So What Happened...

Ok, so here is the explanation. I started the month trying to blog every day in the month of February in honor of my wife's birthday. In fact, I enjoyed it even though I was having my health crisis. Well, as you probably all know by now, that all turned out to be a ok in the end. However, last Tuesday, we were hit with yet ANOTHER thing to have to worry about. Unlike many of the other problems, this wasn't going to kill someone, but it was almost just as bad.

Remember how the neuro office was really dropping the ball with me and I kept falling through the cracks? Remember how I had Jess look up my records to make sure I was being taken care of and to make sure if there WAS something bad happening, I was finding out about it?

Well, someone at Jessica's work, a coworker, ratted her out and it was brought to the attention of her supervior who reported it to human resources. Yeah, technically, what she did was illegal. She was doing for my benefit and basically, because she thought I was at risk, but it didn't matter as they see it as a black or white issue.

So, Tuesday she was called into the office by HR and was told she was in trouble. In that meeting, she was told it would go under review, and depending on what they decide, she would either be suspended or fired. Yes, she could lose her job because she was trying to protect her husband. Not check out a random person's file, but her husband, who she was trying to make sure wasn't going to die from neglect. She was told in that meeting she would know the decision by Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, until that time we were a wreck. If she lost her job, it would obviously be devasting. Not only are jobs scarce, but if she did find an opening, she has this major violation on her record, a violation she was terminated for. If she can't find a job, we don't have a way of paying the mortgage. So, needless to say, this was bad.

So, Thursday came along and nobody came by. She called at the end of the day asking if she could know the next day as she didn't want to worry all of her birthday weekend. But, alas, Friday came and went. Luckily, she took a fuck it approach and just enjoyed her weekend. Monday came along, nothing. Tuesday, a week after being notified, nothing. Finally, today, we got word she would have the meeting in the afternoon. I was nervous all day. At 3:45, she got the final word - a three day suspension.

This is a huge sigh of relief for us. A suspension without pay for a few days we can handle. Loss of her job, we would not be able to. So, that is where I have been. I didn't want to really say anything until it was all done, but I also didn't feel like faking my usual happy posts when I/we were clearly not ok. It just makes me mad that she got in trouble for protecting me because of by the numbers laws. It makes me mad that the person at fault, the person who could have risked my life, will most likely not be punished at all. How is that fair? What is worse - looking at your husband's record to make sure he is being cared for properly or neglecting a patient? But in the end, it is now over.

I am probably not going to post for a few days, but when I come back, I'll be back with force. I actually enjoyed posting everyday and I will do my best to post as much as possible. I also promise to start visiting your blogs again. With my health issue on top of this new issue, I haven't really been in the mood to read blogs. But, it is all behind us now. The way our last 6 months or so have gone, hopefully, this is the last thing we have to deal with for a while...

The Oscars

First of all, sorry it has been a week since a post. Something has happened that has really not put me in the mood to post, but I will update you all as soon as it is over. It should be soon. It is not health related, so no worries there.

Secondly, I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife! Happy birthday my love.

As you all know, Jess and I are big fans of the Academy Awards and we always see all five movie nominated for Best Picture and have done so for over 10 years, close to 15 actually. This year was no different and in fact, it is kind of cool that the birthday celebration and the awards show are on the same day!

So, here are my thoughts. When the nominations were announced, here is the ranking of how much I was looking forward to each film. I had already seen Benjamin Button and loved it, so I put that at number one simply because I loved it so much.

#1 Benjamin Button
#2 Slumdog Millionaire
#3 Milk
#4 Frost/Nixon
#5 The Reader

So now, after seeing them, in what order did I like them?

