bootie LA

a couple weeks ago zach, nellie and i met up with dave and his harem and went to bootie la's a very bootie christmas. it was pretty fantastic. dave found these guys a few years ago. they combine the best of all music worlds: techno, mash-ups and christmas music. they played (spun?) all the songs that we already loved, plus some new ones. zach, nellie and i bailed after a couple of hours, but dave stayed most of the night. that guy has some sort of dance energy reserve. he can last hours. of course he did have a harem to entertain, so he couldnt really tire.

anyways, christmas is around the corner and i meant to share these sooner so people could enjoy them throughout the entire holiday season. hopefully you'll still get a kick out of them. whether you love them or you cant believe how ridiculous they are, they are guaranteed to make you smile. they wont make you want to vomit like those kay jewelers commercials. that one with the deaf couple is the worst. nothing against deaf people, but the commercial makes nellie want to vomit.

you can listen to all of the songs at the link above. here are some of my favorites:

'imagine santa' is just a incredible mash-up. maybe the best one ever. two songs that you wouldn't expect to hear together, yet somehow are a perfect blend.

'every christmas you fake' - proof that even p-diddy gets into the christmas cheer.

'are you gonna stop the white x-mas' - just all over the place. christmas chaos. good chaos.

'christmas bop' - this is one from the new album. i really enjoyed this one, but that is probably because i love the song blitzkrieg bop. still, it's a great example of an christmas mash-up. it takes a great song and then just starts throwing bits of many different christmas songs throughout the song. so ridiculous and random, but so fun. i dont know how you can listen to it and not laugh. so great.

i hope you enjoy. merry christmas.

double dipped

on saturday night nellie and i double dipped and saw two movies. we went to the theater planning on seeing either 'invictus' or 'the blind side.' we struggled with the decision, but ultimately ended up going to see invictus. conveniently, right when we were getting out of invictus, there was a showing of 'the blind side' that had just started. since we didnt have a babysitter or any other obligation to attend to and since it's always better to watch 4 1/2 hours of movies instead of just 2, we decided to go for it.

so both movies were good but i think i actually liked 'the blind side' better. both are amazing stories, but i think that invictus was almost too difficult of a story to tell. there is just so much to the story, that it seems a little to difficult to pull off in 2- 2 1/2 hours. were it any other director besides clint eastwood, i would say maybe it was the director's fault, but if he can't even pull it off, i dont think anyone could. there was just too much to tackle...even for rugby players (zing!).

invictus is about the south african rugby team that helped unite a nation that was in serious turmoil over the recent election of nelson mandela and blacks being afforded all of the same opportunities as white people. i just think that hours alone could have been spent really showing the viewer how bad it was in south africa in the early 90s. the movie does deal with it, but in order to really make the rugby victory meaningful, you really have to be sucked in to what it meant to the country and you need a decent understanding of what the people were going through. maybe other people could have pulled it off, but i didnt really get sucked in emotionally to what was happening and what the people were going through. as such, there just wasn't as many goosebump moments in invictus as i would have anticipated. i was hoping for more moments where i had a lump in my throat and would think, 'sports are just awesome.' and i think that was because there was a lack of connection with the story which is due to all of the many layers. dont get me wrong, it was good, just not amazing. i could be off on this and could have had too high of expectations. but when its clint eastwood, morgan freeman and matt damon, how can you not be expecting greatness?

maybe that's why 'the blind side' was really good. it has sandra bullock so you naturally enter with low expectations. she is cute and fun, but her movies usually aren't very moving and make you want to punch yourself in the face rather than ponder greater things in life. she did great though and was highly entertaining, at last. just the opposite of invictus, i think blind side worked because it was more of a simple story to tell in that they just had to deal with the boy and telling his story. granted, many people could easily botch that simple task, but it's potentially a lot easier to tell the story of a family that helps a homeless high school boy than the story of a country that had it's centuries long race issues resolved by a rugby game. in one, you have to get the viewers up to speed with a country's history in 10 minutes. the other, you just have to get them up to speed with the first 16 years of a boy's life, which is pretty easy in this situation: he's from the projects and his mom is a drug addict. no need to say more, we pretty much get it.

again, both movies are good and worth seeing. both not really sports movies and both are pretty different so it is hard to compare them, but what's the point of this post and seeing both on the same night if you aren't going to compare them? i think an easy way to do it was in the closing credits. in both movies they show you photos of the actual people and players from the stories that were just told. in blind side, i got the goosebumps and the lump in my throat. i felt more connected to the story and so it made it more touching to see the actual people. not that invictus isn't touching and powerful, but not much connection. no lumps at the end of invictus. and the lumps never lie.

