The funny thing about asthmatics is that when you say "almost died laughing," it's potentially true

~ Crowley

Welcome baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack to the latest edition of the Mustard all you true believers. And to those of you who are not believers but random people who found their way to this blog by an accidental click of the button, hey, what’s up, thanks for coming.

It’s been a fun old week for Mr. Snow. I’'ve been hard at work putting up a few new chapters of the strip. I got on a bit of a roll and cranked out a hefty chunk of Episode II. So check out Episode II of the strip here.

So we'’re at T-minus 4 days until the make or break game of the season for Notre Dame. Personally I think our season is pretty much decided. It didn’t hurt that I got the ticket application for bowl games from Notre Dame today giving me the option of such highlights as the Insight Bowl and the Continental Tire Bowl. Seriously, this is such a crock of shiatsu. You basically have to guess which bowl game the Irish will get to (probably the Insight Bowl) and if you don'’t guess right, you don’'t get tickets. You can always send in a ton of money for all 3 bowls but the always frugal Notre Dame will not return your money to you until after it has collected as much interest as possible with it. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me... well for one side. Look I appreciate that they do give us the option of getting tickets to a bowl but what'’s wrong with them just sending an application that also gives people the option of asking for a certain number of tickets to whatever bowl game the Irish end up in so that we don’t have to pay $145 to ensure we get a ticket to the correct bowl game?

Ok, so that’s my little rant and I'’m done with it. You know me, sometimes Bitter Snow peeks through the clouds. Alright so couple of quick book reviews for those of you are who currently without a literary companion:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay:
I randomly came upon this book one day while walking through Barnes and Noble and it was on the summer reading table. I’'d never heard of it before (I didn'’t keep up with the major novels put out in the past few years, especially while I was at Notre Dame) but the title intrigued me. Then I saw the big notice of it being a Pulitzer winner. When I came across the book while in Saratoga for Labor Day I decided to borrow it from my mother. I won'’t lie, it'’s a long book. But it is also a damn good one too. It begins with Joseph Kavalier, a young Jew who recently smuggled himself out of Nazi Prague during WWII, finding his way to his aunt in New York City. There he meets his cousin Sam Clay and together they combine their talents to create a successful comic empire. Yes, this is a really quick summation which absolutely fails to capture the spirit of the book. The author does an amazing job of writing the character of Joe Kavalier, capturing the guilt he feels whenever he feels an ounce of joy or happiness in New York because he feels he should be spending every second working towards figuring out a way to bring the rest of his family, still trapped in Prague, over to the United States. There is also the wonderful portrayal of Sam Clay as a young man chasing the American Dream of becoming something bigger than his current status in life while trying to figure out his own confusing personal life. Most impressive is the scene of 1930’s and 40’s New York City both in the sense of the wartime atmosphere as well as showing the climate during the rise of the golden age of comics. The author, Michael Chabon, knows and loves his comics and their history (he was one of the writer’s on the superior Spider-man 2 and he also wrote the novel on which the excellent movie Wonderboys was based). The only problem I had with the book was I felt the pacing was thrown off about 2/3 of the way through with the sudden adventure in Antarctica (yeah, you'’ll just have to read the book). While it’'s well written and certainly fits with the mood the book is trying to create, at the same time it just seems to suddenly slow things down too much only to have it suddenly pick up again in a mad rush to the end. But in the end the qualm is minor and like I said, well-written, so that I did still enjoy the part. Overall the book was excellent I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. If you'’re a fan of comics or any of the current plethora of comic-based movies (which these days is about one in five movies), this book is an absolute must-read.

America (the book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction:
I won’t spend too long on this because, let’s face it, if you'’re a fan of the Daily Show, you already have this book. If you don'’t then I can only imagine it’'s because you managed to fall into a coma the past few months and therefore missed the fact that Jon Stewart and the Daily Show team put out a book. If you'’re not a fan of the Daily Show but looking for something along the lines of either sharp political satire or just something to read that also happens to be funny as hell, then go get the book already. Honestly I don’t think I'’ve ever laughed so hard at a book in my life (if you don'’t believe me, just asked the people sitting next to me on the airplane who had to listen to me laugh out loud repeatedly during the flight (to any of those poor souls who are reading: I’'m sorry.)) But yes, this book is just, to quote Peter Griffin, “freaking hilarious”. But don’t take my word for it, just listen to the Amazon.com preview of the book:

Alright you Kwazy Klowns, that’'s all for now, I hope all is well in your lives. Rather then leave you with my own words of wisdom, I’'m going to leave you where I started, in the capable hands of Mr. Dan Crowley:

DrC 64 25: for some reason, i'm wishing i still had senior bar available to me
DrC 64 25: and since i don't have any killian's to hoist to senior year, i just cracked open a guinness for last year
DrC 64 25: to hell with midnight, class tomorrow, and potential alcoholism... here's to senior bar.

