after it. Then there’s part 3. Some hate it, some like it. It was low on story and big on stunts but it does have continuity. It really helped Kristanna Loken’s career so she could follow it up with BloodRayne (not a compliment). And that continuity suggests that no matter what anyone does, the future is still gonna end up being run by machines. This is just known information. So really, this series is all for nothing as absolutely nothing of merit is gonna be accomplished. The Connors will fail as they always have.

Perhaps this should’ve taken place after the third part. Just take us to the inevitable mechanized future and let’s see what’s really going on. I’d prefer that over feeding us more of a pointless storyline. Still, even though the first ep had its flaws, it was just good enough to earn a second ep viewing and that was just good enough to earn a third ep viewing. To me, it’s just interesting enough to keep watching. Nothing spectacular but it does have some entertainment value. Most likely it’s the franchise value that’s keeping me coming back but for now, it stays on my schedule.

The acting could definitely be stronger as it’s too ‘tv’ right now and not as cinematic as I think it should be. I’m so used to seeing Dean Winters work in Rescue Me and now this? No comparison. Lena Headey’s biggest claim to fame is from 300 but she’s not as bad ass or buff as Linda Hamilton. She’s too protective of John in a mommish way rather than as a soldier if that makes sense. Action scenes consist of Summer Glau’s Terminator throwing and being thrown through walls and floors by a random male Terminator. It gets old after the first time. There’s some gunplay but not nearly enough.