Help With Multiple Sclerosis

Good afternoon dear readers. I am going to ask for your help today. This won’t be like last time where I pimped some DVDs on you, no today is a little more serious.

Multiple Sclerosis was something I was completely ignorant about until a few months ago. Sure I saw the telethons and I even made my donation to the cause, but now it has made a personal impact on my life. Don’t worry I’m not asking you for money. Let me also clarify that I do not actually have MS myself.

What I’m asking for is your help to reach 100,000 signatures on a petition that will allow for a clinical trial on Low Dose Naltrexone here in the US. This drug (taken in pill form) is cheaper ($30 vs. $1100 montly) and less painful than daily injections. Current MS treatments feel almost as bad as MS attacks themselves.

Help me spread the word and ask your friends and family to sign the petition. Here is the direct URL that you can copy to an e-mail message:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/110785607

Thank you.

This isn’t your father’s prom date…

Today’s current event isn’t all that current, but it was brought to my attention as I listened to The Morning Edge on the drive to work this morning. In February a 12yr old girl was beaten into a coma simply for being kissed by a boy at someone else’s birthday party. The news story quotes the mother as having told her daughter to “handle her business” at which point the violence ensued. Teenagers & adults at the party kicked the girl into unconsciousness (what kind of chaperones were they?).

Girl violence is nothing new, but I must admit I’m not sure if I find it all that appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I have an appreciation for strong, fiercely independent females (just ask Michelle). I enjoy Alias and thought Buffy was a kickass heroine, but is aggressive behavior something we should encourage from women?

Maybe I should organize my thoughts better before I continue. I know I’m generalizing quite a bit, but girls historically are known for their psychological methods of dealing angst & woe. Girls quite frankly can be mean and while guys can attempt to be mean, we are clumsy amateurs when compared to the deft skill women have developed. An art form not unlike the “Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique” there is a reason why hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned.

I hate to resort to the “back in my day” scenario, but girl fights were always more vicious than guy fights growing up. Most guy fights were about immediate pain and a quick display of macho-chest-beating. Girl fights in contrast were about complete & total annihilation. It wasn’t a good girl fight unless somebody had a fistful of clumped hair and an eye gouged out. Of course, nobody brought a handgun to a knife fight back then either.

Not sure what happened to my point, but I guess I never expected a movie like Mean Girls to be considered educational material.

Sunday Update

Hello citizens.

There comes a moment when you realize that maybe you bit off more than you can chew. For me, NOW is that moment.

Stopped time and saw three movies over the weekend. 13 Going On 30 is cute, a knockoff on Big, but cute. Man On Fire is definitely a must see with another fine performance by Denzel Washington and great chemistry with up & coming Dakota Fanning. The Punisher was much better than the reviews gave it credit for. I would see it if high action violence is your thing. It had it’s humorous moments and Tom Jane reminds me a lot of Christopher Lambert.

With the week kicking into overdrive I will spend my time attempting to finish 12 projects for school, set up a video contract with a local comedy club, press an order for 100 DVDs (thank you!), complete two website projects all while satisfying the needs of my lovely fiance. Look up “stress” in the dictionary and you’ll probably see a picture of my battered, bloody, smiling corpse next to it.

And somehow I manage to feel unnerved at the idea that I have not been updating the website lately. Now I know I need that drink.

Neverending Spam

Thank you spammers, it’s been a real treat today. Nice to know that MT-Blacklist isn’t working correctly (blame my webhost) and now I’m not even receiving e-mail notifications on comments.

I had a real blog entry around here somewhere, but you killed it. You really did.

Movie Review - Kill Bill Vol 2.

The Plot - “The Bride” has already dispensed with Vernita Green & O-Ren Ishii, but there’s still Budd & Elle to deal with. Already a footnote in her memory, the audience will get a recap of events before the lady is off to Kill Bill.

The Review - As many know I’ve been waiting for this sequel ever since I reviewed Kill Bill Vol 1. The plastic wrap hadn’t even been broken on my DVD yet and Mich3lle & I were at the theatre last Friday for the premiere. Where the first movie was a whirlwind of action sequences Vol 2. firmly chokes up the reigns for a storytelling pace. Here the encounters are even more personal, the deaths seemingly more deserving, the overall tone more conflicted. “The Bride” seems less invincible this time around and we learn a little more of the back story via flashback. We also get to meet Bill.

One has to wonder if Quentin Tarantino might resurrect another career. Anyone catch David Carradine on Alias tonight? He was perfectly cast in this volume. I can’t imagine anyone else pulling off the role of Bill. Maybe you remember him as Kwai Chang Caine on the Kung Fu TV series, but I recall he played a sly villain opposite Chuck Norris back in 1983. And who could forget Death Race 2000 or Shane? No apologies for being a cult film guy.

The fact this isn’t the hack & slash fest the first movie is might throw some people, but I felt it complimented the overall story very well. It had predictable moments, but I thought the delivery by its cast well done. The kung fu training sequences were a humorous nod to that genre and yours truly is probably one of a few people that owns Shogun Assassin which was a character favorite in the film. (Imagine this totally geek moment - OMIGOD I HAVE THAT DVD! I KNOW WHAT DVD THEY’RE PLAYING!) Once again, no apologies for watching late night kung fu theatre as a kid.

Grade: B+ (It did have some slow moments)

Need a new web host

Good morning dear readers.