#1 is still Benjamin Button as I simply loved the movie. You can read my review here:
http://manuelsview.blogspot.com/2009/01/manuel-on-movies-10.html

#2 Milk was a really great movie. I thought I would like it as I do enjoy biopics, but I didn't know I would enjoy it as much as I did. The story of Harvey Milk is very touching and moving and Sean Penn was excellent. In fact, the whole cast was excellent and the film really captured the mood of the times. I love films where I can be entertained, enlightened, and learn a few things I didn't know all in one sitting. I almost put it ahead of Button, but in the end, I put it at #2 because it WAS just a biopic, and was simply retelling a story, whereas Button was something original (although based on a story) and just felt like something special. 9 out of 10

#3 I ended up liking The Reader a lot more than I figured I would. In fact, you can see it was last on my list of anticipation. But, this movie really surprised me, especially because I had heard so many bad things about it and heard outcry after outcry over how it was included and the overrated Dark Knight wasn't. But this was a very good movie. I thought it started as a great story of this older woman seducing a younger man, but once you find out the woman has a past and the secrets start to come out halfway through the picture, it gets even better. It is an emotional movie with some real moral questions. I ended up being really torn on some things, but I can't really say why without giving too much away. Kate Winslett was AMAZING in it and this is really her movie. 8 out of 10

#4 Slumdog Millionaire is kind of an overrated movie. Prior to seeing it, all I heard was how great this movie was and I was actually excited about seeing it. It wasn't a bad movie, but it just didn't live up to expectations. I LOVED how they told the story, with flashbacks about different times in the main character's life. I thought that part of the storytelling was brilliant. But, I just wasn't moved by the actually story. I didn't really CARE about the characters enough to be moved by it. It was a good story, but nothing special in my opinion. I didn't finish the moovie with a big smile on my face as it seems everyone else has. In the end, I have seen it, it was good, but I feel no urge to ever see it again. 7.5 out of 10

#5 Frost/Nixon is a tough film because the director, Ron Howard, had to basically make the audience care and stay awake for a 2 hour film centered around some interviews that had to do with politics. Sounds like a snoozer, but it wasn't really that bad. Langella (Skeletor!!) was great as Nixon and Sheen was very charasmatic as the interviewer Frost. And in fact, I was never bored and actually cared about what direction the story was going to go and it gave me some cheer moments weirdly enough. But in the end, it WAS a movie, a biopic if you will, centered around a set of interviews and great acting could only take this movie so far before the actual subject matter took over. This was a good film. Not a great film. I learned some stuff I didn't know, but I am sure I won't ever be seeing it again. 7 out of 10.

So, after all that, what WILL win? My bet is on Slumdog. Everyone seems to love the movie and it has some amazing momentum. I don't quite get it and years from now, I think it will go down as one of the overrated movies that took off because of hype, but isn't THAT great once you take a step back from everything and analyze it for what it was, simply a pretty good movie.

Let's Get Physical!

So, I screwed up and forgot to post yesterday. Funny thing is, I wasn't even busy. I never even left the house. But, on relaxing days, you really don't feel like doing anything and blogging never even crossed my mind.

I bring you two things today. First was an article that I read about in the paper yesterday. If you feel that maybe your significant other is being a little too hard on you because of your weight, be thankful you are not married to Christine Newton-John. From the nydailynews.com:

An elderly Ohio man was "exercised to death" by his transgendered wife - who forced him to swim even as he gasped for breath, authorities said.

Christine Newton-John, 41, pleaded guilty last week to reckless homicide in the death of James Mason, 73, and could get five years in prison.

Cops said she was caught on video dragging her frail hubby around the pool in their apartment complex, stopping him from getting out 43 times.

"The man was exercised to death," Middlefield Police Chief Joseph Stehlik told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"The video is bone-chilling," he said. "The whole case is very sinister. My personal feeling is that what she did was more intentional than reckless.

"This is a case that could just slip through the cracks."

It didn't because Stehlik's deputy became suspicious after Mason's June 2 heart attack, recalling that he'd investigated previous allegations of abuse.

A police officer noticed a surveillance camera above the pool and retrieved the tape - which showed Mason struggling to breathe during the marathon swim session.

A grand jury indicted Newton-John on reckless homicide, and she pleaded guilty Thursday.

"You can see the man struggling for his life on the tape, but there is no audio, so we couldn't hear what he was saying," prosecutor David Joyce told the newspaper, explaining why he didn't pursue a murder rap.

Newton-John's lawyer declined comment.

The suspect was born a male, named John Vallandingham, but underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1993 and took a new name in honor of singer Olivia Newton-John.

