Movies, Movies and More Movies

Chris, Aaron, Rupert and I got up early this morning and headed to a Cafe that I have driven by for over three years. It's called Halfway House Cafe and it's located in the middle of no where off Sierra Highway. Again this goes back to Chris making me expand my "food" universe we decided to try it out for breakfast. They had a very wide selection of foods and everyone found something they loved. Chris actaully went a bit crazy and got several dishes. One thing I love about this group is we normally get different things to eat but then share with everyone so everyone gets a taste of everything.

After breakfast we started our day of movie watching. First up is I Am Legend. This is a movie that I wanted to see in the theater but never had time. So I was excited when Chris choose this one. I really enjoyed this movie.. I'm a huge Will Smith fan. I know it's a remake of a remake but I enjoyed the story very much. You feel horrible for this guy who thinks he's the last man on Earth and haven't seen another human being for over three years.

After I Am Legend we went with something funny.. Yes Man. This is a Jim Carrey movie but also has Zooey Deschanel (who's become extra hot as of late). I remember when this came out in the theaters but really had no interest in it since I'm not a huge Jim Carrey fan. I really enjoyed this movie. Both Carry and Deschanel had great chemisty. And the story was very sweet. Aaron had to leave halfway through the movie for a shoot.

Now back to dramas with Seven Pounds. This is another Wil Smith movie and extremely dramatic. I was confused during half of the movie trying to figure out what was going on. But in the end wound up loving this movie. Loved the fact that he gave his heart (literally) to a woman whom he fell in love with. It can't get anymore romantic then that.

We needed a comedy next so we went with Accepted with Justin Long. This is a very far fetched but very funny comedy about a few kids who don't get accepted into collage and make up their own.. soon mayhamn preceeds and it ends with heart. I perfect movie to watch after the very dramatic Seven Pounds. 

The next movie most of my friends can't beleive I had never seen but I never got to see it in the theater and I wasn't a HUGE fan of the first movie. The Dark Knight is what I'm talking about. But this was it.. I about to watch The Dark Knight for the first time. I really enjoyed it, I thought it was much better then Batman Begins and I'm glad I finally got around to watching it. 

And to wrap up my day of movie watching... Slumdog Millionaire. Again I heard so much about this movie when it came out and it did well with the Oscars but never got around to watching it. I even had a screener of it for a few years but never watched it. I have to saw I really enjoyed it. I liked the format of the movie, it's told through flashbacks for the majority of the movie. I'm glad it had a happy ending... it was a nice way to finish this all day movie marathon.

One Final Hurrah

Today my best bud Chris came over one last time (he's moving to Montana), first thing we did was grab some lunch. Chris is trying to get me out of my "food" comfort zone (I'm a creature of habit). So he made me pick a place that I had never eaten before, I choose Wokcano. This is a sushi/Chinese place. Of course I got something safe with garlic noodles with chicken. Chris was not happy with me, but he did make me try some edamame pot stickers, which were pretty good. Once lunch was over we headed over to best buy to pick up some blu-ray DVD's of movies that i have not seen yet.

A little back story on this.. every time Chris talks about a movie that he loves he asks if I have seen it. Most are comedies and some dramas. Though I love both of those I tend to have limited time so I watch more sci fi and fantasy movies. Anyways every time he talks about a movie and then freaks out that I haven't seen it he makes me add it to a list on my iphone. So the next few days we planned to watch as many of these movies as possible. And since there are no more video stores we opted to buy as many of them as we can. So were at Best Buy and their selection of Blu-rays are horrible. We did manage to find a few movies but for the most part they had nothing. We decided to head to Walmart to see if we could find anymore of these movies but before that we stopped by Trader Joes to pick up some steaks for dinner tonight.

We were a bit more successful at Walmart and picked up a few more movies. We then headed home and hungout a bit before our friend Jen arrived. We started out first movie Reign Over Me. This is a drama with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. It's one of Chris' favorite Sander movies and I have to say it was a really good movie. The acting was superb, I enjoyed the story. It was tough to watch at moments but had a great message. About ten minutes into this movie my buddy Rupert showed up and then about an hour into this movie my buddy Aaron showed up.
After the movie we had a yummy steak dinner. If you're a regular blog reader you know my buddy Chris grills some of the tastiest steaks I've ever had.

After dinner and that very dramatic movie we went with something light hearted.. I Love You Man. I'm a huge Paul Rudd fan and Chris is a huge Jason Segel fan. I wanted to see this when it came out but never had the time. I really enjoyed this movie.. very funny.. and I'm all about the bromances and this is the best bromance movie around :)
After the movie we said our goodbyes to Jen, who was not able to stay over. But Aaron and Rupert were hanging with us tomorrow as well. Once Jen left we called it a night.
This is really a bittersweet weekend. I love hanging out with my buddy Chris, but this is our final weekend that will be hanging out (yes I am going to be spending a few more weeks with him) but this really is our final weekend here at my place. But I plan to make every moment I have with him the best.. looking forward to tomorrow.