It's Thoughts Like This That Catch My Troubled Head

Greetings and salutations lovers and haters alike. Welcome back to the blog so nice I'm updating it twice... in a week that is. Ok, I know and you know that I'm not much for the exceptionally witty writing so lets just move past that last comment and get on with the Mustard.

First off: DAMN YOU NOTRE DAME!!! I didn't know it was actually possible to blow a game 17 times in the final 2 minutes! Of course if you read my last post you know what comes next: the biggest upset ever over USC. Do I realistically think that'll happen? No. But then I never thought we'd lose to BC, beat Tennessee and lose to Pitt either so why the hell not?

Just got back last night from a fantastic 4 days in New York with the family. If I can take a trip back every few months to get a little relaxing in, it's all I need. Had a great time up there with the engagement party and the fundraiser. I'm a lucky guy and I know it.

As promised I did catch The Incredibles. Very interesting movie. I wasn't sure right after seeing it. It's completely different than any Pixar movie before it. After thinking about it I realized that it's a good Pixar movie but not my favorite. But on the other hand this is probably in my top 3 favorite superhero movies of all time. See there's a difference between this and other Pixar movies: Nemo, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, they were all Pixar movies. They're cute, funny, touching family movies. The Incredibles is a superhero movie. It has the Pixar humor and is cute and touching at some points and whatnot but this movie would've been a good superhero movie if Pixar hadn't made it. By Pixar making it, it turns into a great superhero movie. It's not wall-to-wall humor like say Toy Story or Monsters Inc (and that's not to say it isn't funny: the whole exposition on why Mr. Incredible doesn't have a cape with his new costume is hilarious and in a classic Pixar moment Elasti-girl manages to get stuck in 3 doors at once). Instead it puts the humorous parts exactly where they should be so they never feel out of place among more serious parts. The characters are great. The family's personalities are perfectly lined up with their powers. Mr. Incredible is this huge strong man who is forced to hold it all in and pretend he's an average guy to just give his family a normal life. Elasti-girl ,who can twist and stretch her body in any direction finds herself having to figuratively do that while trying to keep her family together. Violet can turn herself in visible while all she really wants to do is be noticed by the cute boy in school. And Dash is the typical energetic little kid who just wants to run around at a hundred miles an hour like all young boys except he has to hold himself back because he literally can run that fast. And Jack Jack is a slobbering drooling baby. Good for him. Samuel L Jackson, while not in the movie that much shows he's Mr. Cool both literally and figuratively as Frozone. And Jason Lee plays the evil villain Syndrome not as an evil bond villain bent on world domination cause world domination is what villains do, but rather as a bad guy that, while he crossed the line long ago, still can be sympathized with somewhat as all truly good villains can be. The director of the movie, Brad Bird (who did the animated movie The Iron Giant a few years back which is also a really good movie starring a pre-movie stardom Vin Diesel) also puts in a hilarious cameo as the voice of Edna (essentially "Q" to you Bond fans). I highly recommend this movie for all ages. It's not the same type of family film Pixar normally puts out but it's still a great movie. And for all you comic book fans you'll find some sort of homage to just about every superhero type created at one point or another.

Ok, I could probably go on discussing the different aspects of the movie for a while... but I won't. Instead I will let you go on your merry way. I've got a couple book reviews I've been meaning to dish out at some point not to mention a few takes on other foibles of life. A huzzah to Crowley for making his voice heard loud and clear on the comment section (not to mention eerily foreshadowing the use of "huzzah" on the Simpsons this week) as well as that anonymous girl who's got me wrapped around her finger. Well, I won't linger any longer.

Until next time: keep on waving from such great heights.

Esoteric Means Delicious!

Bonjour you cheese-eatin’ surrender monkeys. It’s a new installment of the Mustard. I know it’s been a long time but hey, it’s worth it right? Cause otherwise how else would you keep up with my long-winded inane banter that rolls out on an almost weekly basis. Ok, so I’ve been bad about it lately but it’s been a few busy weeks.

First off, Episode II of the strip has begun again! Yay for that. I told you I was gonna take a few weeks off to rest my weary mind after putting out the end of the first one in like a week. So I rested and brainstormed and I’m back and better than ever. Well at least I hope so. Either way, you wanted it, you got it. Episode II of the strip found here.

Been an exciting couple of weeks with the engagement and all. I’ve talked to family members I forgot I even had. But things are falling into place thanks almost entirely to the tireless work of my wonderful fiancée. I’m doing my part by trying not to get in her way and doing whatever she tells me to do. It’s like we’re already married!