Mason knew Vallandingham's family for years. They got married in 2006 in Kentucky, which recognizes such unions as legal, officials said.

The marriage was troubled, authorities said.

"I think he was victimized for years by her," Stehlik said.

Before her arrest, Newton-John had the gumption to threaten the owner of the apartment complex with a lawsuit over Mason's death.

Peter Demopoulos, a private investigator hired by the landlord, said Newton-John is getting off easy. "Considering what she did, it seems like she faces a pretty light sentence," he said. "That tape is startling."

First, how horrible for the guy - knowing you are about to drown and having your wife there to help you and she keeps pushing you back in. I think she clearly knew what she was doing and was intending to kill him. And really, it is kind of clever because without a tape, it might have just ended up looking as a heart attack. She was probably going for the accidental heart attack or drowning death and almost got away with it. Just a horrible human being, but a noteworthy story.

Everyone remember the Christian Bale meltdown on the set of Terminator a couple of weeks back? Well, last night, as we lay in bed watching Family Guy, we were pleasantly shocked to see that the show did not waste any time getting in on the fun. Jess and I were freakin' hysterical!



I know everyone is spoofing it, but bravo to an animated show for getting on it so quickly. You know the show had to be already completed long ago so kudos for getting it in so seamlessly.

Quick Post

Just a quick post tonight as I was busy all day, although most of the time, it was busy doing nothing but relaxing with my wife. I want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day. And, because I am an equal opportunist, and you are the type who doesn't like the day, Happy "I Hate Valentine's Day" Day. I don't like to exclude.

In honor of the day, here is a great love song by Weird Al (Fan made video):

Happy Friday the 13th!

I know, I know, Friday the 13th is supposed to be a spooky day. I don't really buy into that. In fact, I actually like the day. As a big horror fan, Friday the 13th is almost a day that you look forward to. I remember around 1999, when I was still in college, I started posting on a horror/toy message board and it was the first time I heard the phrase, "Happy, Friday the 13th!" I thought it was great. I mean really, it is just a day, so why not celebrate it? Tonight, to celebrate the day, Jess and I are going with a friend of ours to go see the Friday the 13th remake. Hopefully it is pretty good as although they are considered "classics," the original Friday the 13th movies aren't really my favorites in the horror genre. I could list off a TON of horror movies I prefer.

Anyways, I guess that is it. Have a good weekend everyone!

Oh wait, am I missing anything? Oh yeah...the doctor called and my CT was completely normal, so I have clean bill of health as far as that whole issue is concerned. Thought I should let you all know. Back to normal!

The CT

First of all, no, I don't have any results yet. I thought I would get that out of the way. I did have my CT scan today though. It was the first time I have ever had an IV put in, but that didn't hurt at all. Well, actually, I probably had an IV when I had tubes in my ears as a kid, but I don't remember it. They had to give me an IV because they had to inject a dye into me so they could see the CT scan easier. At the beginning of the scan, they injected the dye and I was told I would get a warm, burning feeling throughout my body. Well, I didn't get that feeling throughout my body.

I got the warm, burning feeling in my butt.

Yes, my ass was burning up, but all I could do was laugh. It wasn't a stinging burning feeling, but more or a real burn, as if someone had a lighter right in that area.

After the burning came a bit of nausea, and for a while I thought I was going to throw up. But I held it in and before I knew it, I was done. They pulled me out and I was itchy all over. They looked at me and right away asked if I felt like I was bitten during the procedure. Sure enough, I felt my face and I had a huge bump on my cheek. Apparently, I was allergic to the dye and I had broken out in hives. So, because of this allergic reaction, they wouldn't let me leave right away. They helped me to a seat (I felt fine) and took my vitals every 10 minutes for a half hour to make sure I was ok and not having any further allergic reactions. Again, I felt fine, but they were being cautious. By the end of the half hour, my hives had also gone down too. But, I learned I am allergic to Iodine dye today. And it makes my ass burn.

They told me I should be able to get results from the doctor by tomorrow afternoon. Good thoughts.

WHAT THE FUCK?!?

I am SO fucking done with this whole situation. Today, I woke up, and through postive thinking, allowed myself to have a good day and not try to dwell on things. My CT was scheduled, I would find out soon (maybe), and then we would go from there. That lasted maybe until 3pm.

