Friday, May 28, 2010

May 28th, 2010 - Day 365

Enough said. Thank you all. What will be next? Stay tuned...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

May 27th, 2010 - Day 364

Didn't win anything or get any mention at the county fair. Saw some pictures that I felt didn't deserve awards over mine, but what are you going to do. I didn't have what they were looking for. This makes me feel better. :-)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Sick

Who gets sick on their birthday week?

To answer the question on the last picture, it's a chain-ish wire fence that keeps cars from driving into the fields by our house.



102 degree temperature the entire day. Sorry, this was all I could manage and that was tough enough.

May 25th, 2010 - Day 362

A little better today. Hulk reminded me to check my temp.

May 26th, 2010 - Day 363

Almost done...

Monday, May 24, 2010

May 24th, 2010 - Day 361




May 24th, 2010 - Day 361
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel
The sun is setting. The locks are closing. The end is near on the journey.

Be sure to check out my Kiefer tribute post below...

"WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?!?!?!?"

Yes, this is the end of an era tonight and probably the last time we will probably get to hear Kiefer Sutherland say the above line on network tv. Tonight is the last episode of 24. I can't believe I have to deal with the end of two of my favorite shows on back to back nights. First Lost last night, and tonight, 24. I'll admit, I didn't even start watching 24 until season 5. I missed the start of season 1 for one reason or another and I just have this thing where I don't like to watch tv shows if I haven't seen them from the beginning. Somehow, I decided to start watching when season 5 started and I loved it even though I heard that was actually the beginning of its decline. Truth be told, I just recently finished watching season 1 on dvd and I don't see it being any better than recent seasons, but it is all matter of opinion. A third of the way through season 2, I think they are all pretty equal.

Kiefer, himself, has always been one of my favorite actors and truth be told, when I think of him, Jack Bauer isn't the role that first comes to mind. So in honor of the end of 24, I thought I would do a top 5 list of my favorite Kiefer Sutherland movie roles. Enjoy.

Honorable mention:

Freddy Lee Cobb - A Time to Kill: This gets an honorable mention simply because it is a smallish role and he isn't one of the main characters. As a white supremacist in the south who tries to get the Clan started up in his area amidst the controversy of the trial of Samuel L. Jackson, Kiefer is amazing. You really do feel the hate he brings out and well, if his job in the movie is to make you hate him, he does an excellent job.


#5 Athos - The Three Musketeers: I really feel this Disney movie of the Three Musketeers is a highly underrated movie. And Kiefer, as Athos, really does top all the good performances. He does the brooding, "life sucks", hero thing so well in this movie. Charlie Sheen, Oliver Platt, Chris O'Donnell, and Tim Curry all bring comedic relief to the film, but Kiefer is the heart of the movie and brings it the serious tone it needs to take it from a simple comedy to a movie I cared about.

#4 Ace - Stand By Me: So now we switch from brooding hero to brooding prick. Although he is not the main star of this film about 4 boys looking to find a dead body, Kiefer, as the older gang leader Ace trying to get the fame for himself, really is a memorable bad guy. He really is a jackass in this film and you almost wish Gordie would have shot him at the end.

#3 Nelson - Flatliners: Guess what Kiefer plays in this film. Yes, a brooding medical student fascinated by death. It's weird, when you watch this, you kind of want him to die and you kind of want him to survive. It's really a toss up. You want him to succeed, but man, he is kind of a dick in this movie to his fellow classmates in the quest to figure out the afterlife. If he had died, it would almost seem fair.

#2 David - Lost Boys: I bet almost everyone reading this expected this to be #1, didn't you. Amazingly, I even think of this before I think of Jack Bauer, but it still isn't my #1. What do you say about this film and this role? He rocks in this, he is mainly the main villain, but is is still so cool and you can't hate him. There are movie bad guys you can't wait until they are dead. Then there are roles like this where you like the bad guy so much, you almost like them more than the heroes. Have you seen any Lost Boys t shirts in Hot Topic with Corey Haim or Jason Patric on them? No, it is all about David. He is the true star of this film.