Azarok.com needs your help. I would like some suggestions for a solid performing webhost. My requirements are as follows:

1. BANDWIDTH. It would be cool to upload more media content and not make the website slow down to a crawl.

2. Storage. If I’m going to post lots of files for you folks I need server space. Currently, the site takes up 300MB+.

3. Affordable. I would like to refrain from going the $50 a month route, but I’m thinkin’ the cheapie host is causing problems with the next category.

4. Reliability. When you say 99% uptime, you better damn well mean it. And tech support should understand the difference between a host file entry and DNS.

Any information would be HUGE. Aside from my hectic schedule, I’ve spent more time fixing the website lately than posting or finishing off updates. (Speaking of which, the gallery is back online, but as you can see not exactly looking great).

Happy Thursday y’all.

Moron of the week

Here’s a late night post because Lord only knows how busy I’ll be tomorrow. Before I recant today’s events a small round of applause as I managed to get all the old entries reloaded. There’s still a bit of reformatting & relinking that needs to be done (a new MT database means all the individual entries have new names), but I’m crossing my fingers in hopes that this is THE LAST TIME I’ll have to reload the database. I’m thinkin’ of adding a new category or at least trying to better arrange existing categories. I’ll leave it to you to decide who was the bigger moron today:

Moron #1 - If there’s one thing Azarok fans know it’s that yours truly ABSOLUTELY cannot tolerate animal abuse. Rest assured if I ever visit the Nashville and stumble upon Chad Crawford I’ll be sure to drop kick his ass. Apparently Chad and his friends thought it would be entertaining to punt somebody’s pet terrier. Way to go Chad, killin’ small animals is the true test of manhood. Schmuck.

Moron #2 - OK, maybe this is my pet peeve, but what is up with people in Dallas talkin’ on their cell phones while they take a crap? This morning I walked into the restroom to wash my hands after scarfing a breakfast croissant and some yummy cini-minis and there’s a guy in full conversation while squeezin’ out some raisinets. Every few seconds he would pause and make a muffled grunt. Not one to pass up an opportunity I stepped into the next stall and flushed the toilet. The guy then tried to cover up for the noise and muttered something about being in a public place. That’s when I banged on his door and said “Hey buddy, you finished yet? The other toilet is backed up.” Heh heh, I’m such a stinker.

UPDATE 11:47PM - After months trying to make it as a dancer in LA you get a call to sub for a friend on the Tonight Show. William Hung needs someone to shake a little tail feather with him. What do you do? What. Do. You. Do? That guy either exudes an extreme amount of confidence or is the textbook example of “Ignorance is Bliss”.

plug me back in please

Feelin’ a little out of the loop. Instead of running down the list of what’s been keeping me away, I’m leaving myself a To Do List:

1. Write three essays for tomorrow’s Psychology class. (Guess I’ll get to that after finishing this blog entry)

2. Import the rest of my old blog entries. (Had to include something about the website)

3. TAXES. (Err… maybe I need to file an extension?)

4. Finish working on two client websites. (Hey, at least those projects are started)

5. Work on my portfolio. (This is an ongoing project for this semester)

6. Scrape up extra cash for a new workstation. (Anyone want to steal my current workstation?)

7. Fix all the Azarok.com scripts broken by my webhost. (Maybe I’ll get the site mods done while I’m here)

8. Catch up on all the blogs I haven’t had a chance to read. (I miss you all I really do)

9. Add 12 more hours to my day because that’s what I need to get caught up.

I need a professional to come in and lay some time management on me. Between work & school I’m not getting anything done… or I could just be procrastinating.

Give me the summer, a shot of Jaeger and a Long Island Ice Tea.

Movie Review - Hellboy

The Plot - During World War II Hitler gains command of the Spear of Longinus (the fabled spear that pierced Christ on the Cross). Unable to match an unknown threat President Roosevelt decides to create the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense. Led by Professor Broom a special task force is sent to thwart Hitler’s latest plans led by Grigori Rasputin a follower of the dark arts.

U.S. Special Forces arrive too late to stop Rasputin from opening a portal to a hell dimension, but they manage to prevent anything from coming through… or so they think.

60 years later “Hellboy” has become the government’s secret weapon against evil. There are indeed things that go bump in the night and he will bump back.

The Review - Hellboy is based on the Dark Horse comic series. My club card will probably be revoked as I was not very familiar with this character before seeing the film. Personal musings aside, this movie will be thrown into the lot with other comic remakes. Held up against the likes of Spiderman, X-Men, Blade & even the Hulk expectations are bound to be high.

While the film carries itself with the predictable “good vs. evil” motif, what makes it stand out is the levity of its characters. Much like The Mummy the title characters provide humorous moments to break up what could be considered a slow paced action flick. Ron Perlman brings his own bit of humor & depth to the character of Hellboy. The movie may not have the same dramatic level achieved by Toby Maguire in Spiderman, but it does well for a first movie/origin story.

Where the film gets lost is the large cast of supporting characters. It would have been nice to see more development here, but the focus of course is the title character. I found the lead villain Rasputin rather boring and his underlings insignificant. I would have liked to have seen a little more variety in the monster/demon category. The much noted exception is Kroenen. This S.O.B. definitely needed MORE screen time. I’d like to see him show up in an X-Men flick for duels with Wolverine or even a spot in the next Blade movie.

If you’re the type of person who will nitpick details in plot and look for the flaws in CGI use then you may find contrast to my opinion. Overall I thought this was an enjoyable film based on the delivery by Ron Perlman as Hellboy.

Grade: A- (Hey, I got a thing for cats)