I got a call a little bit ago from the place doing my CT, confirming my appointment. When I confirmed the location with them, the place I was told by that fucking MA from Neuro, they told me that was incorrect and it was in a completely different location. So, I asked Jess to look up in the computer (same company, albeit, a different location). All she showed was that the MA told me the location which was in fact wrong. But here is what else she found new in my chart. There was a note from the doctor to his MA that the next time a test result comes back that is urgent or critical, he would like to be paged right away. So, the report DID come back right away and the fucking bitch stalled on getting it to him. She saw it was urgent and instead, just set it on his desk for whenever he got a chance to look at it with the rest of the NON URGENT stuff. It was supposed to be brought to his attention right away and it didn't. PLUS, there is more.

As a back story again, Jess can look up everything in my notes from her computer at work. However, it is illegal. So, yesterday, Jess asked him why were not contacted right away if they saw this tear in my artery? He said that it was because the note only said it was a low suspicion and they are only doing the test for a precaution. Well, guess what, that is a lie. Jess has seen the report. I have seen the report as she forwarded it to me. NOWHERE, does it say low suspicion. It says, clear as day, we SAW this. Why would he fucking lie to her? AND, by him writing in my notes, "Next time something urgent like this comes along..." shows me it was NOT a low suspicion. It was FUCKING URGENT and he flat out lied to Jessica. Now, the bad thing is, Jessica can not call him on this because she did find out by doing something illegal. All I can do is sit and stew on it. I did call and leave a message with the Patient Advocate who Jess reported everything (except the illegal stuff) to yesterday. I called and told her to add telling me the completely wrong place for my CT to the pile of things. I am not going to stop until this bitch gets a suspension or something along those lines. If nothing happens to her, I WILL go in and let her verbally have it. I don't fucking care. I am at my breaking point. I have a huge headache now, I am angry, and I am done.

The Appointment

So, my CT scan is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. I wish I could say I will have my results by Friday, but that would be a miracle based on what I have experienced so far. Jess talked to the neuro doctor today finally and he said I could still do normal activity. She asked about treatment should it come back positive and he said it would probably be just anticoagulants for about 6 months. That is not what we have been reading so she asked if as a neuro doctor, this problem with my neck and carotid artery would fall into his scope of practice. He said yes, but if the test does come back positive, we will seek a second opinion on treatment. Maybe he does know what he is talking about, but we would like to talk to someone other than someone who specializes in brains. We shall see.

Well there ya go...

Here is an update on my headache situation. So, as you know, the MRI came back ok, but I had to wait for my ultrasound on my carotid artery because they fucked up and forgot to order it. So, on Friday the 30th, I finally got it and was told I would get my results in a couple of days or right away if it was something bad. Well, I waited a week, last Friday, and finally called because I had not heard anything yet.

I talked to the MA, the lady that has been screwing me over already, and asked about my results. She went and looked and said she saw they were on the Dr.'s desk and he would call me with the results. She said not to worry because if it was bad, I would have found out right away.

So, he didn't call me back Friday, but today I got a call from the MA again and said she ordered my labs.

Me: "Umm.....what?"

Bitch: "Your labs, the blood test you need to get first."

Me: "Before what, what are you talking about?"

Bitch(in an annoyed tone now): "Your CT!"

Me: "Um, I had an MRI and my ultrasound, where is the CT coming from?"

Bitch: "Hold on, let me get the doctor..."

So, I talked to the doctor. Basically, he told me what I feared. The ultrasound showed that they suspect that I have a carotid dissection. What is it?

Basically, I have a tear in my carotid artery, or more specifically, a tear between the inner and outer layers of my carotid artery. What is bad is that with the tear, blood can leak into this area between my inner and outer layer which can then clot up and then what follows is a stroke.

How did it happen? Who knows. Basically, from what I have read everywhere, it happens in one of 2 ways. One way is spontaneous or rather, it just happens and nobody knows why. The other way it happens is a trauma - a neck or head injury, or even something as simple as a violent cough or sneeze. I am sure I will never know and I have no idea how it is treated. Probably won't know until I get more results and see how bad it is.