#1 Doc Scurlock - Young Guns 1 and 2: THIS, is what I think of when I think of Kiefer Sutherland. He is simply amazing in these two films and is truly the heart of them. I remember shortly after I saw the first one, me and some friends wanted to "play" Young Guns in the court. I didn't want to be Billy the Kid, the main star of the film. No, I wanted to be Doc. He was the outlaw with a heart. The outlaw with intelligence. And when he finally goes out in a blaze of glory (hehe) in the second film, I almost didn't want to watch anymore. He is easily one of my favorite movie roles; not just of Kiefer, but of ALL movie characters.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Closing Time

And we enter the last week of the picture of the day project...

May 21st, 2010 - Day 358

May 22nd, 2010 - Day 359

Thursday, May 20, 2010

May 20th, 2010 - Day 357

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. "

I actually should have taken this picture yesterday for Avengers day, but didn't think of it. Oh well.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

May 16th, 2010 - Day 353

Shouldn't this go to 11?!?

May 15th, 2010 - Day 352

"Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler."

Look at that actual staple up close. It looks like it has hooks on the end of it! I guess it is sharp on more than just the end.

Friday, May 14, 2010

May 14th, 2010 - Day 351


May 14th, 2010 - Day 351
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel
Enjoying a day at the park.

Check out the rest of the set here!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

May 13th, 2010 - Day 350

Feeling Blue.....but only in name.

I didn't know what to shoot today, so I just went the easy route and did a flower. I even did a little selective color even though I have read that it is SO 1990s. What are you going to do, I was out of ideas for the day!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Big and Small

Looking at the world from close up....

May 11th, 2010 - Day 348


And looking at the world and how big it really is...

May 12th, 2010 - Day 349

Monday, May 10, 2010

The Weekend

Hey there again, hope you all had a great weekend! I had a great, but tiring weekend as my friends and I went to Lake Tahoe for a bachelor party. We had an amazing time, but of course, when you are partying it up with a bunch of friends, you get little sleep and are just exhausted by the end of the fun! We rented a cabin from a former coworker of my mom and it is hard to beat $80 a night for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, cabin in the woods and 5 minutes from the casinos! The picture below was my picture of the day for Friday, right outside the steps of the cabin...

May 7th, 2010 - Day 344


On Saturday, a lot of the day was spent playing a huge disc golf course in the beautiful outdoors of Tahoe.

May 8th, 2010 - Day 345

Be sure to check out the rest of the set to see the absolute beauty we got to play in!

Yesterday evening and today, I took a couple of simple pictures, but ones I simply found to be fun concepts:

No Love
May 9th, 2010 - Day 346


Salsa Shark!
Man goes into cage, cage goes into water. Shark's in the water. Our shark.
May 10th, 2010 - Day 347

Thursday, May 06, 2010

The Time Is Upon Us!!!

What time are we talking about? Summer movie season of course! As has been the tradition on my blog, I will try to sum up the major movies that will be coming out this Summer so you can plan accordingly if you are a movie-goer. As Iron Man 2 comes out tomorrow, I am officially declaring it the start of the Summer movie season!

May 7th
Iron Man 2 - Hopefully I don't have to explain this one. The first movie rocked and EVERYONE I have asked thinks the exact same thing. Plus, as the big comic geek that I am, it has that added appeal. But will it suffer the same fate as Transformers 2 and have such high expectations and end up being a letdown? Well, initial reviews tend to lean towards, it is not as good as the first one, may be a little too much, but is still good and entertaining and doesn't have the same letdown that Transformers 2 brought. Normally, I would see this opening day, but I leave for a bachelor party tomorrow and it will have to wait for next week.

May 14th
Robin Hood - I am a big fan of Robin Hood movies: the Disney version, the Costner one, and even Robin Hood:Men in Tights. Now Russell Crowe is back in kick ass mode and Ridley Scott is directing. How could it NOT be good, right?! I think this will rock.

May 21st
Shrek Forever After - Man, I find these movies so unfunny and actually, pretty damn annoying. And now there is a 4th one coming along to torment me. This will make a lot of money, but not any of mine.

MacGruber - Wow, this looks horrible. A MacGuyver parody based on a Saturday Night Live skit. I have seen a couple of the skits and find them to be as funny as genocide. They suck. Somehow, people like them and this was created.