Notre Dame continues to be a constant source of anxiety for me. I mean come on! We can beat Michigan and Tennessee IN Tennessee but we can’t take BC or BYU? Geez, at this rate we’ll beat USC but lose to Pitt. Ah well, the important thing is we’ve clinched a winning record with that game and are bowl eligible. And our schedule right now is as good as we could want with Pitt next week (which should be a relatively easy one knock on wood) and then a bye week which’ll give them 2 weeks to prepare for USC. Hopefully that’ll allow them to give the Trojans a good game. Naturally, of course, USC also has a bye before the game. So here’s hoping. And all you people calling for Ty to be fired: please shut up. Thank you.

Ladies, do you wish your man would go see more romantic comedies with you? Fellas, do you wish you could get your girl to a horror flick or two? Well, people look no more. Someone finally made a movie for the both of you. It’s called Shaun of the Dead and with a tagline reading: A Romantic Comedy. With Zombies, how can you go wrong? Seriously, this movie was absolutely hilarious. Think Hugh Grant meets George Romero. And the funny thing is that about halfway through it I thought, “You know, take out the zombies and this would still be a pretty funny romantic comedy.” But come on, you don’t want to take out the zombies. They only make things better! The premise centers around a lazy Londoner who is perfectly content to remain working as a sales manager at a crappy appliance store and spend his free time playing video game with his loser best friend and taking a few pints at the local pub. His girlfriend wants him to put more effort into the relationship but he fails every time he tries. Oh and then the dead start to come to life. Shaun decides that he can make things up to his girlfriend by becoming a hero. Of course he can’t even make a dinner reservation let alone fend off the oncoming hoards of the undead. Hilarity ensues. Yes, there is your standard horror movie gore in there but it’s definitely not nearly as bad as the straight up horror flicks. And half the time it’s part of the humor. The movie does a fantastic job of subtly introducing the zombies into the movie. Think about that last sentence: zombies and subtlety? Yet that’s how it happens and it’s fantastically funny. Overall I give this a high recommendation as the best of both worlds date movie of the year. Oh, and look for nice nods to such classic horror/zombie fare as Romero’s Dead trilogy, Evil Dead and 28 Days Later.

Looking forward to seeing the Incredibles this weekend. No, amazingly enough, the Pixar lover that I am, I didn’t make it opening weekend but I will, never fear.

Headed back to New York for a nice 4 day weekend starting Wednesday night. Can’t wait to see the family. I only hope Erin doesn’t get completely blown over by the inevitable multitude of engagement/marriage questions from my family.

Until next time faithful reader….


…. take care (what you thought I was gonna be deep or something? This is me.)

Well.... I did it.

Holy solitaire setting Batman! Are the rumors true? Has it finally happened? Did he really do it? Yes, my friends, it is! I did in fact shave my head..... OK, seriously, this weekend I popped the big one to Erin. And not only that, but she also said yes! So I had one seriously good day on Friday. Ok, I had one seriously good weekend. Hell, I'm having one seriously good week. Great googily moogily, I'm engaged!

Two major major props are going out to Booter and Crowley. They came up huge for me this weekend and there's no way I could have done it without them. You guys were fantastic and I owe you big time for it.

Also thanks go out to Tom for listening to me freak out as I tried to get this all up and running.

Thanks go out to my family for being there for me this weekend and making it all so much easier.

And thanks to everyone at ND who made this weekend absolutely fantastic. You all rock.

And finally thanks to Erin for making my life wonderful each and every day... and for saying yes.
Ok, so I know, that's all much more serious than I normally am with this blog but hey, sometimes life is more serious than others and I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people. So thank you all.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I also need to say: how much does it suck that BC once again beat ND and we don't get a chance to avenge the loss next season or any other season in the near future? I mean come on! If it wasn't for the whole proposal thing this weekend would've been really rough after that game. As it was, the wonderful event on Friday coupled with copious amounts of alcohol made it much more bearable. And damn there were some fantastic memories and quotes coming out of the weekend. Crowley, seriously, make up a blog and post 'em. Borden, watch your mouth in front of the kids and make sure you remember to test the toilets before flushing.

No real reviews to post up right now. Again no movies and I'll wait to finish up another book or two before posting those though I have to say if you want a good laugh, buy the Daily Show's America. So damn funny.

Hey, congratulation Red Sox fans on an amazing game 7 come back. Don't get cocky and think you're out of the water just yet. Even a 2-0 game lead over the Cardinals isn't close to being clinched. After your last series you should definitely know that.

Hey, congratulations Yankee fans. You've just officially orchestrated the biggest choke in the history of Major League Baseball. You're team is also about to be sliced and diced by Steinbrenner like Leonardo slicing up that pizza in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the movie (did you know that technically that was an independent film? The more you know....).

