Golf Review: Intech Ripper Driver for Sale- 10/11/07

Well it’s time for me to stick with my new Cleveland Hi-Bore driver and sell off my much-loved Ripper Driver by Intech since Mr. Monster needs extra cash for the golf games and needs space as well. I’ve been holding onto the Ripper as my back-up driver but now need to let it go.

*SOLD*

Club: Ripper Driver by Intech
Loft: 10.5 degrees
Shaft: High Modulus Low Torque Graphite Medium “Reflex” shaft by Aldila
Length: Standard
Dexterity: Right-handed
Condition: Used
Grip: Stock Intech grip
Head cover: Yes, comes with matching head cover

Golf Thoughts: Best parts of golf that make this infuriating game bearable…- 9/12/07



Best parts of golf that make this infuriating game bearable…

1. Hitting your ball into a water hazard, lake, or pond and then having it skip across the water and back into the fairway.

2. When a golf ball careening off a tree and BACK INTO the fairway instead of out of bounds.

3. Chipping into the green from the rough and ricocheting off another player’s ball next to the hole and bouncing in for a birdie/par.

4. Hitting a long drive off the tee further than your playing partners with newer, more expensive, and higher technology drivers than you.

5. Losing a ball in the rough or onto the next course and then finding it again when you come back around to that hole.

6. Seeing one of your playing partners badly hit balls flying at mach speed at your body and being able to duck/dive/bend out of the way like Plastic Man.

7. Getting out of a bad lie in the sand in one shot and getting good distance as well.

8. Finally losing your slice off a drive due to: A. New “Draw” or offset driver or B. Improved swing.

9. Getting a birdie.

10. Beating your friends in a game and showing off about it.

Fun Spot Review: San Diego Comic Con 2007 Recap- 9/05/07

Monster of the Week’s Personal San Diego Comic Con 2007 Review!

I attended the Sunday, August 29th Comic Con and boy was it packed and I’m sure that is the report you will hear from most attendants.


I originally planned on attending the usually big Saturday event, but just over a week until the show, the Saturday show (and four day passes) was sold out, a first! And then as the week came closer to the Con, both Thursday and Friday sold out as well. I then booked the Sunday show ticket on Friday just in case, and glad I did as Saturday morning came around and Sunday was sold out as well. All four days at Comic Con were officially SOLD OUT, no walk-ins or anything.


After reading reports that Friday & Saturday was busy and packed, I was glad I chose Sunday since I just wanted to see Comic Con one last time since it has become so big, and hour and a half worth of driving, and my friend’s have also stopped going, so this year’s show was suppose to be the last hurrah. I haven’t attended Comic Con in about two years, and I ended up getting to the show about an hour early (9:30 a.m. was when it was stated that the registration doors open and 10 a.m. to the exhibit hall). I parked near the convention center just across the street, but the parking cost was a whopping $20.00 for the day, heck no! I drove a couple blocks and found another parking lot…same thing $20.00. Well I remember last time just paying $10.00 so I kept looking, ended up settling for $12.00 for a stall at an ACE parking structure next to the S.D. Padre’s Petco Park baseball stadium.


Now after attending Anime Expo this year, I was prepared for a long wait, maybe an hour. Well Comic Con is head and shoulders above the crew at AX. I walked into the Con at 9a.m. (30 mins. Before the reg. was suppose to open) and was directed to go upstairs to the registration booths, went up the escalator and proceeded to get my badge from a young lady, all-in-all taking about five minutes to register and get my badge, now that’s class. The AX people need to take a cue from SDCC since they have a larger area, more attendees and still manage to get people in ON TIME! The only problem I experienced at the beginning was lining up in the hallway to the escalators to go into the exhibit hall, waiting for 10 minutes then was directed by staff telling everyone that the line was OUTSIDE. So I had to get in another line and wait, waited 30 mins. until 10 a.m. Read the program guide while waiting, sad that the majority of stars and events happen on Saturday, even the autograph booths are sparse on Sunday.


