Pumpkin Shaun

As you know, we like Shaun of the Dead in the Naretta house. Also, we enjoy carving things (in this case a pumpkin).

So, for this year’s Halloween, we carved a pumpkin to look like Shaun of the Dead.

See:

Patti carved out all the large easy areas (the hair, tie/headband). I carved out the intricate face area.

What do you think?

One reason to have a kid

In case you were pondering whether you should have a kid someday or not, I present exhibit A on why you should have a kid:

http://syntheticbalg.lukemiddleton.com/?p=59

You get to dress them up however you want! Now we just need to switch out the Celtics uni for one from a team that doesn’t stink.

Short Story

Last night I watched a documentary on Rod Serling. It reminded me of my short story that I’ve been struggling to write on.

Here’s the issue I am facing. On one hand I’ve got a completely asinine short story that has taking me over a month to knock out an outline to and is probably better that you never read it. On the other hand, I don’t want want to give up and move on. It would leave me feeling like I never followed through on my word.

I’m not sure what exactly has been causing me to struggle writing so much. It may be that I’m not cut out to be an adventure writer. Maybe I’ve been turned off writing after my last crap story. Maybe I had a wedding to go to and my mind got more focused on that. What ever it is, I’ve been struggling.

I’ve decided that I’m going to try to push through this story this week and hopefully have it posted by the weekend. At that point, I’ll let you all determine how terrible the short story is (it’s really bad).

This will allow me to get in and make a fresh new story. I’m thinking I may drop the picking from the hat aspect of writing the stories and just start making things that I have complete control over. We’ll see how that goes when we get there.

So, all 1 of you who have eagerly been waiting for my new story, you will have it soon.

The Office…Too

I just read a rumor about what NBC is planning on doing to fill the void Scrubs will leave after it’s last season is aired.

According to the rumor, NBC is looking on making a spin off series from the Office. It will be entitled The Office 2.

It is supposed to be done in a similar fashion as The Office, but in a new location with all new characters and storylines.

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sound all that great to me. The main issue would be about the quality. NBC would have to either get all new writers to come in a script the series, or they would have to take writers from the current Office. The former would mean new people that may or may not be adept at writing for the Office. The latter of the options would degrade the writing on the original.

Another issue is the over exposure. Everyone knows that the best tv watching experiences are when you and a loyal group of like minded people are the only ones watching (see: The Office [early on], Family Guy [precancellation/return], Buffy [not my cup of tea, but others love it], Veronica Mars, Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, and many others). These shows start to go down hill when the masses take over the viewing population (best example: Family Guy [after it returned]). While the Office may already be turning the point of too much exposure, adding a second edition would severely wound the series (ala Saved by the Bell: The New Class).

The key to making a good show is to offer up something new and original. Look at this year’s rookie shows. The ones that are doing the best are offering something new (Chuck, Reaper, and Pushing Daisies). So, the key is not to remake the same show over (even though this seems to be working with the Quantum Leap/Journeyman), but to offer something new.

NBC should just bring back Andy Barker. It was very funny, had a good cast, and with the right chance it would do well in the Thursday line-up. But those days are gone. We must move on. We can only hope NBC nixes the Office sequel and brings us something new to the table.

Coming this Weekend

I just noticed the movies coming out this weekend. The list includes American Gangster (yawn) and Martian Child (I’m intrigued), but the most exciting release is….

BEE MOVIE!

Really, I’m probably not going to see Bee Movie in the theaters, but it’s release means that NBC will stop running those horrible “Bee Move TV Juniors” ads all the time.

Monday Night TV and more

I checked out the NBC Monday line-up last night.

After watching Chuck and Heroes, I came to a conclusion about the night of television.

Chuck was the better of the two shows last night. It wasn’t even particularly close either.

I’d have to say last night’s Chuck was probably the episode of the season. The comedy was solid and the action plot was original and cool. If you missed it, you really missed out.

Last night’s Heroes, on the other hand, was just more of the same build up that drags the middle of each season down. The plot lines were advanced but nothing that would make anyone giddy. The big thing was that we are shown the future dilema that needs to be resolved this season (i.e. the equivalent of last season’s “Save the cheerleader, save the world” plotline).

Last season they had to stop a bomb from blowing up New York. This season, they have to stop a plague from destroying New York. Talk about original ideas!

There are more cities than New York. Correct me if I’m wrong, but we haven’t seen anything from cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, or San Francisco (among many others) on Heroes. It’s almost come to the point that I wouldn’t mind if New York had been blown up in the Heroes universe.