Just One Of The Guys

This past weekend there were a bunch of my buddies visisting for Chris' final weekend with us. If you read my blog you know all the guys went paintballing. When when we got home we were all soak to the bone and several of us went into my master bathroom to get out of our wet clothes and take a warm shower. It didn't matter that I was gay and they were straight. We all striped down to our underwear and waited for our turn to take a shower with the others in the bathroom for all to see. We chatted and joked around.. I know this may sound stupid but when I'm with my "Geek Mob" group I'm the token gay guy. Some treat me as the "gay" guy but these two guys didn't and for the first time in my life I felt l like just one of the guys and it was AWESOME.

Filming Postponed

Well the filming was pushed back until Thursday and then later rescheduled to late April. I spent the majority of the day editing my next MASH podcast as it's due to be released on April 1st and since I'm leaving for two week to Montana I have to finish editing another MASH podcast and well as my next Alien Nation podcast. I also put a stop on my mail for the two weeks.. made sure I had enough medicine for the trip. Still have to pack and finish cleaning the house but that will wait until tomorrow.

All Good Things...

Today Chris and I got up around 8, made some oatmeal for breakfast and just kind of hung out at my place for a few hours enjoying each others company. He packed up his stuff and said I'll see you in three days. He's coming back Friday and we are road tripping it up to Montana next week... that will be our final adventure together, at least for a while... gonna make the best of it.

Spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house. Have folks coming over to film at my place tomorrow. Should be lots of fun.

Chris' Going Away Weekend of Epicness Day 4

Today it's just Chris and I as we continue he Epic going away party. Today he and I went to Six Flag Magic Mountain. We are both big fans of roller coaster and it's been a few years since I went, which is funny since I live so close to it. Well I got a full season pass for 2012 and was able to get Chris a mush discounted pass. We started with one of the biggest rides X2. I've been on X but never X2 and the wait was well over and hour. I think this ride is first when you go up the hill so everyone rides it first which made it a super long line. After X2 we opted to grab some lunch at Panda Express. Viper is across the way and had no line but since we just ate we wanted to wait in a short line and let our stomachs settle. So instead we went up to Ninja and rode that. We then headed to Superman but found out it's closed and being revamped into a new ride. So we went down the hill towards The Riddler and rode that. This time the line was about 15 minutes and we were on in no time. After that we went over to Green Lantern ride. I totally forgot about this ride. It's the newest and it opened last summer. It's a completely vertical roller coaster. We waited about an hour in this line but the ride was a blast.. short but super fun. Look forward to riding it again. After GL we rode Batman, again a 15 minute wait and then headed over to Scream, which is one of my favorites. After Scream we went to get in line for Goliath but the wait said it was two hours and from the line it looked to be about an hour. We got into the park around 11:30 and it closed at 6pm so our time was very limited so instead we went on Revolution before riding one of my all time favorites Tatsu, which is unique because you lie on your stomach facing down and hang from the track.. it has one of the best drops/loops ever... gets me everytime. After Tatsu we had a bit of time left so we rode Viper on our way out of the park.

Chris wasn't sure if he was going to leave for home after the park but when 6pm came around he decided to stay another night, which of course made me very happy. So we stopped by Best Buy to pick up Zombieland (which he wanted to me watch) and then some pizza for dinner and headed back to my place. We ate dinner and watched Zombieland (not the best thing to watch while eating) and I really enjoyed it. Not a big fan of Zombies but this movie is funny, serious, sweet, a buddy film and so much more all rolled into one. I'm very happy that Chris "made" me watch this. After Zombieland we watched the season four finale of The Clone Wars then Chris mentioned The Social Network as a movie that he loved but I had never seen so of course we had to watch it. I really enjoyed that film, I don't know how much of it is true but Zukerburg is a real asshole and a horrible friend. Really eye opening on how things work and how Facebook came to be. After that we were both tired and went to bed.

An exciting day of roller coasters, pizza, great movies and an incredible best friend.. couldn't ask for anything better... oh wait spending one more day with him.