tragic and mind-boggling

just a disclaimer, not that all of my posts are funny and/or light-hearted, but this one isn't. although it is short. i've been thinking about it since i heard about it on the radio the other day.

here is a news story of a family of 4 that was killed in a car crash over thanksgiving weekend. the family was heading back to their home after having spent the thanksgiving holiday in hawaii. tragic and sad. they haven't confirmed that the 19 year-old driver was drunk, but his license had previously been suspended for a year because of a prior drunk driving accident. the driver later died at the hospital.

and, if you didn't think the story could get worse, you underestimated society:

here is a related story of a man and a woman who just days after the family died, broke into the family's house, stole all their items and fled in the family's van. opportunity knocks right? fortunately they were caught. but what has to happen in your life to get you to the point where after hearing about a family of four being killed in an auto accident, the first thing you think about is that their home is now vacant and should be easy to rob? at least these people help keep josh employed.

such a bummer

this whole story sort of bums me out and it really shouldn't. i shouldn't be fooled by athletes or celebrities or expect too much out of them. i think this one is a bummer because you always want to be able to relate to an athlete or celebrity. sometimes you just cant. for instance, i cant relate to derek jeter at all. he's a shortstop on the biggest baseball team of all time. as sure as the seasons will change, you can expect him to bounce from one supermodel girlfriend to another on a quarterly basis. he and i dont have much in common. not that i have much in common with tiger woods. he's the first billionaire athlete. he's a killer on the golf course. all sporting greats are. jordan, ali, tiger, even kobe bryant. its not enough to beat you, they have to dominate you and rip your heart out. the passion, the drive to win, the work ethic, stopping at nothing to be the best: not the greatest personality traits by any means, but it is pretty admirable. part of me, and i think part of most people, wish they had that passion and could channel it towards some endeavor. few do. but almost all of them are successful in one way or another.

but even though he and i aren't the same in that regard, tiger still seemed like he was 'a normal guy.' i liked him because i felt i could relate to him (i still like him, just bummed about his decisions). he grew up in cypress, right here in southern california. i lived in the neighboring city of garbage grove. he doesnt come from money. he's not some country club boy. despite all his money, he and his wife didnt have a nanny. they insisted on raising their kids. it appeared as though off the course, he was a normal guy and for whatever reason, it made me like him more. it's like george clooney. i've always liked him and the movies he did. after i read this article awhile ago, i was smitten (it's long, but a good read). these guys dont have lives like you and i, but you always hope they do. which is why it's nice to hear about tiger raising his own kids or read about george clooney crawling in the attic, and always a bummer when you are let down. i know they arent role models. i get that. most of them let you know pretty early on that you dont want your kids to grow up to become like them. that's just the thing though, there are so few that make you even believe that they might be a decent person and role model. just a bummer when yet another doesn't pan out.

WWII IN HD

nellie and i watched a few episodes of history channel's WWII IN HD tonight. it's excellent. really, really well done. much better than that ken burns WWII documentary that came out a couple years ago. i guess that they, whoever 'they' are, found color WWII footage and they turned it into a mini-series. for those that arent counting, WWII ended 64 years ago. how is it that they are finding stuff like this just now? i understand if its letters like in 'letters from Iwo Jima' that were buried on remote islands in the south pacific. but how are piles of color film footage just now being found? are there just boxes of stuff lying around the library of congress or somewhere and people don't know what is inside of them? some summer intern just has to sort through everything. 'hey, i found these boxes we might want to save. i guess its actual film footage from WWII. you know, WWII. anyways, the footage is in color. its kinda cool.'

well, whatever the reason it was 'lost' for so long it doesn't really matter because they have made very interesting and compelling stories out of the footage that was available. on the website it says that its a 5 night event. i dont know when it started, but i know it continues tomorrow night (tuesday the 17th). im sure there will be constant re-runs as well. it's pretty intense and not exactly light material. maybe everyone already knew about the series and was already watching it, but i still wanted to give it a plug because they are definitely worth recording and watching.

anyways, it puts me in a somber mood just thinking about it. we only watched 2 of the episodes tonight because we could only take so much of young boys fighting and dying for their country. it's amazing what those people went through. so to not be entirely somber in this post, here are a couple of stop-motion videos. what do they have to do with WWII? absolutely nothing. at least not yet. give it a few decades and they'll find stop-motion WWII footage. but we saw a kindle commercial tonight that was in stop motion and nellie mentioned how it seems to be all the rage these days. maybe it's been a fad for awhile and im behind and just now noticing it, but it is used quite a bit. i think the first time i recall seeing it was in a music video that dave showed nellie and i a few months ago. i'd like to think that im ahead of things and not behind the fads, so im sure that once i saw this video, then things really took off for the stop-motion industry(?). the other video is one that i also saw a couple months ago shortly after seeing the first one.