On a side note, I saw a rumor about another British sitcom getting an American remake. This time it is the classic, Spaced, that is getting the makeover (by Chuck creator, McG).

I really don’t see Spaced working in America. The big problem is that the plot line isn’t really all that strong. You have a couple of people looking to rent a flat that won’t rent to singles. So, they act like they are married in order to get the flat. It is a really boring/cheesy set-up.

The lack of a solid plot line makes it a tough sell to execs and audiences. So, your fan base is going to be limited to fans of the British Spaced (which will rip the American version to shreds regardless of quality [see: British Office fans' opinion of the American version]) and people who watch shows with crap plotlines.

This means that the fan base will be small and the series will struggle to stay on air. The limited air time will mean that the true humor won’t have a chance to shine through. I mean, if you saw only one episode of British Spaced, you would wonder what’s going on and why there’s a bunch of movie spoofs/quotes. You wouldn’t get a real sense of the show.

So, overall, I’d have to think that American Spaced is doomed to failure. If it does get made, though, hopefully it would bring the British series to US region DVD.

Gil’s NBA Preview

I was just checking out a Dime mag article on MSN. In the article, the ask Gilbert Arenas for his predictions on the upcoming season. For the most part it jives with my predictions. On top of that, it’s an entertaining read. I’ve posted it below for your reading pleasure.

For part of our NBA Preview in Dime #37 (on newsstands now), we went to two of the League’s All-Stars — Gilbert Arenas and Carlos Boozer — to have them break down their respective conferences for the ‘07-08 campaign. We got up with Gil soon after he landed in NYC for another preview; the one for his adidas Gil II Zero kicks. In between that he took some time to give us his take on the Eastern Conference:

Dime: Who’s going to be the story of the East this year?
Gilbert Arenas: Everyone’s gonna look at Boston to see how they come off – I’m interested, too. Even though they have three super-studs over there, they’re also old, you know? They’re older players. I hate to sound like that, but they’re older players. It’s not like they’re 26 still and they can run up and down with us. Ray Allen’s coming off of two ankle surgeries, so that’s gonna be hard to run with all the two-guards. I’m interested to see how that team comes along.

I’m not worried about who plays point guard. With three guys that talented, I mean, just bring up the ball and pass it. Do you really need him trying to average 10 assists? Not really. He has to be able to shoot. When we play them, we’re gonna leave Rondo open. Like, We’re just gonna leave you and let you beat us.

And you’re not gonna double Garnett at the end of the game anyway, because we already know who’s gonna take the last shot: Paul Pierce. See, everybody’s like “Who do you double at the end of the game?” You double Paul. Make Kevin beat you. If you ever look at game-winners, have you ever seen Kevin really take one? He’s a first-through-third period player, then he wants to get everyone involved because everyone’s so focused on him at the end of the game. It’s gonna be a battle between Ray and Paul for the last shot. If it’s me I’m like “Let Kevin take it.” Because it’s his nature to be so unselfish that he doesn’t want that shot.

Dime: Where do the Wizards fit into the conference picture?
GA: I think we got a lot better coming off the bench. I don’t wanna dog the team from last year, but we didn’t have a lot of scoring off the bench. Now we have Nick Young, who’s gonna fill up the stat sheet. We got Dominic McGuire who’s gonna come in. They’re young players – they might not get to play at the beginning, but once we get toward the playoffs, they’re gonna be good.

Dime: After the Celtics, what other teams got better that jump out at you?
GA: New Jersey got better. They were a playoff team last year, and now they got Krstic back and they got Magloire. So that makes them better.

Orlando … they lost Grant Hill, they lost what he did there. I thought about them, and I know they made the playoffs last year, but – ’cause you know I sit there and play around with the lineups – Orlando could be the team that’s in or out of the playoffs, just because Rashard, I don’t see him fitting in as well with Dwight. Rashard is more of a back-to-the-basket guy; he can give you buckets in the post. I just don’t see where he opens up the floor for Dwight. Him and Ray played so well together; I don’t see where that true combination will come with him and Dwight.

Dime: Obviously you’re familiar with the Cavs after the playoff losses in ’06 and last year. What do you think of their team?
GA: They didn’t really do anything [in the offseason], did they? But they’re gonna be good because they have a consistent team, so their team is gonna win 50-something games. That’s who they are.