May 27th
Sex and the City 2 - God.....

May 28th
Prince of Persia - Jake Gyllenhaall in the title role based on the video game. This actually looks pretty damn fun, like the first Mummy was with cool special effects and a ton of action and all produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. I think this is going to do pretty damn well.


June 4th
Marmaduke - I honestly didn't even know they were making this. This is a live action movie based on the comic strip with Owen Wilson as the voice of Marmaduke. Oh dear. And yet, kids will go see that.

June 11th
The Karate Kid - Jackie Chan and Will Smith's boy remake the 80s classic. This is a bad idea and when I saw the preview, my suspicions were confirmed. Rumor has it, this movie was created because the Smiths were watching the original, and Will said to his son, "You do karate, you should totally remake that." And because Will is a movie god, the movie was created. Ehh....

A-Team - Now THIS is a remake I CAN get behind. Based on the 80s tv show that was cheesy to begin with, this movie looks like mindless Summer movie action. And unlike the Karate Kid, I think they recasted everyone correctly. This could work.....or it could bomb horribly.

June 18th
Toy Story 3 - The new sequel to the great Pixar films. The first two were great and Pixar doesn't make bad films. I don't see how this could not be wonderful!

June 25th
Knight and Day - Action/comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Looks kind of like Mr. and Mrs. Smith which I loved so maybe this has potential. As wacky as Cruise is, I usually really dig his movies.

Grown Ups - A comedy starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Ron Schneider, Kevin James, and David Spade as former kid friends who reunite at some Summer camp. It could be hilarious or it could end up being a letdown. Based on the trailers, I am leaning towards letdown, but hoping for the best.

June 30th
Twilight: Eclipse - Good book, but mostly likely, a HORRIBLE movie based on the first one (I skipped the second one.)

July 2nd
The Last Airbender - Live action movie directed by M. Knight based on a Nickelodeon cartoon. Truthfully, it actually looks kind of good. I won't be seeing it in the theaters, but I have a guess that a LOT of other people are going to.

July 7th
Predators - This is Predator movie produced by Robert Rodriguez. That alone had me sold. Then I saw the trailer and it got that much more exciting. This looks friggin' kick ass! I also dig the idea of Adrian Brody as an action star. Yes, this is the Predator movie I have been waiting for for a LONG time!

July 9th
Despicable Me - Cartoon film about a super villain whose plans to pull off the world's biggest heist and then suddenly has to watch over three orphaned girls. The little snipits of the movie that they have shown look pretty funny so I think this will do pretty well.

July 16th
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - A Jerry Bruckheimer produced film where Nick Cage is a very old magician who is looking for his apprentice, as the title implies. Roughly based on the Fantasia scene with Mickey, this actually looks pretty decent, with plenty of action and family entertainment. Might do pretty well.

Inception - One of the most highly anticipated, yet, closely guarded films of the Summer. Directed By Christopher Nolan and starring an all star cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, this sci-fi-ish film has the potential to be the biggest movie of the Summer of it could flop because nobody understands what it is about. It is really hard to say at this point because even the plot of the movie has been kept under a tight wrap. This will be one to keep an eye on.

July 23rd
Dinner for Schmucks - Comedy with Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd. Those names alone will put some butts in the seats and it does look fairly amusing. Read the plot and tell me this won't be funny. "The comedy “Dinner for Schmucks” tells the story of Tim (Paul Rudd), an up-and-coming executive who has just received his first invitation to the "dinner for idiots," a monthly event hosted by his boss that promises bragging rights (and maybe more) to the exec that shows up with the biggest buffoon. Tim's fiancée, Julie, finds it distasteful and Tim agrees to skip the dinner, until he bumps into Barry (Steve Carell) – an IRS employee who devotes his spare time to building elaborate taxidermy mouse dioramas – and quickly realizes he's struck idiot gold." This could be really good.


Salt - Angelina Jolie is a former spy who is on the run after being accused of something she didn't do. Part thriller, part drama, I think this is going to be really good, but am not quite sure how it will do in the crowded movie season without a little more action.

August 6th
The Other Guys - Will Farrell and Mark Walhberg play bumbling cops (well, Farrell mostly) who look up to the hero cops in their unit - Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. Looks like an action/comedy, but I tell ya, when I saw the trailer for the first time, I just about died laughing. Farrell is pretty hit and miss for me, but this one looks like a gem.

