Reflecto Is My Favorite Poster

Date Movie: In the secondary home office in Poultney, Vermont (motto: "If there's a bright center of the universe, you're about the farthest spot from it..."), the options for movies are pretty weak. To begin with, there's not much in the way of video rentals. With only one video store open for college students (and that store having a weak selection of movies), the options become too clear: if you want to rent a video, you pretty much have to go to Blockbuster in Rutland, a 20 mile, roughly half hour drive. (In short- if you're going to drive that distance to rent a movie, you're pretty much better off just going to see a regular movie in town and not have to go back a second time.) It is this length that leads to the weak slippery slope, added by the way that I-81 and its movie theaters go. While many are further than the Rutland theaters, they have their moments in the fact that they're all Regal cinemas (allowing the smart college student whose mommy and daddy pay for AAA to get cheap tickets.) The three movie theaters that I've seen seem to go to the following: Aviation Mall: Shitty mall, decent enough movie theater (roughly 35 miles away) Wilton Mall: Decent enough mall, shitty movie theater (roughly 55 miles away) Crossgates Mall: Decent mall, decent movie theater. (roughly 90 miles away) When combined with the Rutland theaters (usually going to average to mediocre),this leads to the question of what the level of decency should be. The three questions usually come into play: 1) If you're going to see a movie 20 miles away at a Rutland cinema, why not go the extra 15 miles and go see the movie at a Regal where you have a free ticket? (Answer to this question: If going alone, the answer is yes. If you're going with someone, probably no.) 2) If you're willing to go the 35 miles to Aviation, why not go the extra 20 miles to Wilton and at least go to a decent mall? (Answer: Usually a yes...never underestimate the power of the only mall in the area that actually has a Waldenbooks that's decently stacked with manga.) 3) If you're willing to go to Wilton, why not go the extra 35 miles and actually go to a really nice movie theater? (Answer: Only if you either really want to see a certain movie or if you're on crack.) This question needed to be said, because when mixed with the three questions, I ended up driving...55 miles...to see Date Movie. I no longer fear hell...it could not be any worse than that situation. 0/10. This movie is not fit for children or other living things.

Super Size Me One of those gray areas: I wanted to see the movie for a little while (even though it would have been preaching to the choir- I make it a point to eat as little fast food as possible), so I was happy I got to watch it...but it still doesn't seem like a total choice of a movie, seeing as they showed it for my Health class. It was definitely worth the watch (when the teacher gave us the option to leave at the half-way point in the movie, I was one of four people so engrossed in it I chose to stay), but timing makes it lose a point on it (since, my Health class...kind of occurs right after lunch...not a very good time to watch any movie of this nature.) 7/10.

I can't even begin to load this all to here, so I'll make it easier: Reflecto's CD Collection Keep in mind when viewing this: 1) Reflecto has been actively buying CDs for about 7 years now, and when combined with "shrewd" pickups in bargain bins and good deals in his hometown for used CDs, it went to the point where at his peak, it was not abnormal for him to buy 4+ CDs in one visit to the music store. (Of course, that number's been dramatically decreased by the lack of any good deals, but I can still buy a good number at a sitting.) 2) Reflecto rarely, if ever, sells back his CDs (only doing so in extreme situations.) When combined with his peak times, his collection as such will sometimes appear to be the best CD collection of the year 1999 (during his original "peak years") to the year 2003 (where an insurance settlement from a theft of roughly half of his collection forced him to spend $4000 on CDs in a span of 6 months.) 3) Reflecto has a SERIOUS case of musical ADD, with a taste that spans almost all of music. 4) Pound for pound, Reflecto just may have the worst taste in music on EWB. 5) Reflecto is nowhere near complete (with roughly 144 CDs still left to catalogue.) 6) Reflecto likes to refer to Reflecto in the third person. Keep these things in mind when you look at this stuff.

It is great that Futurama is getting more movies, but personally, I always can never get why people say Futurama didn't survive or was too much of a failure: Even though it lasted for much less time than The Simpsons did (which is in no means a fair comparison, especially considering there seems to be a very good chance The Simpsons is going to last long enough to eventually become the longest-running entertainment TV show of all time), Futurama did last four full seasons (which, as far as TV shows go, isn't too shabby for itself...)

I can't help but watch something with Dennis Haysbert (like those Allstate commercials) and think immediately of David Palmer (his character on 24)>> That's funny- the first few times I watched 24 (before it became really big), I was thinking, "Okay, I know baseball's the national pastime, but how did Pedro Serrano get elected President?" Of course, then it blew up, and now when I watch Major League, it's more like "Okay...so the President worships voodoo now? News to me..."