sorry for being so random with the two topics. just watch WWII IN HD. or dont. i dont care. it's your patriotism funeral.

fighting the couch

nellie and i were chatting today and she was telling me about how she can't eat lunch on the couch because when she does, she end up taking a longer lunch than anticipated. it made me think about this commercial by reebok. the commercial isn't new and most people have probably already seen it, but i think it's brilliant. granted, if my couch was attacking me like that, i would be scrambling for my life too. but i think it perfectly captures the difficulty to escape the couch. it really does take that sort of effort sometimes. it's so easy to get sucked in and stay on the couch. 9 times out of 10, i feel better about leaving the couch and doing something, even when i am tired or not in the mood to leave. there are those few times when lying on the couch really is better than getting up and getting out. but most of the time, if i escape the couch, i do feel better about myself.

i should also mention, that nellie by no means lies around on the couch all day. she exercises much more than i do. im happy if i exercise twice a week. she tries to exercise at least four to five times a week and usually does it. in fact, she is heading out to go running with a friend right now. yes, its 3:15 on a friday. why do we want to find another job again?

and sorry to the four people that follow this blog that i haven't been posting much lately. i think about posting and have things i would like to post about, just haven't done it. but that's not because i dont appreciate my four followers. i hope you understand that. thinking about posting has to be good for something. thoughts do speak louder or at least as loud as actions right? that sounds like the type of statement you would get from someone sitting on a couch. maybe that's why i like the commercial so much.

my virgin Virgin experience

on monday i had the opportunity to fly on virgin america for the first time. nellie flew virgin atlantic one time to europe and she has nothing but rave reviews for the airline. dave has constantly said how great virgin america is and that its the best airline. quite frankly, it was a fantastic experience. i honestly dont know how other airlines stay in business.

a couple weeks ago nellie and i flew to boston. we had some delta vouchers we had to use so we picked boston as our destination. we had a great time. delta was terrible though. if you ever want to get a delta voucher, just book a flight with delta the day before you need to actually go. i guarantee that they will be asking customers to be bumped from the flight in exchange for free flight vouchers. our round trip flight included 4 legs (two to get there and two for the way back - more on this in a second). before each leg, the announcers were on the PA system asking people if they would be willing to go on a later flight in exchange for free vouchers. they overbook every flight. i honestly think its their way of doing business.

one of the biggest drawbacks with delta is that its nearly impossible to book a direct flight unless you are flying from LAX to ontario. even with that flight, they will still probably layover in long beach or burbank. its such a pain when it only takes 5 hours to fly across the country but it ends up taking you 12 hours because of the layovers and delays.

virgin has only direct flights. one might argue that its because they only offer flights between 9 or 10 cities. and that might be true, but those are also the cities that you would want to go to. when nellie and i were trying to decide on our weekend destination, we thought of new york, boston and chicago - places where people want to go. maybe virgin doesn't fly to little rock or des moines, but im not interested in going to those places, ever.

so lets compare the two experiences:

check in:

virgin: as you walk up to check in, you hear music. not normal airport jazz, but house music. techno and electronica music. you think it must be some euro blasting his ipod near you but then you realize that its coming from a boom box at the check in counter. but not like a boom box that someone plugged in, an actual boom box that is built into the counter. as in, the people that make the big decisions at VA decided that it was important that all their customers are greeted with some up beat dance music. pretty hip.

delta: you are immediately asked if you would like to go on a different flight for a free voucher to fly their airline overcrowded airline again. if you decline, you are pushed along so they can ask the next customer.

plane impressions:

virgin: its hard to paint an accurate picture of a VA plane. i knew what to expect, but i was still pretty amazed. black leather seats. black. clean interior. dim lights throughout the cabin. and more techno music. its like you are walking into a party. you might think that this isn't your type of scene or maybe not the conditions you would like to fly in, but it really creates a great and happy mood throughout the cabin.

delta: old leather. crowded. everyone is stuffing their bags into the bin, except that there is no room because the flight is overbooked so now the stewardesses are checking on people's carry on bags. no better feeling that doing your best to avoid checking on your bag only to then realize it will have to be checked on because the airline is way overcrowded. you would be dying for techno music right now.

