Jon's Vacation: Day 6

'...and in 6 months you can have a raise.'

So, I'm thinking about starting a new business. 'Another one', you ask? Why not? It's not like I'm incredibly busy or anything. Well, what brought this on was my parents and my conversation over dinner (chinese food of my own crafting) tonight. We were talking how my sister got this sick amazing wedding dress straight out of China, custom made, custom paid and custom fitted for like, $81. Really. I was like, 'dang, I need to get a light grey suit'. And then my mom and I started talking about all of these little connections that she has for getting stuff all over. Apparantly there are some Koreans in LA who I can pay hardly anything for them to make me anything and then my imagination began to run wild. Custom t-shirts? They can make me designer jeans of my own brand. What the crap? I could have my own clothing line.

Really, the idea is enticing. I could be the next Versace, fashionisto. But then again I could always be a woman. Or gay. But gender preference aside, making sweet t-shirts does sound way cool. But I'm always afraid of the risk. What guarentees sales? How well are the ka-jillion other 'smarmy t-shirt saying' companies doing? Plus add to that my complete and utter lack of business savviness, then you've got the makings of the business equvalent of the Fantastic Four movie. Which if the reference is confusing you, was a languid piece of rotting tripe. Dare I say that Joel Schumacher (Batman & Robin) might be able to make a better movie. Next time Tim Story tries to make a movie, I'll rip his eyes out and shove them down his pants so he can see me kick the crap out of him. Anyway, I need a savvy business partner and some sweet ideas, cause folks, I've got the connections.

Oh yeah, and I wrote more movie tonight. I like it.

Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube

This is one of my favorite music videos, starring David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. It's good, okay?

New Snakes on a Plane Trailer!

This is going to be one amazing movie. Here's the new trailer, with more of snake'hating Samuel L. Jackson. Oh man!

I thought this deserved posting...

Youtube is filled with wonderful gold.

Jon's Vacation: Day 5

I took this picture. Really.

You know what that is? It's a heaping bowl of freshly sliced California strawberries perched upon a bed of the finest Thrifty's vanilla ice cream. It really is one of life's greatest delights.

So, someday when I become a multi-billionaire or something to that effect, you know what I'll have after dinner? With all the purchasing power in the world, I would have a heaping bowl of freshly sliced California strawberries perched upon a bed of the finest Thrifty's vanilla ice cream. Desserts that are on fire, pish tosh. Desserts that require days to arduously craft, I turn my nose to you. Being home is nice.

So, what did I do today? I did my sister's engagement photos (touched them up etc. I think there's money in this by the way) Then I made some mucho progress on the movie. A barrel o' surprises this movie is going to be. We've got plot, likable characters, atmosphere, oh man, all we need is a budget and we'll be set. And the more I write the movie, the more I feel that its going to be a full lenth feature. I wonder if I'll be able to handle it.

I went to San Luis Obispo today. Ate dinner at Firestone BBQ and watched a bajillion Cal Poly girls walk in. Girls who drink is a huge turn off by the way. So are girls who swear. And smoke. Anyway, I about picked up on a girl in the Barnes & Noble where I was writing script. She was sitting at the table across the way doing homework. Then I realized that I live in Provo and she's probably not LDS. Kinda puts a damper on things real quick.

And I've decided that I'm going to take up photography again. So all you gorgeous women out there, I need some models. Just let me know.

Jon's Vacation: Day 4

Ah, a restaraunt which serves real seafood... only in California. Or Oregon, or Hawaii or anyplace that isn't Utah.

Many things accomplished today. All of it, stuff that was good for me to do, but kept me from doing the thing that I wanted to do the most today. Write the movie. Anyway, I'll be hitting it hard tomorrow.

Okay, here is my list of favorite Superhero movies (not comic book movies per se, because there are countless tons of those) as of late.

In descending order

1. Batman Begins - Pretty much perfect in every way. The Dark Knight to the World's Greatest Detective. Mind blowing production values, A list actors and crew, phenomenal storytelling. Simply, without peer.

2. Spiderman 2 - This film like, four-upped its predecessor. Everything was a notch above, along with a villanous plot with a redemptive twist. And Bruce Campbell is in it.

3. Superman Returns - Just saw this one tonight. It was good. Even very good. I liked the new Superman, I liked Lois. Loved Luthor. But for me it only had glimmers of the glory of Superman. Batman Begins had me writhe with glee every time we caught a glimpse of the caped crusader. Superman had that potential. His personal anguish, the plane sequence. Even saving the city, but it seemed like a simple summary to me. It was this close. Still, it's one of the best movies that I've seen this summer (which isn't necessarily saying much) and it's much better than the majority of the Marvel schlock that's been coming out lately. Oh yeah, Jared tells me there's a typo in the credits. Look for the 'Post Poduction Supervisor'.

4. X2 & X3 (Tie) - I know I know. There are a lot of you X3 haters out there, but I thought that the Ratner did great, especially with what he had been given. Multiple Man. Whenever did I think I would see Multiple Man in a movie? Awesome. X2 would have ranked higher up on the scale if Bryan Singer didn't insist on having huge dragging portions of the film (Superman had the same problem). X3, though not as densely plotted as X2, just let it all out. Yeah yeah, the Phoenix Saga could have been done better, but given the comic book context, I think they did well. Holy crap, how nerdy did I sound just then?

5. Spiderman
6. Blade
7. X-Men
(The list goes to crap right around here)
8. Daredevil
9. Hulk

And that's it. Fantastic Four isn't worthy to look at this list. I'd put Sky High higher up on the list than FF, and I haven't even seen Sky High.