And a special congrats to A-Rod for the most womanly slap ever perpetrated on a major league baseball field.

That's all for now ladies and germs. To end I present a quote from Get Fuzzy:

“Well God help Oregon. For Beavers are the evil minions of Stan.”
“You mean Satan?”
“No, Stan. Stan the beaver. Granted he’s not as bad as Satan, but by beaver standards, he’s quite rude.”

...Cosmic

Hello world!

Ok, so it's been some time since my last update and in the meantime I've gotten some comments yelling at me to either update or to change the style of this blog. Luckily, I'm here to please so without further adieu may I present:


THE THOMAS MARINELLO APPRECIATION PAGE

Oh Thomas!

He thinks he's cute
In Raleigh-Durham
He's got the hair
That drives the girls wild
He looks like Tom Cruise
In MI2
He's the hot stuff
A true Canisius child

He's just a Tommy boy
He's Heather's boy toy
He's just a Tommy boy
He's Heather's boy toy

Don't call him short
He's really massive
He's had eight cars
Since 1998
His skill in b-ball
Is one true badass
He's a white shadow
So don't you playa hate

He's just a Tommy boy
He's Heather's boy toy
He's just a Tommy boy
He's Heather's boy toy


Ok, so enough of that. But let it not be said that I don't pay attention to my adoring public.... to the point of making you all very very scared.

Anyways, seriously, jack squat happening to me right now. At least in terms of crap you'd care about. No movies, no books, no music.... but hey, I went apple picking and I think that should count for something. Props to ND for pulling through Navy and making it 41 years in a row. It's like the Red Sox in reverse. Speaking of which, good God, I'm currently watching game 5 of the Yankees/Red Sox series and for the 3rd game AND day in a row we're into extra innings. This game started at FIVE O'CLOCK!!! Now I understand the Red Sox faithful don't want to lay down and die but the Yanks ain't blowing 4 in a row, is it really worth ruining the night's sleep of countless hard working Americans? Not to mention that we were supposed to be seeing the Astros/Cardinals game and now it's looking like that game will be over before the Red Sox either lay down and die or delay the inevitable til tomorrow. Update: 13th inning and Wakefield strikes out Sierra with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd.... odds on this game being over before 11? Not bloody likely.

So heading to ND this weekend. It promises to be one helluva time. Seems like everyone and their mother (including mine) will be there. It'll be the tailgate of year, I promise. Also it's been brought to my attention that Regis will be officially breaking the bottle on the new performing arts center this weekend so keep a sharp eye out for him. He's the best Regis we have, second only to Darrell Hammond (apparently).

Ok, so I got nothing as you can really see. But much love to my homeboys in cell block h and I will see some of you in South Bend in 4 days. So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye.

Ah ha! Now the Rubberband's on the Other Claw!

Guten Tag faithful and faithless readers of the Mustard. My apologies for the lack of update until now. Tis been a busy week. As many of you know, and by many I mean the 3 of you or so who might actually read this blog, I have been hard at work finishing up the first episode of the strip. There will probably a week or two of down time before I start up the next one. Quite frankly, as most of you have been putting in your profiles, I've been spending too much time on it. But that's what happens when my frustratingly demented brain gets creative and won't let me rest til I put down all the strange ideas that enter it. So yes, I think I'm taking a little vacation from it to catch up on other things such as cleaning my apartment, doing laundry and catching up with dear friends who never call me back.

Speaking of which, if any of you caught the latest episode of Gilmore Girls this Tuesday and had really good eyes and knew what you were looking for, you may have seen Mr. Brock Domin was wake-goer #4. He enters the apartment for the wake, flashes a big goofy Domin smile and then does a reach around on Rory in order to get a cup. He can then be seen of to the side conversing with a group of girls about which I can only imagine except to say I'm sure it involved a phone number and the words "and a half".

Also a shout out to the big little man Sean "Booter" Griffin for proving that it's not how tall you are but who's old enough to buy alcohol first that matters. He turned 24 yesterday and yes ladies, he is single and loves to be the little spoon.

Thanks go out again to Erin for being the ONLY person to post a comment on the blog. Come on, Crowley, I know you've read this at least once.

The unbelievable has happened in that since my last post I have not seen one new movie. I know what you're thinking, he must've been involved in some horrible car accident that broke both legs and prevented him from leaving the house. That almost happened but luckily the blue toyota managed to get out of my way. No, there just wasn't really any great movies out last week that grabbed the attention. Add to that the fact that I spent all Saturday at the bottom of a pitcher as Notre Dame got their rear-ends handed to them on a silver platter with french fried potatoes by Purdue and I just wasn't in the mood to do much else other than relax. I may not even go this weekend either! Who knows. After Home Depot with the wallpaper, and flooring, stuff like that, maybe Bed Bath & Beyond... I just don't know if there'll be time. There's another Notre Dame game (come on, we have to beat Stanford) and those tend to take a lot out of me... and my wallet.