I don't read as many webcomics as I should (much harder since I just got back.) From the ones I did read, the only one that hasn't been linked that I regularly read is Comiku. It's admittedly middle-of-the-pack, though, so be warned (average art, average-to-mediocre story- to tell the truth, I wouldn't read it too often if it wasn't for the fact that the person who does the artwork for the series happens to be the girl I've fallen for IRL, so take this less as the shameless blatant shill that it is...)

If the old baby book my parents had for me was correct, it was "Victor/Victoria" when I was still a newborn.

Cartoon Network- Adult Swim Fox-Sunday nights USA- WWE Spike- TNA Anime Network- all the anime WWE 24/7- all the WWE

Kiki's Delivery Service One of only 3 Studio Ghibli films I watched during my vacation I hadn't previously seen, this one was one of those things that made me feel questionable on it. On the plus hand, it was a good movie, which helped. However, the timing probably wasn't right for a first viewing- I was watching it my first time as the last film of a needed intense marathon for the purpose of one of my term papers (always a bad thing to get into a movie), which kind of left me a little drained. 7/10, but could probably get to 8 or 9 in a different period. Rent Saw it following getting up to Rutland (the last "city" on my way back to college) remarkably early in the day. Didn't see Rent on stage, so was going in clean to it. As such, it led to the question: Can straight males still enjoy this movie? I liked it well enough, or at least as well as I thought I would. 7.5/10

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: I'm not sure what to think. On the one hand, it is definitely the best of the Harry Potter movies so far with very little question: Everything was firing on all eight cylinders, and it was a great film to watch. On the other, however: It was one of those cases where the movie inside my head totally smoked the movie onscreen for it. "Goblet of Fire" is perhaps my favorite Harry Potter book by a fair enough margin over its latter novels and a far margin over the original 3, so I was kind of going into it hoping for a conversion to the big screen that matched it and was basically the Harry Potter movie series's equivalent to "Empire Strikes Back". The movie was the best of the four films thus far, but it didn't seem to totally blow the three previous films out of the water like I had hoped it would. As a result, it's the best of the movies thus far, but at the same time is one of the more disappointing movies in the series thus far. 7.75/10, but had such potential to be 10 if they were willing to go that extra mile for it. The Last American Virgin This movie takes everything you come to expect from the classic subgenre of the teen movie and knocks it on its ass. The major difference between this and other teen movies is that, while most teen movies are pretty much expected to have teen drama, but eventually come through for a happy ending, The Last American Virgin's style is that in which the teen drama occurs in spades, but then just goes more and more, until the movie ends and you realize: the protagonist isn't going to get their happy ending after all. It becomes moreso when you realize that the movie teases, almost taunts the viewer with the hope the hero will get the girl and have the ending he deserves, only for the end to occur and totally hit you harder with that realization. The rarest breed of teen movies is one with a "down ending", and this movie is probably the best example of that. 6.5/10, but if you're a fan of teen movies and know the paradigms, it would still be worth a viewing nonetheless. The Sure Thing Pretty much everything to be said has been said. 7.5/10 Get Over It I don't know what it is, but there's something about having a bunch of papers that I need to write that makes me really want to do two things: Drink enough tea to make me some form of hummingbird-type creature, and watch more cheesy teen movies than the law should probably allow at one sitting all night. As such, I sit here not entirely all there after watching my third teen movie straight, hopped up on tea, trying desperately to finish a paper on Payola in modern American popular music so I can get some sleep, and just trying to get through...oh, the movie. It's basically one of those weird movies: It's utter crap, you KNOW in your heart it's utter crap, but it's that good kind of utter crap. You watch it, you turn off your brain or have good background noise, and then you finish it, knowing you're pretty set for having to see it again for the next presidential administration or so. Just a 90 minute or so delightful piece of sugarcrack for the mind. 3.5/10

Sixteen Candles: Yet another movie in which there's nothing more to say that's already been said. 9/10.

Pretty much any teen movie, particularly the ones from the '90s teen movie rebirth would fit in this. Laughably bad, but I love them so...

