Josh and Jesse go to the park

nowadays weekends really tend to make or break your attitude about the upcoming week. because once the week's started, you really only have enough time and energy to ride it out however it may be till the next weekend. so having a bad or busy weekend tends to put a damper on the next 3 or 4 days (in a sense). however, this weekend was a lot of fun (with just beautiful weather). jess and i hung out at my parents house friday night. this was fun for 3 reasons...

1) we had pizza for dinner
2) we got to watch the island (without using up a spot on our netflix queue)
3) my parents are not getting divorced

i think reason no.3 probably took the cake this past week all together. by the grace of God my mom has come out of whatever "influence" (i dont think anyone, including her, even knows) she was under. just talking to her she sounds like a different person. so i dont know what happened (and i dont really know what's going to happen) but i'm rather put at peace by the whole thing. i feel like i havent known my mom for a while now (i'd say almost for several years now). she's been ...not the mom i remember growing up with. but i'm terribly excited to see how things are going to go and how God's going to help her (and dad) turn this all around. ...the whole this is, well... i'm looking forward to it heading in the direction it seems to be going. thank you all so very much for any and every prayer.i hate that people have to experience really terrible things before they see the true glory and mercy in all of God's plans, but i guess the outcome just wouldn't have the same impact otherwise.



anywho, on top of all that we had a great time sunday. first we went to a pretty enjoyable church over in Antioch (enjoyable because no one shook or waved about during the service). then we went to centennial park and walked and laid around. and then went over to a place (Sam's) on 21st ave and split some nachos and beer. and finally, we watched Sword of Doom at the Belcourt's Samurai Festival. it was really good... well, the ending left a BIT to be desired. imagine you're watching Kill Bill and right as she's killing no.63 or 64 (of 88 in the Crazy 88) there's a freeze frame and the movie ends (with no part 2). that's kind of how the ending was. but tonight is Throne of Blood! so i'm looking forward to that. (man, how fun is wikipedia?)


if you've ever had a picture with jess in it you'll know how hard it is to catch her looking "normal". she seems to think that she has to do a facial trick for the camera or something. anywho, i was pleased with some of these. (seriously, she makes it so hard to take a good picture of her!)







sadly, jesse is not so good at climbing trees (even though she'll probably tell you otherwise)







†Success!




†success may or may not be due to my help.


oh, i forgot!

Lord of War - 7.6
this was an excellent movie. kind of sad and a bit frightening, but really good.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor - 8.5
this was a remarkable story. truly an amazing testament to God's glory.

It's All Gone Pete Tong - 8.3
this is a funny but somewhat disturbing at times film about this imensely popular DJ who goes deaf. it's done in a somewhat documentary type fashion, but mixed with a regular movie. i highly recommend checking it out.

Red Eye - 6.7
this was probably the best Wes Craven movie i've seen. it actually was quite thrilling, but also a bit like a typical horror film at times. that Cillian Murphy sure can play a creepy guy... always.


ALSO: i just walked in apt and was struck with a great sense of joy. and that joy was: when i leave work i dont have any more work until 7 am tomorrow. i dont have homework. i dont have a reading assignment. i can do whatever the crap i want to (assuming it doesn't displease jesse (too much) and it's monitarily feasible). how sweet is that? if there's something i'm excited about, i can stay excited about it because i dont have school work to dampen my joy. i love it.

would you look at these little rascals

and of course, mini dudley...



(all courtesy of Cuteoverload.com)


my gosh! how is it we even have problems in our world with these little guys running around?! it's just unbelievable. (or it could be because some cats grow up to look like this.)

the reviews are in

so i noticed that jess had rated some movies on her blog and todd had ...given his opinion about some current movies too, soooo i thought, "yeah. i could do that (particularly since i'm so smart)". annnnd also because we have this Netflix thing going now and i'm about to make my way through some serious movieage. so, yeah, stick 'em in your pipe and smoke as 'em as such... (scale is 1 to 10)

Wedding Crashers - 7.5
this was a hilarious movie. the combination of vaughn and wilson was really something. such opposites. i dont necessarily recommend watching it with the parents, but perhaps?

Hustle & Flow - 7.1
this was a pretty rough movie. good, but rough. i knew i liked it after watching it, however, after watching the making of it, i had a much better appreciation for it. i "liked" seeing the non-glorification of hip-hop and pimps.

The Constant Gardener - 8.8
jesse was right. this is spectacular movie. it really deals with some tough world subjects and it's rather uncomfortable accepting that some (most?) of this movie isn't far-fetched at all. in fact, i'm sure it's been happening. this is a must see.

The Baxter - 6.7
this is a funny movie. i'm not sure if this is bad or not, but scott was definitely the first person i considered recommending this movie to. so scott, rent this movie. it's by those people that do the show Stella.

Crash - 9.2
i loved this movie. it reminded me a lot of Magnolia, which i really enjoyed. not enjoyed like "what a fun time!" but you know, enjoyed like "i really appreciate the people that put this together". it was a really interesting mix of stories on racism and how people percieve other people/themselves. one of the best films and stories i've been presented with in a long time. also, i'm becoming more and more impressed with ludacris' acting abilities. after a few minutes i totally forget that he's normally a rapper.