Some quick book review for any of you who are currently looking for something good to read in this lovely autumnal weather:

The Rule of Four - Ok, this book has some serious potential. Started off intriguing, with the main character/narrator Tom being drawn back into the senior thesis of his roommate, Paul, who is working unravel the hidden secrets of ancient text, much as Tom's father did before he died. The writing style really draws you into the college setting, giving you a great picture of the relationship between Tom and his roommates and does an excellent job of spelling out their different personalities. The problem comes when you get two thirds of the way through the book and you realize, nothing has actually happened. Oh sure, there's a murder and naturally Paul becomes the prime suspect of the police and mystery and amateur detective work ensues but you keep expecting with the historical ramifications of this text they're trying to decipher that there's going to be this huge epic scope that's going to unfold and these great mysteries are going to be unlocked and then it pretty much just ends. And for being a literature major Tom certainly missed out. He should have a been a philosophy major with all the deep insights into life that he dishes during the course of the book. I mean for someone who is supposed to be a Senior in college madly rushing about to finish his thesis and solve a murder and unlock the mysteries of Hypern0tomachia (yeah, that's the name of the book and it must've been a mighty big pain to have to type that one out the two hundred times or so it appears) he certainly spends a lot of time deliberating on the meaning of life and love. But anyways, my general consensus of the book is that it's a whole lot of potential that ends up leaving you thinking, that's it? Also negative points for the title of the book. I'm sure it's supposed to be probably be referring to both the secret of deciphering the mystery of the book and also to the situation of the four roommates. I don't care, should've been something else more relevant to the story.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - With as different a narrator as you could think of compared to the above mentioned Tom, the main character/narrator here is an autistic fifteen year old name Christopher who while on a walk one night comes across his neighbors dog, killed with a garden fork. He then takes it upon himself to follow in the veins of one of his favorite literary characters, Sherlock Holmes, and solve the murder. This book is an excellent contrast to The Rule of Four because not only is the scope of the two books as far apart as you can get but also in the form of narrator as, while in that book Tom got to bore us with his long-winded deeply philosophical collegiate views of life, Christopher is a high school mathematical genius who barely possesses any social skills because he views life through the simple view of mathematical proofs. Illogical fantasies and impossible to prove philosophies have no place in his life. And it is through his black and white view of things that we see not only the difficulties faced by autistic but also the ridiculous situations and problems that illogical emotions can cause. I won't spoil any thing in this review but suffice to say that by the end we get to the point that the harsh judgments about the adults, easily formed in this book, stop as we realize that we could all be these people. I'm not saying any of us has gone out and murdered a dog but we've all done crazy emotional things that through the eyes of Christopher would be silly, irrational and pointless. The author Mark Haddon has an excellent way of subtly sliding things into perspective where we realize we're reading about ourselves.

Anyways, that's my quick book reviews of the day:
Rule of Four- Don't bother, go get a good Agatha Christie book instead (I highly highly recommend And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd).
The Curious Incident of the Dog... - Give it a go. You'll enjoy it.

I'm currently enjoying The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. While I'm only about halfway through, so far it's been the best book I've read this year. Of course it did win the Pulitzer. So hey, it should be right?

Until next time you wascily wabbits: episode one of the strip finished here.

Who's the Boss is not a food

Greetings and salutations my fine furried friends. I know what you're thinking: Snow's doesn't have a blog anymore? It went bye bye for almost a month. He even took it off his profile. Well, ha! I prove you wrong foolish mortals. Well that and the fact that I've just been rather busy the past few weeks. As some of you know, I've been doing a sprite strip similar to my ill-fated lord of the 5-man strip. Cept unlike that one, I've already done a ton of panels for it. So please, check out the strip ... NOW WITH ITS OWN WEBSITE!!!

Ok, so just got back from a visit to my anonymous girlfriend's or as some of you know her, Erin, family. Always a fun time. I got some quality lunchtime with the big man Dan Crowley, took care of a dead goose who didn't quite make it south for the winter, enjoyed a tapas bar (which apparently my mother misheard as being a topless bar... whoops), and generally just had a grand ol' time.