Finally at 10 a.m. the line started moving, once inside I tried to look for the Hasbro Toy Shop booth so I could get my limited edition Transformers Alternator Rodimus and Titanium Menasor. The Con is huge for those who’ve never attended (almost ½-3/4 mile long I think end to end with tons of booths lining back-to-back of each other) so I had to circle back to get to the Hasbro booth. Ended up waiting in line again, about 20-30 minutes. Once I got to the front of the line, it was announced that the Menasor was sold out, so they didn’t even have enough for Sunday which I think is ridiculous. Got the TF Rodimus though. Lucky though they did inform us that the next day the items would be available online, so I was able to order the Menasor today, plus shipping & tax of course, dang you Hasbro!


Now that I had Rodimus, my next thing to do was get some original sketches from the artist’s alley. My main reason to go to SDCC was to get original drawings from comic pros, I’ve only done it a few times before and all for about $20 for some water color drawings. I saw the Green Lantern DC artist there, but sketches was $150, another was $150 as well, Adam Hughes was charging $250. Even a basic baseball card size head sketch by some was $20. Now I thought those were a bit high so I passed since I have a artist who I’ve commissioned work from before doing big 11×17 drawings for less than half those prices. So I was disappointed in that aspect.


So now it was time to WALK THE CON.


I’ve only attended Comic Con on a Sunday about 2 yrs. ago and that day was sparse of visitors, this year was packed, almost a Saturday traffic in my eyes. It was bumper to bumper traffic, pushing and squeezing through the narrow aisles and booths. I overheard attendants from Saturday say that that day was even more packed, which I could hardly believe since I don’t know how people could even squeeze through. For Con attendees, please don’t take your babies and young children to the Con if they require a stroller! I thought the strollers was banned before, but those with them were trying to squeeze in areas where they didn’t have room causing people to hurdle or push to one side. I feel bad for those in wheel chairs since there was a good amount of them there, and there was just no room. I had a game plan to zig zag through the booths in order to see them, but the traffic was too large that I just visited the booths that I could maneuver to without getting crushed. For a comic book convention, only about 15-20% of the booths I saw had comic books, most of the booths were media related (Star Wars, Pirates, Sci Fi channel, Hasbro, Mattel, etc.).


It took me a full 5.5 hours to see the whole convention center (compared to just an hour at Anime Expo for size and traffic comparison) and I didn’t even get to see any panels or go upstairs to the autograph area. None of the items were really out of the normal I haven’t seen before, swords, Transformers, Manga, DVDs, Dr. Who items, independent comic booths, etc. I didn’t even see rare TF Titanium toys (The Fallen, Ultra Magnus, etc.) that I never saw at retail. On the anime cel side, slim pickings this year. Only saw about 4-5 small booths with cels. The biggest was the Eaton Gallery from Sherman Oaks, CA where I got a couple Super Friends dougas, but they specialize in mostly American cels (Warner Bros, Hanna Barbera, Disney). Was able to get a free sketch of the Atom from the SF show since instead of a price on the label it said “Free- Just Ask” and so as I was paying for the WW sketch the guy looked at the “Free” listing and asked another co-worker since they never saw it before, but they gave it to me free (another similar sketch was $5). I liked the cels they had from the 90s Iron Man (plain cels around $30) and sketches from the new Teen Titans and Justice League shows, but they were going for a minimum of $750-$1k. My only cel purchase was a cel of the enemy look-alike Guyver Aptom from the Lost Numbers Zoanoid team with sketch.


Kept staring at the watch since on Sunday the Con closes at 5 p.m. instead of the normal 7 p.m. I was nearly done with the booths at 4:30 a.m. but wanted to circle in on some items to pick up. I really wanted to get the huge, oversized Smallville bags that was the size of a person that everyone was carrying around, but I couldn’t find the booth. Also tried to get a “Vote for Petrelli” campaign button from the Heroes booth but it was packed since they did raffles throughout the day. Decided to leave around 4:30 a.m. an hour and a half before closing to escape the traffic out of San Diego. So ends my day at SDCC 2007 and to my Con experience in SD for the foreseeable future.