Since I need to get back into this and I was doing a review for my school paper... Bulletproof Video Game Reviews: WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 Throughout the Playstation and/or 2's time in video games, I've had a love-hate relationship with the console's Smackdown series. Love because the games are usually blue-chip for being at least playable, and well- it's the only game in town if you want a decent professional wrestling game on the PS2 (for those reasons, the games are usually quick rentals and often bought when they come out by this reviewer), hate because the games never tend to be the completely awe-inspiring game that WWE games were in their golden era on N64 (with games like Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy, two rare sports games that remain essential purchases for their system even after going out-of-date.) This had simmered through most of the PS2 era of the Smackdown series, finally coming to a head with last year's atrocious "Smackdown vs. Raw", which featured such "gems" as a dramatically lessened Create-A-Wrestler system (until then a credit to the series) and gameplay that was cheaper than an off-season sports video game (it was not uncommon to see matches where your created wrestler would face lower carders on Easy mode, then proceed to have all your ultimate moves be sold by the opponent as if you hit them with a feather while moves by the opponent while they were across the ring from you were sold by your character as if they were shot.) However, when the newest installment of the series came out, I knew I had to review it. Why would I do this? Three reasons: 1) I am a huge wrestling fan, and it's the only game in town. 2) The line was that this would finally be the No Mercy-killer (something to know: Wrestling game fans are the video game equivalent to Cubs fans, always thinking this will be "the year".) 3) I am a masochist. The results of this game were actually a pleasant surprise from last year's game. Rosterwise, the game still has the weakness Smackdown games have (for the past three years, active WWE titleholders at the time the game's roster were announced were not in the year's game- this year's snubs being [at the time] "World" Tag title holder Rosey and WWE Tag Title holders MNM. However, a whopping 6 characters in the game no longer work for the WWE. [Despite recent events, Eddie Guerrero is not being considered one of these 6 workers due to the fact that he was not released or quit the WWE.]) Graphically, the game is much more beautiful than previous Smackdown games, with graphics you would be more inclined to expect on the X-Box console rather than on the PS2. However, the important question remains: How's the gameplay this year? From the looks of things, it appears to take one giant step forward, then a baby step back: Forward because the gameplay has become much fairer for your character (rather than be at the mercy of even the weak characters, it is now possible for your character to be on par with WWE top names like Rob Van Dam and John Cena right from the start). However, it gets weaker because Smackdown keeps adding new features, and with new features come many more new ways for the CPU to be incredibly cheap. The most notable "cheap" feature in this game is the Submission guide, specifically the Sleeperhold meter. The meter simulates the common spot in matches where a bad guy puts a sleeper on the good guy, then by the power of the fans' cheers, the good guy fights his way out of it. This works in realism...until you realize that the CPU is able to get the Sleeper meter on target every time regardless of the damage it took, while when a player gets put in a sleeperhold, it's basically match over. To suffice, the game hasn't been the No Mercy-killer fans are waiting patiently for, but it has went from "Most Disappointing Game of 2004" to "Most Improved Game of 2005", which is always a plus...right? Rating: ***.5- The potential is there for greatness, but there's still a few holes that need to be filled first.

The Big Lebowski Really, what is there to say about this film? 8/10

Advertising Rules This taught me a lesson I still need to learn. Foreign entertainment may be great to watch, but it really sucks as background noise. N/A.

10 to FFVII.

Conduct Zero: I don't know why, but I've been getting into Asian teen movies for some reason. This was decent enough as a teen film, pretty much par for the course. (However, it wasn't on par with American teen fare- my longtime guilty pleasure.) It also had the weakness most imported movies will have in that the English dub (like most dubs) was more humorous than the original Korean, but the dub was nothing short of horrible (a rare miss by ADV, who often tend to make capable-enough dubs.) 6/10.

Still, regardless of the censorship (of which there didn't seem to be much in the episode), it still remains: Eva...was on American cable TV. It was beautiful...simply beautiful.

Was given a private showing of Serenity because THAT'S JUST HOW I ROLL. Movie: Awesome, as has been said. 8.5/10.

IMO, if you're just doing a starter- why not have the top 32 bands on this one make up the slots?

- The stuff shown in the original pictures for the X-Box 360 has been proven to be wishful thinking, and the real screenshots of the launch titles for the 360 aren't so much better than X-Box's original stuff that it's worth it to buy it immediately -The launch titles are never worth buying a system for it -By the alleged Easter 2006 major launch- more games will be out then, and by then Microsoft will have probably realized that their "split offering" of the deluxe X-Box 360 and the stripped down value one is a terrible decision -Buying video game systems at launch makes Baby L.Ron Hubbard cry.

Anything Peter Cetera has ever written, sung, or got stuck in his head.

1) The Pillows 2) Matthew Good Band 3) Garbage 4) Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 5) Coldplay 6) Snoop Dogg 7) Pay the Girl 8) Gorillaz 9) Abandoned Pools 10) Bob Dylan

Semisonic. I had listened to them during my first CD purchasing time, and was mostly getting the CDs just to keep my level of having "the best CD collection of 1998, years past the fact", but never being really big into them. When my CD collection got stolen, I didn't search the stuff out to repurchase, and turned it into "the best CD collection of 2003."... ...Then during a random search for AMV's, I inadvertantly found on one of the AMVs that a song I had been searching out for basically the last four or so years was done by them (One True Love). When the smoke cleared, I bought up most of the CDs I could find at reasonable prices (which, when most of them are on clearance at used CD places, is pretty much all of them.)