Prince of Persia

Today I finally got around to watch 'Prince of Persia the Sands of Time'. Kenny had gotten it on blu-ray for his birthday in September, but for some reason we never got around to watch it. Today Kenny handed me a bunch of movies and 'Prince of Persia' was the one I picked.

The movie stars one of my favorite actors Jake Gyllenhaal and I knew it was based on a video game. I figured it would be like the Mummy movies that I really enjoyed. The movie starts out kinda slow in the beginning, but picks up midway and is action packed until the end. The movie is cool and some of the fight scenes were quite amazing. One thing I truly enjoyed is the fact that you keep guessing who the really bad guy is. This movie had some great SFX and I really liked the cinematography. In the end it was exactly what I expected: a fun adventure, action, SFX movie.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, here a short synopsis:

A rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Gemma Arterton) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time - a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Just got back from watching the third installment of 'Chronicles of Narnia'. I was really looking forward to the third film...and it didn't disappoint. I actually liked this film better than the 2nd movie 'Prince Caspian'. This film was a fun roller coaster of a movie filled with great special effects, a simple and understandable story and some good acting. The two main kids have really grown up especially Lucy, and I also enjoyed the introduction of Eustace. The only downer was the fact that they used again the 'redemption concept' to resolve the conflict between good and evil. The 'redemption concept' really doesn't do much for the story and it actually brings the story down. There has to be a better and more creative way to resolve the conflict between good and evil. If they would have gone a different route here, that would have not only made a really excellent movie but also enhanced the story. That way the last battle scene wouldn't have been that two dimensional and predictable. Other than that I really left the theatre quite satisfied.

I hope the do make a fourth movie with Eustace and his adventures in Narnia and that way at least finish the story of the four main children.

Since they only played the 3D version and the matinee ticket was $ 13.50... well it was fairly expensive, especially considering that the 3D doesn't enhance the movie at all. But I really didn't care too much about that, since I loved the movie that much and it definitely was worth every penny!!

For those of you who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, here's a short synopsis of the movie:

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship 'The Dawn Treader'. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.

Doctor Who XMAS Special 2010

First let me say that I'm a huge Doctor Who fan. I loved it from the first episode on, when it started re-airing in 2005. I absolutely loved this XMAS Special and I think that the story is one of the best of all Doctor Who episodes. Steven Moffat has written my other favorite episodes "Girl in the Fireplace" and "Blink". With "A Christmas Carol" he wrote another outstanding episode. I've enjoyed all previous XMAS Specials, but this one captured that special something. The acting was great, and Matt Smith continued to impress me with his performance as The Doctor. It's as if he was born to play this character and he is fast becoming my favorite Doctor!!

Michael Gambon did an excellent job playing the "Scrooge" of this story. One think Steven Moffat does excellent... writing characters. All his characters are real, engaging and you care for them instantly. This story was outstanding and Moffat did an superb job of blending humor and sadness together. And of course I loved the fish and the excellent CG!!

I can't wait for the next season of Doctor Who to begin!!!

XMAS Day 2010

Today Kenny and I had to get up quite early, since we had to pick up a friend (Lydia who was visiting from Switzerland) as she was going to join us the XMAS Day Celebration. Lydia was staying in a hotel inHollywood and we had to be at Kenny's Mom around 11 am. We gotto Lydia's hotel around 9.30 am, what was way quicker than we expected, since there was hardly any traffic. When we headed out to Kenny's Mom at Newport Beach there was still only very light traffic and we got there around 10.15 am... way earlier than we expected.

We had a very good visit with Kenny's Mom, Stepdad, Grandma, along with Kenny's Brother, Sister-in-law and Nephew. We had a nice Christmas lunch with ham, turkey, corn, peas, mash potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce and fin

ished it off with pump

kin pie. Kenny's nephew, Kenobi, managed to stay awake to a open a few presents. Chuck's (Kenny's stepdad) youngest son Christopher came over to visit and brought along his boyfriend Josh.