flight attendants:

virgin: they wear comfortable black pants, white shirts, like long sleeve t-shirts, and these cool zip up sweater/jackets/pull overs. very modern apparel. not unprofessional, but comfortable. looks like something people enjoy wearing. which is the coolest part about VA. instead of being traditional like every other airline, they decided to get rid of tradition and think about what people want on an airline and out of a flight experience.

delta: traditional. normal. uncomfortable pants. button up shirts with some thing around their neck that looks like they thought it was a tie so they tied it like one, only it was really a bandanna or something, so its just a large flowy thing coming out of their neck.

entertainment:

virgin: free direct tv. free on demand movies. free wifi. again, free wifi. on board. you get free internet. free music. free food (snacks). drinks of course.

delta: one drink. one snack. one. you hear? on our flight from detroit to LA nellie asked for another bag of pretzels and she was denied. flat out shut down. for a bag of freakin pretzels.

nellie: 'um, can i have another bag of pretzels?'

attendant: 'no. sorry.'

ok then.


cost:

the yesterday i got an email about how a bunch of the major airlines were slashing their prices and offering cheap flights - like $100 one way from LA to NY. good deals. but it made me curious about these 'deals.' so i went online and checked the email to verify that it was in fact true and that i could actually book a flight with united or delta or some other massive airline for roughly $100 one way across the country. and the deal was legit.

then i went onto VA and checked flights for the same time period to see how they compared. no special deals, no special discounts advertised. it was just their normal rate, at it was the same price as delta and united were offering. roughly $100 to get across the country. i was checking for flights in january so it would have been booking well far in advance. still though, their 'normal' price is the same as these great deals.

anyways, i couldnt have been happier with my virgin experience (had to include one). check it out next time you fly. you wont be disappointed.

and for anyone that has made it this far, im including a chat dave and i had the other day on gmail about my VA flight. a random moments where even though you are only communicating through a computer screen, you are still somehow right on the same page with the person. also shows how quick and clever dave is. sometimes i can hang with him, but not always. one of these days someone will discover that his brain is capable of way more than soundtrack videos.

12:34 PM Dave: k bone
sommdawg
6 minutes
12:40 PM me: daveeeed
12:41 PM Dave: yo
how was out of the office time yesterday?
12:43 PM me: amazing
i flew virgin america for the first time
12:44 PM how are you doing?
12:46 PM Dave: where did you go?
12:49 PM me: SF
well, redwood city, but flew into SF
12:50 PM Dave: sweet
isn't it a lovely airline?
12:51 PM i got my Virgin America visa card yesterday
me: nice
they were advertising them on the plane
12:52 PM Dave: i can't wait to start earning points towards a free flight on Virgin America with my new Virgin America Visa Platinum card!
12:55 PM me: a new Virgin America Visa Platinum card?! I had no idea they had one. Does it have good benefits and rewards?
12:56 PM Dave: Excellent, Kent, excellent!!
I get 3 points for every dollar spent on a Virgin America flight or in-flight services, and 1 point per dollar for all other purchase. And with free flights starting as low as 10,000 points, I'll be flying free by Easter!!!
12:57 PM Plus I get 2500 free points just for signing up, and up 2500 additional points for balance transfers during the first six month (all of which carry a super low 0% APR for the first six months)!
12:58 PM me: no way
no way
i dont believe it.
Dave: Believe it, kent, believe it!
and you're pre-approved
probably.
!!!
12:59 PM me: i already fly VA anyways, and now you are telling me that they will give me free rewards and flights just for flying with the airline that i love most?
1:00 PM what's next? are you going to tell me that sheep fly and that wasps mate with flowers? [audience laughter]
Dave: And with interest rates on credit cards skyrocketing in excess of 30% since the economic collapse, the 14.9% APR on the Virgin America Visa Platinum card is just one more reason to love the the Virgin America Platinum Card - The Greatest Thing Ever Made (TM)
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!
1:01 PM me: I'm waiting for my stupid internet to load so that I can sign up online right now. If only my internet provider was as reliable and friendly as Virgin America.
1:02 PM Dave: If only, Kent, if only!
1:03 PM me: haha. right. well, with VA having free WiFi on the plane and with all the flying I'll be doing with my new VA Platinum card, I won't even need internet in my home!
1:04 PM Dave: You won't need anything kent!
Sell your house! Leave your wife! VA is the only woman you'll ever need.
She'll take you places you've never been.
1:05 PM And when you take Virgin, every time feels like the first time!