So, that's what I did today, along with spending hours doing stuff for my sister's wedding. At least I'll only have to do that once (crosses fingers) : )

545 hours of usage?

Spiderman 3! Teaser trailer

The teaser trailer came out 20 minutes ago.
It is amazing. Check it out here.

Weekly Photo Caption Contest!

Lot of pictures up here nowadays... anyhoo, have fun with this one!

Jon's Vacation Day 3

NAAAACHHHOOOOOOOO! Me outside the theatre.

So, using an objective evaluation, questionable would be as to the status of the productivity of my day. Really, I did only two things. I started writing the Sweet Noir Movie of Sickness (Working title) and I saw Nacho Libre with my family. Oh yeah, and I emptied the dishwasher too. And ate some chocolate mint ice cream bars from Schwans. It was a full day.

I came in to the 'Nach' having been heavily biased by all of my friends who have seen it and who have told me that it's ... ok. This, I'll have to admit, probably helped me a lot. I liked it. I think it's all about the context in which you see a film. The last film I saw before this was Shaun of the Dead (edited, of course). Had I been watching some Fellini or something, it might be a different story.

Anyway, 'whimsy' is how I'd describe it. It was paced a little slow, but man, there were some glimmering particles of hilarity. And the sweet Sister in the film, there is nun better. My mom loved the awkward big lipped stick of a man, my dad liked the underlying message, my brother loved the baptism scene and I loved the nun. So, officially, Ana de la Reguera is the new love of my life. That is, until I can trick a real girl into loving me. Boy, that last sentence was pitiful wasn't it? *sigh*.

Anyway, progress is being made. I'm liking what I'm writing (as far as the movie goes), and I hope you will too. BTW, anyone hear from Shark lately?

P.S. I'm back up to 148 pounds. Here's to 155 before I come back to Provo.

Oh yeah, and 24 hours until SUPERMAN RETURNS.

Jon's Vacation: Days 1&2

Even the wildlife missed me.

Well, what can I say? California is the truly the promised land. Yeah yeah Missouri and all that, but honestly, it's gorgous here. Anyway, a funny story that you can all hold over my head when I can get back.

Day 01 - Jon is officially retarded.
So, I flew out on Saturday. My flight was scheduled to fly out at 6:18 in the AM. Oh yeah. Utilizing some complex algorithims and math techniques , this means that I had to leave for the airport at 4. Four am. 4 am in the morning. So, being the busy guy that I am, I just pull the all nighter and I was ready to go.

God bless Dan for driving me there. The man volunteered. Bless his heart. He'll be blessed with a cute wife for sure. Anyway, I get to the airport at 5, check in, all is good to go. So we're supposed to board at 5:50, and I'm all set to go in my suit (cause I don't like sticking it in my suitcase where it will get wrinkled) and CNN is assaulting the ears of everyone at the gate. So it's 5:45 and yes, I fall asleep.

I wake up and everyone is gone. I check the time, 6:15, the plane is still there, I can see it through the glass. Holy crap holy crap holy crap. So I'm trying to track down an attendant desparately in the next three minutes but my leg had fallen asleep, so I'm in a suit wearing my Jack Bauer man bag, limping around the terminal and finally I find someone, and he says that I can't get on. But the plane is still in the gate! Yeah, but they've already 'pushed'. What is this, avaiation or Childbirth?

So I got on a plane at 8:40. Yep, those were two of the most abysmal hours of my life waiting for that flight. I felt like the biggest (not so much in a girth sense) moron that had ever lived. But I made it to California okay.

Oh yeah, and whatever happened to the age of cute flight attendants? In my life, I've seen say, maybe one.

Day 02 - Normalcy
You have no idea how nice it is to go to church, and enjoy church. No pre-church meetings, not post-church duties, no running around during church trying to get things done. Church as church. I got to ponder, I got to pray. I got to truly enjoy the spirit of a ward. It had been a long time since a Sunday has been a Sunday for me.

Then I got to go home and grill (cause what else do you do on a Sunday?) We had friends over and I got to visit with one of my favorite families, and play some piano. It was good. It was relaxing. It was everything that a Sunday should have been.

I've been doing a lot of pondering lately. I like having the time to sit down and just think. Perhaps I'll write some down and heaven forbid, even blog it. Anyway, that's what's been going down. Tomorrow, writing on the new movie begins, and Tuesday, SUPERMAN RETURNS.

Friends, Fun and BBQ (Who's that asian kid?)

Weekly Photo Caption Contest!

Some of you may remember this fellow(?) from awhile ago. Be gentle.

What are you going to do with 30,000 hours of Chinese music?

hmm?

Lets make it a contest even!

Weekly Photo Caption Contest!

Pretty cool, huh? Whoever this guy is, he must be one fierce cage fighter.

Steven Seagal

Happy Feet

There are few movies that I'm so readily sold on...

Get Vista Today ! ! !

I just ordered the DVD kit (includes the 32-bit and 64-bit versions) and it cost $10.73 ($6 for Vista, $4 for shipping, and $0.73 for tax). You can also download the ISO's if you prefer. Microsoft is only doing this for a "certain number" of people. Hurry if you're interested! I think they made it available yesterday.

Weekly Photo Caption Contest!

Nice hustle last week, everybody (especially Polk Daddy)! This week's photo is kinda small, but I'm confident you will overcome. Just like a fat kid trying to open a bag of Cheezy Poofs.

Replace "Drew" with "John" and he pegged it

For some reason, I thought of John when I read this one...

Feminists Strike Again ! ! !

Can I go in, or not?