We enjoyed each others company till about 4 pm. Then we packed up and headed over to see Kenny's Dad. We got to Kenny's Dad around 5 pm and his Christmas Dinner was almost ready. We had turkey, ham, corn, mash potatoes, gravy, rolls an

d cranberry sauce. For desert we had planned for pumpkin and apple pie... but for some reason we forgot completely about desert. It was a very yummy dinner, although we had the same thing for lunch.

After dinner we sat down to open presents. Every year Kenny's Dad and Brother go way over board with presents... but this year is was completely crazy.

But it's not all about thegifts, it's also about spending time with family and that is always nice. Kenobi now being 19 month is getting a little more out of XMAS. Kenny got him a bag of 150 plastic balls and Kenny's Dad got him a big with 100 plastic balls. It goes without saying, that Kenobi loves balls and that they were all over the house... but he was loving it.

It was fun sharing an "American" Christmas with Lydia. We left

around 8.30 pm, dropped Lydia off at her hotel in Hollywood and got back to our house around 10.00 pm.

All in all it was an exhausting but fun filled Christmas!!

Click here to check out the Pix of XMAS 2010 on my Facebook Page!!

XMAS Eve 2010

Later in the evening Kenny and I opened the presents that we had gotten each other and those that my family had sent to both of us. That has become somewhat of a tradition, since we spend XMAS Day with Kenny's family.

We knew pretty much what we were

getting and it kinda takes the fun out of it. The only surprise were the gifts that my family and my friend Sandra had gotten for us.

I had already forgotten a few of the presents and so there was a little of a surprise element when opening them.

All in all it was a good night. Tomorrow will be a long but fun day!! Merry XMAS Eve!!

Click here to check out the Pix of XMAS 2010 on my Facebook Page!!

It starts to feel like Christmas

LMAO!!! That joke is absolutely hilarious!!

This statement might possibly be true in another universe...in another dimension...or in another reality, but certainly not in this one!!

I haven't felt less 'christmas-y' in many, many years. Quite frankly this year I really couldn't care less about that bogus holiday. I haven't cared about XMAS decoration this year at all. If they are there or not there really doesn't make any difference to me. I simply couldn't care less. If this year Christmas happens or doesn't happen... well I couldn't care less!!

Besides all of that Christmas with 70 or 80 degrees feels more like Easter, but certainly doesn't feel like Christmas. Here are the ingredients for a 'real' Christmas as far as I'm concerned:

Temperatures between O and 15 degree F. Snow and lots of it. The smell of fresh made punch. Hanging out at a real 'Christkindlmarkt' with good friends, drinking Glühwein, while it slightly starts to snow.

That's a real Christmas as far as I'm concerned!!

XMAS Party in the Hollywood Hills

Although it was raining cats and dogs Kenny and I weren't going to miss Steve and Gary's annual XMAS party. They live up in a beautiful house in the Hollywood Hills overlooking Los Angeles. It's always a little of an adventure to get up there, but with the rain it made it even more adventurous. We got there about 1 hour late and the party was already in full swing. These kinds of parties are nice, as we get to see friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like to. It was a great party with good food and wonderful friends.

Skype Call with Family

Today my family finally got a hold on me, and since my mom was at my sisters it was the perfect opportunity for a skype call. First we tried about twice to get a video call to work. But we were having slight issues with the internet speed... and knowing the speed of our internet connection, that really didn't surprise me at all. So we did just the regular skype call and that worked perfectly fine.

It was great talking to them, since it has been at least a couple of month. It was great catching up with them, on what was going on at their end. I found out that they were having their XMAS celebration this year for the first time on the 25th, since this is the earliest my sister, her husband and my two nephews can make it out to my parents. It was great to hear that they're all doing fine and I found out that, if everything goes according to plan, they all will be visiting us from April 4th to May 5th. Haven't gotten more travel details from them or what their detailed sightseeing plans are... but that they plan on visiting is awesome and it will be the first time that I get to see my second nephew in person.

All in all it was a great 1 hour long skype call!!

Sudden Clarity

A couple of days ago I had one of those days, where absolutely nothing seems to go right and everything is going of my nerves. To be quite honest that was more than me just blowing up. The describe the entire thing as pretty much a major meltdown would be accurate. It seems that lately the time between meltdowns gets shorter and shorter.