When I look at Detroit, I think they got worse in the sense where if they don’t get Webber back, they decline. Because you lost Ben Wallace, who won a championship for you, and you replace him with a scorer in Webber. Now if you lose Webber, where’s that center? Now you don’t have a defensive center or a scorer. Who’s coming in there? Jason Maxiell? Ohhh-kay. You’re gonna have a 6-4 center? So I look at them like they’re on the decline.

Miami, that’s still a dangerous team. You look at them and even though they’re older in age, they still got D-Wade and they went and got Smush. That’s a wild card team. They can either be really great or average.

Then Chicago, I think it’s the same thing. They might win 50 games. They won’t be a standout; they’ll just be a consistent, grind-it-out, defensive team.

Dime: What about the Knicks?
GA: You know, on paper – I’ll say it was like two years ago, when they had Jalen Rose, Steph … they had four guards who were All-Stars – on paper, it was one of the deadliest teams in the League because when they take [Steph and Francis] out, they had two more All-Stars in Jamal Crawford and Jalen Rose. So I was like, “This is a hard team if they really wanna play.” Same thing with this year. If they don’t play together, they’re gonna do the same thing they’ve been doing.

Dime: Looking at the rest of the Eastern Conference Lottery teams – Philly, Atlanta, Indiana, Charlotte, Milwaukee – do any of them stand out to you?
GA: To make the playoffs? Less than likely. None of ’em. But one team that’s gonna be good two to three years from now: Atlanta. That’s gonna be a good team. Milwaukee is gonna be a talented team. You know, they might sneak into the playoffs [this year]. They’ll be in the fight. If they don’t do it this year I’ll give it to ’em next year. Charlotte has J-Rich over there. And I know he hated that trade, but that’s going to help him out. All they do is catch-and-shoot, so he’s gonna love it. They’re about four, five years away from being a dominant team.

Dime: Who’s going to be in the race for MVP, particularly in the East?
GA: You know it’s gonna start off with me, Dwyane Wade, LeBron … probably Garnett. Until you start winning, that’s when you separate everybody. At the end of the day, it’s all about winning.

Dime: Who’s a player in the East that people aren’t talking about who will have a breakout year?
GA: You know who I like? I like (Jose) Calderon. I don’t know why … I just like his game. He’s just gotten so much better since he first came into this League. I like that whole team. That Toronto team is deadly.

Joe Johnson can be very special if that team can win, because somehow he just gets it done. I remember we came into the Draft together and they kept saying he’s a special kid, so when I used to watch him I was like, “OK, he’s not a jumper. He doesn’t really do much.” But when you just sit there and watch him you say, “There it is.” You see it.

I wanna see what Dwight gives me this year. Am I gonna get more than just power? Give me a right hook, left hook … show me something.

On my team, Nick Young. If he can get on the floor with me, Antawn and Caron – I know that’s a small lineup – but if he can get in with us, he’s gonna be special because he doesn’t have worry about learning offense, he can just come in and fire it. Because at the end of the day we score and run so much, everyone’s gonna get opportunities. It’s not like we have 40 possessions, so when someone takes 20 shots that’s ball-hogging. If we get 80 possessions, it’s like, “I got my 20. That’s 60 more to go around.”

The Dime says that Carlos Boozer’s Western Conference preview will get posted later today. Keep an eye out for it on Dime Mag’s website.

D’oh

This past Saturday was the draft for my fantasy basketball league.

On Friday night, I checked in on the league and saw that only 4 teams had joined. Upon seeing this, I figured the league would be a failure since no one would be joining.

Saturday cam around and I was posed two options: 1) stay at home and participate in the fantasy draft for a league I figured to be dead or 2) go to a new outdoor mall and appease the wifey.

I decided to do the latter of the two (like a fool). I learned a few things from the experience.

First, outdoor malls are the most idiotic innovation ever. It takes all of the stores you would normally seeing an a mall/mini-mall, but with no interior walk area (besides the interior of each individual shop). Instead of having a common indoor walking area, they replace it with a giant parking lot seperating the shops (a normal mall has all shopping in a center location with parking on the outside, outdoor mall has all parking in the middle and the stores around the outside).

Here’s some problems you deal with shopping at an outdoor mall. First, the parking lot is set-up completely insane like (often random stop signs that people drive through without thinking twice). Second, the pedestrians have to deal with traffic coming in to park. Third, because the mall is all outdoors, weather effects your shopping. In Florida, this means that you get to deal with incredible heat/humidity or pouring rain (other regions would have their own unique climate problems). Last, the shops always seem to be all geared toward women. Sure, women shop more than men, but there’s no reason to limit the man shopping areas to a Best Buy, a suit and tie men’s clothier, or a cigar shop.