Highlights:

  • Saw Levar Burton (Reading Rainbow host, Geordie LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Captain Sisko’s son from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine show signing autographs from a booth. Though they charged $20 for the autographs or pic to be taken with them. Also saw the chief engineer actor from the Battlestar Galactica new series.
  • Still a good place to see all the upcoming toys and collectibles from manufacturers.
  • You can get a drawing from big-level artists….if you have a lot of money to drop.
  • Easy registration process, not a lot of lines to wait in just to get into the Con.
  • Able to get exclusive toys made just for SDCC

Gripes:

  • The traffic of people inside, bumper to bumper.
  • No room in aisles to pass through due to the amount of people.
  • Some comic publishers selling their trade paperbacks at cover price, come on at least do 15-20% off to drum so interest in your books.
  • Just a handful of booth babes. =-(
  • All collectibles/toys being sold I’ve seen at my local Toys R Us, Target, etc., very low level of old school toys seen.
  • Most comics sold were Silver or Golden age, for someone like me that was looking for 80s-early 90s items was hard to get some items for my collection.
  • Stinky people. Please put some cologne and take a shower before going to a Con since people are going to be close together.
  • People with strollers.
  • People with long posters sticking out of their bag that impale you as you try and pass them by.


Items Purchased:

  • Hard Hero’s poly resin statue of the Transformer’s Decepticon enemy, Devastator- $20
  • Hasbro’s limited edition Transformers Alternator’s Rodimus- $25
  • Super Friend’s Wonder Woman animation sketch/douga- $15
  • Super Friend’s The Atom animation sketch/douga – Free
  • 80s Robotech comic Destroid #1 and Wings of Gibraltar #2- $4 (paid too much I think)
  • Anime cel from Guyver show- $25


Misc. Items

  • Parking- $12
  • Sunday admission fee- $15

TOTAL: $116.00


Score: 3 out of 5. Still fun but getting less exciting due to the large crowds and high cost of items.

Movie Review: Air Guitar Nation- 8/29/07

Review: Following the exploits of two Americans who will be the first ones from the U.S. to compete in the REAL Air Guitar World Championships in Norway where it has been going on for years and is a huge gathering promoting peace through air guitaring.

You follow C-Diddy a Korean actor who’s tage persona belies his subdued personality with the extravagance of comedy and outlandishness in his performances. Bjorn Turoque is his American nemesis who tries to beat C-Diddy in the Eastern and then Western championships ending just behind him and the following him to the finals in Europe. This movie follows the roots of U.S. air guitar being established just a few years ago and it’s impact in the world air guitar media.


Comments: Good documentary movie, you get two competing personalities and backgrounds with the camera following C-Diddy and Bjorn from their childhood and families to their trip to Norway and meeting with their European and Australian counterparts in the championships. You first see the contestants in small stages in the U.S., then as they end up on national t.v. you begin to see how large this funny sport is when they get to the serious side of competition in Europe.


I just wish they did more of an update on the status of these guitar players since the movie was filmed a few years ago and I’d like to know how their doing these days. The movie does have some slow areas in the half-way point of the movie but pulls it off with a great championship ended.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Wild Hogs- 8/22/07

Synopsis: John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy are four middle-aged and white-collar men who enjoy their “biker club” The Wild Hogs. After Travolta’s character experiences a divorce, he get’s his three friends to go out with him on a cross-country ride to the Pacific to re-capture their wild youth since they’ve turned into the boring, lazy men they feared they have become.

After traveling the country they end up rousing a real biker gang and blowing up their bar. The Wild Hogs end up taking refuge in a small town with a cowardly sheriff & deputies. The biker gang terrorizes the town until the Wild Hogs and the town’s people fight back. The WHs finally make it to Los Angeles and embrace the fun they have had on their trip.

Comments: Another movie I was not looking forward to, but was the only new available movie at the local store. Typical male-bonding/comedy set with middle-aged actors trying to capture their youth. Macey plays the geeky guy, Lawrence the husband with the nagging wife (played by the actress who was the friend of his wife from his t.v. show Martin), Tim Allen the former bad-boy turned yuppie parent with boring dentist job, and Travolta as the well-to-do entertainment executive (I think) with super-model wife who is divorcing him and going to through a mid-life crisis. They embark on their journey and some hijinks ensues with the guys finding adventure and the geeky guy getting a girl. Same story as old, but in a fun family-friendly way and shot at a brisk enough pace where the movie really didn’t drag at all.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Fracture- 8/22/07

Synopsis: Anthony Hopkin’s character sets up a convoluted plan to escape prosecution after killing his wife and framing her lover. Fast rising attorney (Ryan Gosling) is about to leave the district attorney’s office with a 97% conviction rate and transfer to a private law firm to make more money to cover his debts but is pulled into his last case as a D.A. to prosecute Hopkins.