I could have blogged about that right away, but that would have only resulted in an angry rant. Now that I've had time to think things through for a couple of days, there's one thing that is absolutely clear: Things need to change and so they will change... otherwise I'm just giving myself either a heart attack or a stomach ulcer.

Lately the morons in Washington D.C and absolute stupidity of American politicians have been pissing me off. No more of that!! To blow, to get pissed off about something like that would implicate that I actually care. The truth of the matter is, that I don't care about that. I'm way beyond that point!! If anyone thinks, that I take the useless twaddle of American politicians seriously... well think again, I don't take it seriously.

From now on the only thing American politics are good for, is for my personal entertainment... and that entertainment value is going to be huge. In the future I will comment on American politics with absolute sarcasm and pure cynicism!! The entertainment value of that should be definitely substantial!!

VET Visit

Well today I finally took Daisy to the vet. To be quite honest this appointment was a little overdue. But with all the stuff going on lately, there never seemed to be time and Daisy's Bordetella booster shot was really overdue . So today we finally went. As always Daisy was super excited to go for a ride in the truck. As soon as we hit the intersection where the Vet is, the whining started. Boy she so hates that place. We had to wait about 15 minutes to get into the exam room. After about 10 minutes she calmed considerably down and it gave here time to socialize with 2 other dogs. Yes people you heard it right. Daisy is actually socializing with other dogs!! 2 years ago she would have put up her "Mohawk" and try to get after the, that want's to socialize with her. Just shows you that dogs do recover from very bad experiences, even if it takes a long time.

So waited for about another 10 min. in the exam room. Well, Daisy still wasn't a happy camper, but she endures it. Since I brought a stool sample, the Vet didn't have to bother her with that. For most part she's in very good shape for her age. The muscles are in perfect shape. So are her teeth, what means she doesn't need any dental work done. That made me quite happy. The Vet confirmed my suspicion, that she has the very slight onset of cataracts. At this time it shouldn't cause her any vision issues. The one thing that I have noticed is, that she spends a lot of time just sleeping on here doggie bed. It's not like she can't move and she doesn't seem to be in any discomfort either. She's excited when I'm getting ready to take her for a long walk or a hike and she doesn't have any problems going for a 3 hour hike. During the hike she's fine and she really enjoys it. But once we get back she goes to here doggie bed and doesn't want to move too much at all. My guess would be that this is the onset of arthritis. So to help her joint tissues and to generally improve her quality of the Vet put her on 2 supplements: Welactin Omega-3 and GlycoFlex 2. That should support her joint tissues and help with the stiffness. But it might take 6 to 8 weeks to see real results.

After we were done with the Vet, we waited in the waiting room to take care of the bill and for them to get the 2 supplements ready. This gave Daisy time to socialize with 2 more dogs. Well that 1 beagle was a little on the too excited side and Daisy wasn't a big fan of that.

As usual Daisy couldn't wait to get out of the Vet quick enough...she really hates that place.

Vasquez Rocks - South

Since the weather was nice today and it wasn't too hot...somewhere in the upper 60's, I decided to take Daisy for a hike to Vasquez Rocks.

This time I wanted to explore the more southern part of Vasquez Rocks. So I parked the truck at the southern parking area and we headed out. We followed parts of the Pacific Crest Trail until we reached almost the 14. Since we had only been at the park for about 1 hour I decided to check out the western flank of the park. So we followed one of the trails along the western flank. When I had the chance to take a trail down to the southern parking area, I should have done so. But I decided to follow the western flank a little further, thinking that I could cut across at any point. Well, lets just

say that was a slight error in judgement. What I didn't realize is, that I was heading towards that part of the western flank that backs up towards Agua Dulce Canyon Road and that's not the same part of the western flank that you see from the parking area. Turns out that you have to cross a deep ravine to get back. In theory you could cut across if you don't mind so

me serious climbing, but having the dog with me that was not an option.

So I had to hike pretty much to the end of the western flank and then hike through the ravine to get to a trail that brought me back to the southern parking area. After about 3 hours Daisy and I made it back to the truck.

All in all it was a great hike and Daisy enjoyed herself as well. I took some great pix that I've uploaded to my Facebook Page. Click here to check it out!!