Ok, so some quick reviews:

NAPOLEON DYNAMITE - Well, this can be summed up pretty easily with: weird. I mean how to describe it? A few days in the life of a nerd? I'd heard a ton about this movie and how funny it was. It had some downright hilarious parts but quite frankly it was hit and miss. The movie came off as being a bunch of bits or sketches thrown together. Yes, the happy hands club bit and the presidential campaigns were absolutely fantastic, but for every one of those, there was another which was just like, oh, I get it, but it's not that funny. Overall, I'd put this one down as a rental when you're just in a mood for a really goofy movie that'll have you laughing at points and raising your eyebrows at others.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW - I sum this one up as Indiana Jones with CGI and NOT directed by Steven Speilberg. It was truly enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone just looking for a good fun summer flick now that's it no longer summer. I'm kinda glad this got put off to now because it can actually be a successful well written summer flick not named Spiderman 2. Oh, by the way, don't go see this movie looking for Angelina Jolie, she's in it for like 10 minutes of screentime. Gwyneth Paltrow plays her character as a perfect imitation of Lois Lane. You just watch her putting herself into situations of ridiculous danger all while thinking: STOP BEING SUCH A DUMBASS! Lois Lane to a T. Jude Law is not quite Harrison Ford but he's still pulls off the suave devil-may-care attitude of a man who's good at what he does and knows it. Laurence Olivier.... well, here's hoping that he's looking down on this movie thinking, "Not a bad performance on my part." Something a little creepy knowing he passed away in 1989. Then again, I suppose that only adds to the part.

Anyways, final verdicts: Sky Captain: Kickass fun! Napolean Dynamite: Eh, not bad.

If you're bored of the current selection of music playing on the radio (you know, the kind that's basically repackaged 80's power ballads without the long haired frontman), try out a few of these:

The Shins: If you recall a few posts back I talk about the Garden State soundtrack. Well these guys had 2 songs on there. Both of them are off their Oh, Inverted World album. I also really recommend their Chutes Too Narrow album. They're definitely Indie rock, but they have some serious talent going on there.

Gavin DeGraw - If you like Ben Folds (plus or minus the Five) or Five for Fighting, check out this talented up and comer. Piano Rock at its finest, he's got some awesomely catchy tunes. Probably most famous for I Don't Want to Be (theme song to that fantastic show One Tree Hill), he's got some great songs on his album Chariot.

Rhett Miller - Leadman of the Old 97's, he put out a solo album, The Instigator which has got some great indie pop on it. Check out Our Love or the extremely catchy Four-Eyed Girl. It's the song Terrible Vision that really stands out showcasing this gifted artist's talent.

Alright you crazy 88's, that's all for now. Take care of yourselves and each other and your little dogs too. Unless you don't have a dog. In which case, check out the strip... now with its own website!!! Peace, love and understanding y'all.

Worst blog entry ever!

Hola chicos y chicas. It's been quite a while since I last updated. I spent the good part of last week up in the Adirondacks, swimming, kayaking, laying out under the stars where there's no such thing as light pollution blocking your view of the night sky. Man that was bliss. Exactly what I needed after a few rough weeks at work.

Anyways, not a whole lotta news or interesting facts in the meantime. Tuesday night is officially my new TV night. First off in two weeks, the new season of Gilmore Girls will be starting up on the WB. While this may not seem like such a big deal, it has recently come to my attention that our very own Brock Domin will be appearing on camera this year. He didn't even need to have a nice fireside dinner with a man named Michelle to do it.

Scrubs is still the most consistently funny show on TV. Yes there is The Simpsons but unfortunately it's been hit and miss the past few seasons. Last season was one of the best they've had in years and I still love the show but I think it's safe to say that the glory years of the show have come and gone. But it doesn't matter cause either way, I'll still be tuning in every week.

Father of the Pride has been a surprise. The first episode was not all that fantastic but the second was laugh out loud hysterical. And the thing is that it's not really the animals that are all that funny but Siegfried and Roy themselves are great. Any show which can spend an entire show on how evil Matt Laurer is can only be written by a talented individual.

Other than that though TV is pretty much useless right now. I'll give Joey a shot to see if maybe it can capture the time when Friends was good week in and week out and I've been hearing good things about ABC's Lost. Hey, it's got Merry in it from Lord of the Rings. So those are my two maybes of the year. The rest is relegated to the pile o' crap.

Sorry for the relatively weak entry. I'll be back soon with an update of substance.... ok, let's face it. I don't do substance. Substance is no fun. But in the meantime, don't let Frances ruin your day. This means you Steinbrenner.

Mmmmmm............Something

Welcome to another edition of They Got the Mustard Out where the bored come to kill valuable time that could otherwise be used doing useful things.... like playing video games and watching TV. But if you read it with a smile on your face, you can make other people think you're up to no good. Which let's face it, you probably are.