Comments: This is one of those films that went in and out of the theatre fast, I don’t even remember when it actually came out. The story tries to get you with a detailed plot by Hopkin’s to escape conviction even though the viewer knows he committed a crime while the D.A. is sought following pieces to try and convict Hopkins with no end in sight and road-blocked by the very crafty killer. This movie ends with one of those endings where the story continues and no final resolution is met.


Sometimes those types of endings are good, sometimes not. This movie has one of those endings that do not play well without a definitive plot conclusion since the killer had tricked and killed many people and plot lines are just left dangling. The device used to get to the near-conclusion of the story was obvious to me at the beginning and somehow did not come up until the end of the movie. Pretty long movie with two alternate endings with slight variations. Neither well.


Score: 2 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Step Up- 8/22/07

Synopsis: White-boy thug (aka WBT to be referred to from now on) in ghetto neighborhood with two black thug friends break into a high-class Juilard-type highschool and trash the place. WBT gets caught and is ordered to work community service by working at the school to pay back the damages. WBT we later learn is in a foster home. WBT is also a street hip-hop dancer and mops the floor of the dance classes with a cute classical trained dancer…I wonder what will happen next? Ooh the mystery!

The cute girl is an intense and snooty senior who would rather dance than apply to college and her only way out of not going to college is to win this dance competition, but her partner hurst his ankle! What now? The suspense! WBT ends up going all ‘hood on her and tries to get up on her junk by practicing her dance moves with her until she can find a new partner. No new partner comes up since for some reason out of all the highly trained male dancers in this school somehow cannot lift her up or dance!? WBT ends up teaching her a hip-hop fusion of her ballet and street dance and they end up winning the competition and he transfer to her school. Oh, and one of the thug friends die. The end.

Comments: I hated this movie, and when I say hate, I mean HATE. This film didn’t make sense at all. So this thug breaks and enters, trashes a school, has a long list of problems and the judge sentences him to work around other kids? I also hated the fact that the male-trained dancers, who should be able to do all kinds of moves and lifting girls should be second-hand to them, end up with so much trouble when they auditioned to practice with the lead girl after she was searching for a new partner. They were either to afraid to pick her up or didn’t have moves, I mean come on, they’re at a prestiguious dance school and don’t know how to dance?

All the leads were unlikeable as well. WBT had no redeeming qualities, he carjacks, he breaks and enters, robs, and destroys school equipment and no respect for anything. The girl is also too aloof and doesn’t exude any qualities to make the watcher feel for her. If you like watching a K-Fed wannabe hip-hop dance, then this is the movie for you, otherwise stay away!

Score: 0 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Vacancy- 8/22/07

Synopsis: Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale are a husband and wife near divorce after losing their child. After a night out visiting Beckinsale’s parents, Wilson takes a shortcut off the highway and end up on a lone road. After a near miss with a racoon, the couple end up at a deserted gas staion next to a motel and get help from the gas station attendant on their car and directions to the highway.

After driving for a mile at night, the car breaks down and the couple walk back to the motel. The sleazy hotel manager gets the couple a room and after seeing the filthy room they decide to wait until morning until they can call a mechanic from the next town to fix the car. Wilson pops a video into the VCR to watch t.v. and ends up realzing that the stact of videos are not fiction, but real life snuff films of people who’ve stayed in the same room and were attacked and brutally murdered by two masked people. They realize that the room is has hidden cameras and they are being recorded. They try and escape but the hotel manager and two killers trap them and try and attack them. The couple try various pleases to the police and escape with only one making it out alive.

Review: I was expecting better of this movie after reading decent reviews when this came out in the theatres. While the set-up of the movie (first 30 mins.) was fine, the cat-and-mouse chase scenes weren’t that interesting or scary at all with the thrills able to be predicted before something happens. The killers also, though brutal, are kind of stupid and for some reason can’t eliminate these two people when they have so many chances AND are able to watch them via close-circuit t.v. if you want a decent new thriller movie, watch this, but it’s really not that scary or entertaining.

Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Fun with Dick and Jane- 8/22/07

Synopsis: Middle-class Dick (Jim Carey) and Jane (Tea Leone) and son are leading a normal life, living in a well-to-do suburban neighborhood and trying to get the finer things in life. Neighbors have nice big houses, well-kept lawns, new luxury cars, etc. Jane struggles to do chores at home while working at a stress-inducing travel agency. Dick works for a big conglomerate firm (Ex. Enron) and gets promoted to a V.P. level and ends up having his dream job with the status, money, and notoriety he is looking for.

Dick persuades Jane to quit and become a stay at home mom. After being promoted, Dick’s company becomes embroiled in a big money-laundering scheme and the company goes out of business with the pensions of all the workers gone. Dick’s family ends up close to losing everything and turn to robbing banks and stores to pay their mortgage to prevent foreclosure. They end up doing so well that they are able to buy everything back until they decide to stop with the robbing. They then cook up a scheme to get back at Dick’s boss who swindled the money from the company and try and help the workers who lost their pensions.

Comments: While this movie was panned when it came out, I really did not find it boring or bad at all. This is a light comedy with a few laughs and chuckles throughout. Jim Carey does his usual antics and the script while not superb, brings an enjoyable story line that is easy to follow.

Score: 3 out of 5 stars.

Golf Course Review: Arrowood Golf Course in Oceanside, CA- 8/18/07



Comments: Played a game at the cart-only Arrowood Golf Course in Oceanside at just past noon on a hot and balmy Saturday with temperatures hovering just over 81 degrees. I was hoping to be impressed by this course which just opened last year after two of my playing partners were able to try out this course a few months back and exclaimed that the greens were in immaculate condition and there was a hole you hit over water into an island. Unfortunately the hot summer and increased traffic to this course has not been too kind to this course overlooking the hills and homes around the No. San Diego County.

The course is located just past the Oceanside Municipal Golf Course with new tract homes lining the streets to the club house. The clubhouse had a nice pro shop with adequately stocked supplies and OEM clubs (Burners, Raptures, Super Quads) available to buy. An afternoon tee time was priced at the regular weekend rate of $85 which includes a golf cart and $5 discount for Southern California residents. If you want to try out this course on the cheap, I suggest the 4:00 p.m. tee time which clocks in the late twilight rate of $30. The heat was bearable only due to the occasional light breeze, but when it died down the sun beat down on you horribly.

Due to the hot weather these last few weeks, there were not a lot of players on the course at high-noon; we had a couple 4-somes moving at a good pace ahead of us and a two-some behind us. So we were able to play at a leisurely pace with a few second tee-offs if they were needed. At the time the course was just being aerated. There were a couple holes where the drive off the tee was blind since the course would wrap up and over a hill.

The greens were in o.k. condition, but the tee boxes were in need of fixing and divots were not fixed on the greens. The rough grass was long and kept you from bombing over them in hopes not to lose your balls into them. There were some challenging fairways, but not too distinct with the “lake” hole the 16th consisted of a pretty large island with ducks and dirty water that you needed to carry on the second shot after your initial drive. I enjoyed the challenging 18th hole with required you to drive your ball over a hill and right before a water hazard to the enclosed green surrounded by 3 bunkers. If you hit a slope and not on the green, the ball will roll into the lake.


While a nice course, with good scenery, I felt that for the cost of playing that the tee boxes, greens should be in better condition or discounted because of the aerating. The course would have been a better value if the fee was at about $65. For the $85 we played I felt the San Juan Hills course in San Juan Capistrano offered more of a challenge with the same layout and yardage type and the Aliso Viejo Golf Course in Aliso Viejo had just a good view of the county, both at relatively the same or lower price. So if you’re looking to play a good course with nice views and not feel like you’ve spent too much, check out Arrowood in the twilight or super-twilight hours.


Score: 2.75 out of 5. Priced a bit too high for my expectations. Too many blind shots that do not challenge but instead infuriate the course layout.