So, the doctor ordered a CT scan to verify if that is indeed what I have. A CT is more accurate than the ultrasound. Jess called today see what my activity level should be until we find out more, etc, but of course, they never called her back today. So, it took over a week to get results that I was assured would have been ok or they would have called me sooner. And then I find out, the results were NOT good. Jess contacted the patient advocate and she was appalled at everything she heard so we are not letting this go. And if God forbid something is really wrong and they were just a little too late in catching it, they will have Hell to pay. We wait and see...

Burgers and Ice Cream

It has been a couple weeks since we did a burger and ice cream update so that is what this whole post will be dedicated to. I know, exciting stuff! Everyone checking their score cards?!? We were at 5 burgers for me and 3 ice cream treats for Jess at the last update so here we go. Again, sorry for the yucky camera phone pics.

We start with a Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger for me from Carl's Jr(Or Hardee's for some of you). I worked at Carl's Jr. for a little bit in my teens and you know what, I still can eat there any day, any time. I know most people who work at a fast food restaurant say they could never eat there after. Not me...

Next is the Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger from Jack n the Box that I picked up on the way to go to Jessica's mom's house last weekend.

Finally, yesterday, we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house because they wanted to cook the turkey burgers that they make. It was a fun time and the food was delicious. I think they enoyed contributing to the the contest. To make her more of a part of it, I had 2!

This brings my total to 9 burgers!

Now on to Jess. Her first ice cream treat from this period was a mint Oreo shake when we went to Carl's Jr. As ice cream is in it, it counts...

Next, when we went to her mom's last weekend, she had a bowl of ice cream as they always have like 50 million types of ice cream in the house.

This past week, I think Wednesday maybe, Jess was having a bad day at work so I surprised her when she got home with a Heath Bar Blizzard that I went out and got. She was so happy!

On Friday night, Jess and I went out to Outback to use a gift certificate we got for Christmas from some friends of ours. The food was great, including this great dessert. It was whip cream with cinnamon croutons, vanilla ice cream with nuts and caramel and caramel apples around it. It was AWESOME!

Finally, when we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house yesterday, they also got Jess some ice cream so I wasn't the only one who added to my total. How nice of them!

Now Jess is at 8 ice cream treats! It is pretty close! Have a good week everyone!

Quick Post

The rest of the day from here on out is going to be pretty busy with house cleaning, dinner at my aunt and uncle's house, and poker. So, I need to get a quick post in for the daily post.

Here is a picture I just took of an orange from the tree we planted in the spring. We got a couple that grew, but none that were really edible. Probably better luck next year...

Dumbass

The above title says it all. Really, if that is what someone wants to do, so be it. I won't judge you. But when you are a public figure like that who a) kids look up to and b) has a LOT of sponsors now and coming his way in the future, it wasn't really the best choice was it, bub? But, you did it, you got caught, and now you have to deal with it. So, bravo to you. You get a big thumbs up!

This Man's a Collector

As I am blogging every day in February, I thought I would blog today about something that bugs Jess to no end. I have a problem with collecting. Rather, once I get one or two things, I feel like I have to get more and more of that same thing and if applicable, all of them. My collections just happen to be all childish in nature because, well, that is how I roll. So, I am going to try, as best as I can, think of everything I have collected over the years. Note: none of the accompanying pictures are mine:

My collection obsession probably has to start with the first toy I ever really got into: He-Man. I went crazy with these when they came out. Rather, my mom went crazy as she was the one actually buying them. In fact, she was one of those really crazy moms: going to the store right when it opened and going through the boxes looking for new figures before they were even on the shelves. For a couple of years, or what seemed like years, I got ALL the He-Man figures that came out. Not one figure hit the shelves that I did not have. I loved these things and I am sad I sold them long ago.

Not long after He-Man (probably while I was collecting He-Man), I started collecting Transformers. Although Transformers were definitely cooler and I loved them, I didn't go quite as crazy with them as I did with He-Man. I had a lot, but I didn't have all of them - I know that because I can think of plenty I didn't own. I sold these about the same time I did the He-Man toys and again, I regret it to this day.