::BONUS::

Underworld: Evolution - 4.5
while not the most amazing movie in the sense of "good cinema", it was rather enjoyable to watch on a saturday night where you just felt like kickin' back and watching some some heads get ripped off/exploded. plus kate beckinsale had some really great scenes in it. just some good quality scenes.


::COMING SOON::

Lord of War

more links... of suspense!

i thought these were interesting so... whatever.

Top 50 Music Videos Of 2005

(from Cuteoverload.com)

Cute Overload (i just thought this one was funny)

100 things we didn't know this time last year

[IKEA] The Swedish Feeding Trough (that title kind of puts a negative spin on the story, i think)

so how many bands do even recognize on the Top 50 list?

from Let Them Eat Cake

(oh my gosh i love this scene. how they take turns circumvrenting each other)



G.O.B.: Zero hour, Michael. It’s the end of the line. I’m the firstborn. I’m sick of playing second fiddle. I’m always third in line for everything. I’m tired of finishing fourth. Being the fifth wheel. . . There are six things I’m mad about, and I’m taking over.

Michael: You want to be in charge?



G.O.B.: Yeah.

Michael: You want to deal with what I deal with? A sister who takes your money and throws it away. A mother who you can’t trust. A company whose founder may be on trial for treason. Is that what you want?

G.O.B.: What kind of vacation time does it offer?




(and then, of course, this classic moment. The way G.O.B. stands up just cracks me up.)



G.O.B.: I’m in charge now. I speak for this family. I mean... I could if you wanted me to. I’d rather not, obviously. Don’t know what I’d say. Why do I have to be the one? I don’t need this. Why does this have to become my problem? No, I’m out. Forget it. Find somebody else. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of doing everything for this family.

Barry: Where is Michael?

"Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight."

~Phyllis Diller (funny, but aparently pretty decent advice too.)


let's see... new news: jess and i signed up for Netflix the other day. pretty exciting when you consider all the possibilities. there's nothing i've looked for on there and haven't found. we watched Wedding Crashers this weekend. it was hilarious. a lot better than i had expected. and we have an awesome line-up of movies in the "queue" (it's a british term. wikipedia it.). i think over 50,000 movies they have? even stuff you can only find in college libraries and stuff. i'm pumped.

this is our new wedding photo album from Jesse's Florida parents that we got for Christmas. it is just more awesome than i ever could've imagined a photo album to be. it's clean and artistic. in general, it's totally rad. (each page is all one solid picture)







this is jess at our new IKEA "desk" shelf. i love it, so simple and clean. and it take up hardly any room. price: $20




and this is me at Cafe Risque. everything seemed to be too good to be true until they tried to charge us a $7 cover. ridiculous. like i need to pay $7 for that. two words buddy: inter-net. phhhh.

G.G.I.G.I.F, eh?

good grief i'm glad it's friday. i've been playing catch up all week... and i havent caught up yet.

anyway, here's one of Dudley's Christmas presents. he... sort of likes it. but there's no "sort of" when it comes down to how good he looks in it. it's just plain fashionable.





this next picture was done in Autostitch, which was shown to me by a certain Colorado...an.


my office (note: my office does not look like this to the human eye)

IKEA, the greatest adventure ever known to man

...or something really really close to that. so jess and i went to IKEA on our way down to florida this past week. we sort of stayed too long and ended up not making it to Ft. Meyers, FL till 5.0am (6.0am Eastern). so that just goes to show you that with the right combination of company, cold drinks, snacks, and sweet music, you really can drive all night. (at about 3am the traffic seems to be best). but i digress... to IKEA! what an amazing store. so efficient! it's paradigm is the ideal one you'd love for every company in America to have. they use the least amount of packaging possible, they design everything to ship flat, and in general, things are just plain economical. you walk around and see things and you're like, "holy crap. that's so smart and simple. how is everyone else so far off that??" and the place is like a Target with Wal-mart (or even better most times) prices... the size of an airport. it's like Disneyland for adults. you could literally spend the better part of a day in there. and they've got food and a place for kids. the food! so efficient! they have about 5 different things, but they are dirt cheap. hot dogs: $0.50. i got 4 hot dogs and a coke for $2.50! $2.50! ice cream cone: $1 (and these are all taxes included) they had a huge selection of power-saving light bulbs and the packagin on each one was truly just enough to cover the bulb. all the product info was on the back. i mean, just stuff like that everywhere. incredibly smart. anywho, so we got our down comforter (which is incredibly warm (and fluffy)) and a couple other items and headed on the last 8hr leg of the journey. we also stopped on the way back from Florida. a good time was had by all.

right Florida, that was good too. no we had a lot of fun and i hung out with Sam (jesse's stepsister's husband) a lot and we shot fireworks off and watched Arrested Development and Mythbusters (who attacked the Japanese Jet Pack video. diagnosis: myth. dang) i think if sam and i lived in within a . . . 25mi radius and he didn't have a small child to keep alive and maybe we both didn't have to work quite as much, we'd probably hang out a lot. but alas...

oh man! we got this photo album of our wedding pictures from jesse's dad and kim for Christmas and it is way awesome. i'll have to get a picture of that up here. it is just great.

let's see. got back the 830 mi trip (one way) at 11pm monday night. overall, it was a lot of fun. jess and i had a good time. we laughed, we cryed, we jammed out in the car, we stopped off at Cafe Risque, we IKEAed till our hearts' content (for now), and and just plain enjoyed each other's company.