August 13th
The Expendables - What more do I need to say about this one? I have been talking about and anticipating this movie forever. Starring a virtual whose who of action stars of yesterday and today led by Stallone and Jason Statham, this action romp should be mindless action fun!

Scott Pilgrim vs the World - Based on a graphic novel of the same name, I had never heard of it until I saw the trailer. Then I watched the trailer and asked myself, "What the hell did I just watch?" Looks to be set in the normal world, but some people have super powers that they use to stage Street Fighter/Fight Club type fights in the street. I think? I don't know, many are WAY excited for it, but you may have to be high to watch it.

September 1
The American - George Clooney is an assassin who hides away in Italy as he considers retiring, but of course, something prevents that. This is already getting some Oscar buzz so it may be one to check out.

Machete - The last weekend before Labor Day and the end of the Summer movie season. This movie originally started off as a joke, or rather, a fake trailer before the Grindhouse movie. It was so popular, Robert Rodriguez decided to make a real movie out of it. Any movie where Danny Trejo is the lead star in an ass kicking role has to rock. But then thrown in Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Lindsey Lohan, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey, Robert Deniro, Don Johnson, and Steven Segal, and it HAS to rock. I just saw the trailer for the first time last night and my hopes of a cool movie seem to have been met. This should rock!


So with all those movies, what I am looking forward to the most? Well, from 5 to 1, here ya go...


5.Toy Story 3
4.The Other Guys
3.Machete
2.The Expendables
1.Iron Man 2

What will you see?

Reminding Me of Mexico

For Cinco de Mayo, how about a bracelet made in Mexico?

May 5th, 2010 - Day 342

And what is more Mexico than some shot glasses?!?!

May 6th, 2010 - Day 343

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Carter Photoshoot

Yesterday I had my second photo shoot and I have to say, it was quite difficult. 3 year olds apparently have zero interest in standing still and I really didn't get to do any of the posed shots I really wanted to. This was quite different that doing Gianna, a three WEEK old a few weeks ago. I am sure Gianna will give me the same kind of trouble should I take her pictures at this age! But truthfully, I still feel like I got a bunch of good shots and I am really happy with them. Carter, despite his unwillingness to sit still was quite the ham and very photogenic. He played and played and I was able to get good shots simply by following him around on the playground.


I THINK this may have been my favorite of the bunch, but it was really hard to say...
Carter-24


Check out the rest of the set when you have a chance and see if you agree with my choice...

Sunday, May 02, 2010

GREAT weekend!

Jess and I had a much needed great weekend. It was actually a 4 day weekend. She had 4 days off in a row and I was all caught up on work (for the time being). Thursday was a fairly lazy day around the house and the first half of Friday was more of the relaxing same. Friday night (or even late afternoon), we went out to Happy Hour with some friends for $3 drinks and appetizers! That was pretty fun and then we came back to our house for more drinking, some board games, and just hanging out. We also had a ton of Starburst!

April 30th, 2010 - Day 337


Saturday morning, we has a late morning wedding to go to for one of our closest and long time friend, Amanda. We were so happy for her and she was beautiful. It was such a wonderful time and for a normally happy person, I had never seen her happier.

May 1st, 2010 - Day 338

Check out the rest of the set if you can because I had a hard time deciding!


We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home, the first Saturday night where just the two of us relaxed at home in FOREVER!

This morning, we got up early and drove out of town with our friends Brandon and Yvete. We initially planned on driving to a small town called Jackson and doing thing things like shopping at antique stores and looking for hidden treasures. When we drove through, stores seemed closed still so we kept on going further. We ended up at Moaning Caverns, which only Jess had done. We had a great time and I was so proud of Jess climbing up and down like 10-15+ stories of stairs with her bad knee. She was really a trooper. After that, the three of them did the zip line 1500 feet. I didn't because I hate heights! It really was a fun trip!

May 2nd, 2010 - Day 339

Be sure to check out the rest if the pics here including pictures of the cave and the zip line.


And as a bonus, here is a video of the zip line!



A great weekend indeed!