A couple of years later, but still in my toys days, I started collecting two toys that I bought a ton of, and because they were cheaper, might have had even more of than Transformers. M.U.S.C.L.E were these cheap figures that looked like they could come out of the 25 cent vending machines as they were not posable, a single color, and about 2 inches tall. But, because of that, you could collect tons of them. And that I did. I had so many of these and well, because they were so small and cheap looking, I bet I sold over a hundred of these for like a buck. Stupid. I still find myself looking on Ebay for cheap collections of these.

I also collected BattleBeasts at this time. Although they were about the same size as the above, they were more in depth. They had articulation. Basically, they were animals, but animals that walked upright and had weapons. Like a shark with legs with a spear. The cool thing about these was that all of them had a sticker on their chest that you had to rub to reveal. All of them had either a fire, water, or earth (I believe) symbol and that was supposed to help you decide who would win when you had them fight each other. I loved these things.

Believe it or not, I really didn't start collecting comics until I was getting out of my action figure/toy phase. I had a couple of comics here and there as a kid, but didn't really start collecting comics until I was 10 or maybe older. Not much to say about them that hasn't been said before. I collected until I was around 13 or 14 and then started up again a few years ago. I am so glad I did.

The next collection is because of Jessica. When Jessica and I started dating she mentioned she had a little PEZ dispenser collection. It was small, maybe 10 or less, but a collection nonetheless. In my infinite wisdom, I told her that if you are going to have a collection, then you need to have a COLLECTION and go all out. I didn't know what kind of can of worms I was about to open. What followed in the next 5 years or more was collecting every PEZ we could get our hands on. We searched pawn shops, the internet, anywhere we could think of, and when we finally stopped collecting a couple of years ago, we had probably over 400 different PEZ. We had a bride and groom PEZ dispenser as our cake topper at our wedding. All the guests got PEZ heart PEZ with our name and the date of our wedding on it. We had so many and really, we stopped collecting because of Disney. What? Well, Disney got really involved with PEZ in the last few years and started releasing a line of new dispensers with every movie they released. That led to other movie studios releasing PEZ dispensers for their movies as well. It just became overwhelming and too much at one time. We still have them boxed up in the garage, but THAT was a collection.

In college, after a particular medical scare which turned out to be nothing, I ventured to a comic store (wasn't collecting comics at this time) to just spend money to make me feel better. I ended up buying a couple of figures called Movie Maniacs, figures of horror characters. I ended up loving them so much for how great they looked, I decided this would be my next collection. Up until pretty much the very end of this line, I collected every single one these figures. Characters I never thought I would get became figures in my living room and eventually office. I ended up selling these figures a couple of years ago and am actually ok with it. The collection started because I was scared/sad and I enjoyed collecting them, but I eventually moved on.

Also, around the same time, Episode 1, the Phanton Menace hit the movies. Right around the time the movie came out, figures came out for the movie. I was at Target one day and I saw all the figures on the shelf. I was in collection heaven. There in front of me was a Samuel L. Jackson action figure. I bought him right there and then spread the word that for my 21st birthday which would be in a few weeks, I wanted, well, all of them. And yeah, for my birthday, I got them all. They would release a few more waves of figures and I went out and got all those too, probably my first venture into searching the internet for rare figures. I would end up selling these a couple of years later. This is probably my greatest example of getting overcome with the collection bug. Maybe it was the hype of the new movie, but my decision to collect these happened faster than anything I had ever done.

So, this takes me to present day. I still collect comics and my other two current collections also have to do with comics. First, as I have talked about recently, I collect Mighty Muggs. Now, they make different kinds of Muggs, but I only collect the Marvel Superheroes ones. They even have Transformers and Star Wars, but I have to draw a line somewhere. I LOVE these things!

My final collection is my statues. These babies are basically works of art as they are simply beautiful. As the price is up there (over $20o for some of them), I don't have a TON of them. I would love to have a bunch because there are tons I want, but I have a good number, around 10 or so.

I wonder what I'll collect next...

Wordless Wednesday #28

What don't you fucking understand!?!

Ok, so I had a post planned for today, but some news came across my computer screen that had me cancel all plans until I posted it.