Anyways...... things going well in the final days of summer. I will be taking a small detour next weekend up north where I will be spending my days sitting on the dock of a lake surrounded by mountains and watching the sunset while sitting back drinking a beer. But hey, go Irish! 2004 ND season starts up in 6 days. The 2nd game of season against Michigan is gonna be a rough home opener but here's hoping to a good start this year. Please for the love of God let it be good.

Well based on my promises from last week I did in fact get in two movies this weekend. First off Open Water, the big independent movie out of Sundance about two scuba divers getting left out in the middle of the ocean. I heard all these things about how big this movie was gonna be. How it's was shot on a shoestring budget, with actors who did all their own stunts, and got right into the shark infested waters to interact with them. How this was gonna be the new Blair Witch, only, you know, actually scary. Huge disappointment here. First off the movie is only like an hour and fifteen minutes long. It takes them almost half the movie to get left behind. And after that it's another 15 minutes before the "danger" really starts. Yeah, when the sharks do come, it's a little jumpy. And I understand that the movie is supposed to be as realistic as possible. Perhaps that's the problem, it's so realistic it's almost boring at parts. And when the couple is stranded out in the ocean and start to crack, screaming at each other and blaming each other for their predicament, it's almost comical. It's Al and Peg Bundy in the water. I do respect what the actors went through to get the movie made but also the movie suffers from some severely amateurish editing. There's just some random closeup shots that just seem to be stuck in the movie for no reason. I'm sorry but I don't think the woman locking the door of the house is a major cinematic event needing an extreme closeup. But that's just me. Also, didn't really think the near full frontal nude shot of Blanchard Ryan in bed was really necessary. Again, just me. Final opinion: appreciate the effort and determination to get the movie made, but in the end, just does not live up to the hype.

The other movie I caught this weekend was Hero. The way it's being pushed is a Jet Li action flick, probably because Jet Li is the only one most of America would recognize though it contains some excellent performances from Asian cinema stars Donnie Yen, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, and Zhang Ziyi who many will recognize from her roles in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the magnanimous Rush Hour 2 and who will next be seen as the lead in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha. If you've seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you'll be familiar with look of the movie with amazing sword fights not limited by such small things as gravity. And let's get it out the way early: the action scenes and fights are magnificently done. Imagine the best fights of the Matrix series, without the crappy CGI. This is Hong Kong action at it's finest. But beyond the coolness of the fights, they're also beautifully done, shot in such a way as to be almost a ballet, a dance the actors go through, each perfectly choreographed and executed flawlessly. In fact, it's not just the fights but the entire movie that is just beautifully shot. This is easily the prettiest movie I've seen all year. And the movie itself is excellent. It's revolves around a ancient Chinese king who is on a crusade to conquer and unite the separate kingdoms of China. He's lived his life in fear of three legendary assassins until one day a nameless warrior (Jet Li) come forth with the 3 weapons of the assassins, claiming to have defeated them all through a combination of swordplay and smarts. The movie has been compared to Rashomon in it's storyline in that it is told from several perspectives. It's a fair comparison, however while Rashomon had several storytellers, Hero revolves around two perspectives, that of Nameless telling his story and the King questioning Nameless' tales and adding what he believes to be the truth. In the end it's an excellent tale of sacrifice and love for ones' country. The only minor qualm I had with it was that as it's in subtitles, it was sometimes a little difficult to jump back and forth between reading the lines and watching the action unfold on screen. But like I said, that's a small price to pay to get a quality import of Asian cinema that shows that action films can actually have a legitimately smart and relevant plot and still have some amazing action and swordplay.

Alright my interesting Judeo-Christian friends (and everyone else), that's about it for this time. Reminder: the new season of Scrubs starts up this Tuesday. It's one of the only thing left to watch on TV now that those wankers at Warner Brothers have killed off Angel. And the Simpsons won't return til November. But hey, we've got the Jeff Foxworthy Blue Collar Comedy Tour....I'm sure that'll be a major hit for them. Until next time, keep your feet on the ground and keep staring at the stars cause if you just go walking around reaching upwards, trying to grab stars, people are gonna think you're nuts.

A Summertime Movie Extravaganza.... Now in color!

Greetings all you happy campers. I hope these days find you in good health and merriment or at least in good health. The gentle climate of August has been quite the surprise for those of us in the DC area. I was expecting to need a respirator to walk down the street. Hey, sometimes life brings pleasant surprises.

Anyways, I thought I'd give some quick reviews of the late summer entertainment for any of your looking to kill some time.