The second thing I learned, never choose shopping over sports. Sure, your wife might like you a little bit more for it, but you’ll end up wandering a Jo-Ann fabrics dreading over your fantasy team getting stuck with Elton Brand and Greg Oden (i.e. players that will be injured for part or all of the season). It’s not worth it.

Last thing I learned is don’t worry about how many teams is in your league, be at the draft! As I said, I saw only four teams in a twelve team league and figured the league was dead. While I was walking around the mall I got a call from my dad (a fellow team owner in the fantasy league). He told me that the league had filled up. By this time, I was stuck in Northern Orlando without my car (we had riden with her parents). So, I had nothing I could do.

So, I ended up with the autopick selections from the draft. There’s some really good players on the team, but I can’t help but feel remorse that I couldn’t put my personal touch on my team through the draft. Here’s how my team looks now (this is coming from the top of my head):

PG – Brandon Roy (also SG eligible) = He’s dealing with injuries and could have his season shut down at any time

SG – Kobe Bryant = Normally one of the top fantasy players, might dog it this year due to lack of moves by the Laker front office.

G – Ray Allen = If the preseason is any indicator, he should put in plenty of 3s and points.

SF – Ron Artest = A fantasy wild card. He could throw in amazing stats or he could get suspended for the season

F – ?

PF – ?

C – Kendrick Perkins = Should get some decent stats starting with the Celts big 3.

C – Nick Collison = He did decent with Team USA during practices. He’s a big question mark

Util – Richard Hamilton = can score, not much else

Util – Monta Ellis = see Hamilton

Util – Jason Kapono = can hit the three, not much else

On the bench = Brent Barry, Derek Fisher, a couple others

The thing that stands out for me was that in a league where you are required to start 2 Centers, my team had a total of 2 center eligible players.

As soon as I saw my team, I put in a waiver claim on Mikki Moore. I also tried to pluck a center away from my dad (he has 7).

So, as it stands right now, my season is on the rocks because of a poorly thought out split second decision.

We’ll all know better for next time.

Save the Daylight!

You probably realized by now that daylight savings rules have changed.

It used to be that on the last Saturday of October you would gain an hour by doing the old “fall back.”

The new rule is that daylight savings goes into effect on the first Sunday in November (So, remember to set back those clocks next week).

I think the law makers went the wrong way with this rule. They should have made daylight savings start in late April (it currently starts in March) and end in September.

My reason for wanting this change is very simple.

It is 1000% easier to wake up early when the sun is already come out.

It is unnatural to get up when it is as dark outside as it was at midnight.

By shortening the daylight savings, we have fewer groggy mornings. Everyone wins here. So, why not make the change?

Dan in Real Life in Review

Over the weekend, we got the chance to watch Dan in Real Life (the new rom-com starring Steve Carrell).

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the movie. Steve Carrell does a really good job holding up the flick. At times he has Michael Scott-esque moments, but I enjoyed it. The script allow Steve to pretty much take over the flick to the point where none of the other characters really mattered.

While I enjoyed the movie there are a few weak elements. The plot is pretty predictable and it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Some of the emotions the characters showed seem a bit out of place. There is no real B-storyline to help support the Steve Carrell storyline (unless you count the daughter’s story, but they are horrible).

On a side note, is there something about rom-coms or com-drams that necessitate the use of the music of The Who/Pete Townshend? A quick few examples are:

Dan in Real Life – My Love Opened the Door (Townshend solo work)

Reign Over Me – Love, Reign O’er Me (The Who)

American Beauty – The Seeker (The Who)

The thing about it is, I like all of those movies. Am I just a big Who fan without really knowing it? Are the Who the perfect musical blend of comedy and drama? Is this all just unoriginality in Hollywood where they keep reusing the same music?

If you asked me to compare Dan in Real Life to another movie, I’d probably say it is a combination of Reign Over Me and Catch and Release. It has humor and moments of greatness that reminded but it was bogged down by boring drama in a small one room setting (humor/greatness = Reign, Crap Drama/Small area = Catch + Release).

Overall, I dug Dan in Real Life. It had laugh out loud moments. The drama was decent, but a bit hackneyed. With that being said, I can understand people not enjoying the movie. It really depends on how much you like Steve Carrell. If you love his work, it is worth checking out. If you aren’t into it, this movie can probably be skipped.

I gave Dan in Real Life a 4 out of 5 on Netflix.