Hopefully, you all know who the actor Christian Bale is. Actually, I hope you knew who he was prior to the 2 Batman films because if you didn't, you are missing some great performances. Well, right now, he is filming/wrapping up the new Terminator films. Well, it seems someone on the set really pissed him off and well, Bale went balistic. Below is the link where you can listen to the long tirade where you can clearly hear Bale in need of a hug. Just in case you don't already know, this is NOT safe to listen to at work unless they don't mind "Fuck" multiple times. Again, this is audio only....

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=11909

Pretty intense guy, huh? Here is an explanation of the event from Aintitcool.com

I'm getting slammed with assloads of people angry at me for not posting the Bale explosion from the set of McG's TERMINATOR: SALVATION. Well, first off - there's a real simple reason. It isn't news. And it certainly isn't cool news. It is a moment in a man's life taken completely out of context and most likely leaked to personally embarrass Christian Bale.

Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking... There's no excuse for a temper tantrum like that to ever occur and if you are going to act that way, you deserve to be embarrassed by your own actions.

Except, you want to hear the REALITY behind that clip?

I know this because I happen to be somewhere where someone that was there that day and for the shoot is. And this person isn't a publicist, nor are they invested in Bale's career. They're just someone that thinks it is absolute bullshit that this moment in Bale's life is being aired and that the real story should get out there.

The DP on TERMINATOR SALVATION, Shane Hurlbut, is a apparently a light tweaker. He's a fairly young DP and likes to fiddle with his lights on set during action, which is a big "NO NO" on most productions unless worked out in advance with performers. But apparently Shane was a pretty unrepentant light tweaker.

The scene in question, was a very emotional and tough scene between Christian Bale and Bryce Howard. A scene that required soul bearing and a deep level of immersive concentration. The sort of scene where everyone on set knows not to get in anyone's eye lines, and definitely not to move lights around while FILMING. You lock that shit down before the scene starts.

Bale had indeed warned the DP on multiple occasions about messing with lights while the cameras were rolling, and Bale was in the midst of a painful scene with Bryce, what was described to me as being the emotional center of the film and his character for the film.

Now, the reason I know all of this is because the person that was there, felt that it should be made perfectly clear that Christian Bale was the utmost gentleman and cool guy on se... most of the time. And the DP was doing something that professional DPs with experience just don't do. At least not during a performance.

You don't need me to give you a link, it's all over the internet, I just felt that you should know what really went down - and that this particular outburst did indeed modify the DP's behavior. For future DPs: Fuck with the lights before and after your actors are acting. Not during.


Well, because we live in the internet age, it would not be long before someone took this clip and made a funny video out of it. This video is HILARIOUS, but ONLY if you have heard the above sound clip.

Beautiful Music

I'm not feeling well, so please watch this video of an absolutely beautiful version of Stand By Me. This is from a documentary I am definitly going to watch, Playing For Change. The song gave me chills. Enjoy and see you tomorrow...

What a way to start

So, today begins my plan of blogging every day in February in honor of my wife. I wish this one wasn't so "crappy."

Jess and I are unexpectedly in the Bay Area this weekend after her mom was admitted to the hospital again. Again, this is her mom, not her stepmom. She looks like she is going to be fine and we did it mostly to take care of her stepdad who is pretty immobile with a broken ankle. To be a nice son in law, I mowed the lawn for them. But do this, I first had to pick up the dog poops.

Let me preface this by saying I have it pretty easy with my dogs. There is no grass so they poop on the cement. In fact, even when we did have grass back there, they would poop mostly on the cement. So, I just wait until it hardens a little and I just sweep them all up. Pretty easy work if you ask me.

Well, here, they have grass and it was long. Not able to use my patented sweeping method, I used a shovel and a rake. Well, on one particular excrement, the rake got tied up in the long grass. I pulled and pulled on the rake which had some, well, pretty loose stool on it. With one big tug, I freed the rake from the grasp of the devil grass. But in doing so, the rake flung in my direction..........and flung some of the runny poop on my face. Right away I stopped and said, "Please tell me I imagined that." Sure enough, I touched my forhead and there it was, smeared poop on it. Yes, my month is off to a pretty shitty start.