Movies:

Garden State - If you like Scrubs, go see this movie. If you don't like Scrubs go see this movie. Not to exaggerate but this is the best movie I've seen this summer. Zach Braff (J.D. from Scrubs) wrote, directed and stars in the movie about a young man returning home for his mother's funeral after years of being estranged from his family and confronting not only his father but the detachment and confusion of life. And yet with such serious content matter Braff does an absolutely phenomenal job of making the movie not only bearable but outright hysterical at times. And apparently Natalie Portman can act. Who knew? The acting, the look of the movie, everything was just terrific making me have high hopes for the future of Mr. Braff (one more week til the season premiere of Scrubs! Woo hoo!). And is it just me or has Ian Holm been in a hundred movies since playing Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings movies? And Peter Sarsgaard as Braff's old high school grave-digging, grave-robbing, stoner buddy with a heart of something that might be gold (yeah, just see the movie for this), he also puts in a great performance. The writing is top notch, ranging from being funny as hell to remarkably insightful. (For some great reading see Braff's blog on the movie's site here. Also if you're looking for some good summer music the movie's soundtrack is also fantastic.) Yeah, so if you didn't notice, I really loved this movie. Go see it.

Maria Full of Grace - Ok, so still working with the independent film category but taking away all the humor, this is still a very well done movie. A dark and brutal look at the life of Colombian women working as drug mules, it's harsh but still quite good. The movie is completely in Spanish with subtitles so keep that in mind in case you're not fluent in Espanol and aren't looking for a lot of reading. Also I have in on good word that Bogota doesn't really look quite like that as they only show the slums. Those crazy Columbian filmmakers.

The Village - If you hate the movies of M. Night Shyamalan, you're probably not going to enjoy this one either. Or maybe you'll enjoy the first two thirds of it. But once he throws in his trademark plot twist, you'll probably be back to hating him. Personally I've enjoyed all his movies but this one is definitely my least favorite. Which is a shame because cinematically this is by far his best looking one. It really is a very pretty movie but that doesn't really help I suppose if you don't like the plot. The twist in this one (no I won't spoil anything) but it's definitely a twist that once it's known it changes the whole movie in a way where you care much less about it. I really hope for his next film, he can do a movie without the requisite twist. On the plus side, Bryce Howard puts in an excellent performance in the lead female role and I think you're gonna see her growing to be a big star in the future.

I also caught Dodgeball the other day and yes the movie is hysterical if you like the current frat pack movies. Also containing of the best closing lines of a movie ever... just a shade under Casablanca. But as it is one of those comedies, there's not much to say about it. I enjoyed it. If you liked Zoolander, Old School, etc then you'll like this movie, if you hated them, you'll hate this movie. Nuff said.

I hope to catch a screening of Open Water and the Asian import Hero soon.

And this is day and age we live in folks, I actually just saw a commercial on TV stating that now that Shrek 2 has come and gone it's time for the next big movie: Superbabies - Baby Geniuses 2. Wow. Sign of the apocalypse? Just might be. The mere fact they actually made a Baby Geniuses 2 makes me fear for humanity's future.

Alright you wild and crazy people, until next time adios y gracias for todos los pescados.

Allow Myself to Introduce Myself

Greetings all, I am the great and powerful Jeffrey Snow, or just Jeff, or Snow, or many other names, most of which are not fit to print here. I would spend valuable time going over the history of who I am and the general story of my life but let's face it, if you don't know me, you're not reading this blog. In fact, odds are even if you know me, you're still not reading this blog. But nevertheless I will continue on like a gymnast crashing into the judges table.

Seeing as how I've pretty much tried every other trend in this technologically trendy day and age, I decided to the give the world of blogging a go. I have no real goal in mind other than to impart upon you, the gentle reader, the general musings of a semi-well-adjusted 20-something living in the Washington DC area. But as the days go by I'm sure I'll be able to think up some little tidbits that wander my way.

As for now, the Olympics have been of course the big news these past few weeks. I've been enjoying now as for the first time ever in HDTV and I have to say in Hi-Def it looks absolutely phenomenal. Watching the swimming is amazing. You can see every little detail of every ripple in the water. And NBC has been doing a great job on their HD channel of picking HD-friendly sports to broadcast. I have a sneaking suspicion that boxing in Hi-Def would be a little much though I'm sure there's some blood-thirsting people out there who would enjoy the graphic detail of a bloody nose getting busted open.

After seeing how great these sports look in Hi-Def, I can't wait to see how the NHL will look on it, that is of course if there is even a next season. Recent talks on the new collective bargaining agreement haven't exactly filled me with much hope. But I'll save my opinions on that whole situation for a later time. Ah well, there's always the World Cup before my hockey-less season commences.

Anyways all, that about wraps it up for this today's edition. I'll try and actually come up with somewhat of a topic for next time. Until then take care of yourselves and each other.... unless they owe you money, then start busting some kneecaps.

(Note: Mr. Snow does not condone the breaking of kneecaps)