My Hunger Games Review

I went to see Hunger Games in IMAX (or faux IMAX) as I like to call it. I was with my three best buddies Chris, Robert and Will. I read all three books so I knew the story and was interested in seeing how they adapted it for a movie. The movie started off with a very handheld, shaky camera style. It took some getting use to but for the most part was pretty cool and very different. Over all I really enjoyed the movie. I'm one of those rare people who understand that this is a adaptation of a book and that not everything in the book will be in the movie. Like Harry Potter they will cut things out, change things and rearrange things but that's cool as long as the essence of the story is there and Hunger Games had that. Of course you don't get as much detail in the characters but you get enough to know who they are. Alot of the book is inside Katness' head and that's hard to film but the little that they did put in the movie really worked. I liked the special effects and the different shooting style when they were in District 12 and the Capitol. The acting was superb and I'm really looking forward to the second and third books being turned into movies. I hope to see this again in the theater and will defiantly be buying it on blu-ray when it's released. I think the movie works on its on even if you didn't read the books but again like Harry Potter if you read the books you get a whole new level of details added to the story. I'd rate this film a B+

Chris' Going Away Weekend of Epicness Day 3

 

 I got up feeling good.. I was determined to make this a great day. We had some fun things planned for today even though the weather wasn't doing it part (it was cloudy and forecast to rain). First thing I did was go to Chris to apologize for my "sad" mood last night and of course Chris being Chris said to not worry about it and he totally understood, as did many of my other friends that apologized to that morning. Brian and Aaron had left for a shoot leaving Chris, Robert, Dallas, Jes, Olivia and Will

I made some pancakes and eggs for breakfast with the assistant of my buddy Chris. After breakfast we all "suited up" in a different way. Ever since we started going to Vasquez Rocks with the group we've talked about dressing up in Starfleet outfits and hiking. Well since this was Chris' final Vasquez trip it was only appropriate that we "Starfleet it up". We all purchased shirts and other accessories for the adventure. It was unfortunate that the weather was so bad but we weren't going to let this take away from the good times we were about to have. Everyone but Olivia was able to dress up. I even put on my elf/Vulcan ear tips for this.

We got out to Vasquez Rocks and it was cold and windy. We didn't plan to hike much since some of us weren't wearing proper shoes, but we did want to get into the rocks a bit for some great pictures. We were there for about a hour and had several passer byes ask to take our picture. It was a total blast and one of the best times at Vasquez Rocks we've ever had. Chris was in heaven and was bouncing around like Kirk from rock to rock, shoulder rolling and just really into it. That for me made the trip even more special. This weekend was all about him and he was just having the time of his life. And there was even a surprise that I didn't know about. Our friends Jennifer C. and Anthony showed up at Vasquez. Jen was in a red Starfleet uniform but Anthony was wearing a gold uniform with a Gorn mask.... it was pretty EPIC.

After Vasquez we headed back to my place to change and get ready for our next adventure Paintball. The rain had started and the ladies decided that paintballing in the rain wasn't for them and stayed home to watch movies. So that left Chris, Robert, Dallas, Will, Anthony and I for paintballing. I had never gone before so I was really looking forward to this. We got there and the rain had started. We all suited up in camouflage gear and were ready for some fun. You play 2 round per game for like 5 minutes. Chris was put on the other sides team for the for the first game. As soon as I put on my facegear/mask it started to fog up and I couldn't see anything. And from that point on it was the worst experience I have ever had. I couldn't see and the game had started, everyone ran off and I was standing there trying to made my way to one of the barriers so I wasn't but that didn't last as only a few seconds into the game I was hit in the back and was out. After the round was over I walked off the course to try and clear my mask. When the second round was over (which I totally missed). We walked back to the waiting area to wait for our next game. Bad mood Kenny appeared. I was not happy, I played all of two seconds and had the worse experience. I've never played this before, luckily for me Chris because they don't really tell you anything. You don't know where to go when your hit. I couldn't see anything and I was in it for a second. I was done. There wasn't any point is playing if I couldn't see where I was going or who I was shooting at. Of course Chris tried to help me out and say give it one more go and said I should get a different mask. Honestly I never really was going to quit I was justupset that my first experience at paintball, something I had been so looking forward to, was just horrible.

But I got a new mask and tried breathing differently and manage to keep my mask somewhat fog free for the rest of the games. We played a total of seven games and the final one was by far my favorite. I did manage to stay in the game longer and longer and I even stayed in one the entire game. But the final one I went all out and started running from barrier to barrier and crawling in the mud and such. Before I would run to a barrier and just stay there protecting the flag but I figured since it was my last go I was going to go all out. Even though this adventure started a bit rough it ended with everyone having a great time.

After paintball the guys headed back to my house to change and to pick up the ladies for our next adventure which as Islands for a late lunch/early dinner. We got to Islands and like always had a great time. Good food and great friends, you couldn't ask for a better time. We did lose Anthony and Jennifer C along the way and they never made it to lunch so it was Chris, Robert, Jes, Olivia, Dallas, Will and myself . After that Chris said his final good-byes to Olivia and Jes who had to make the long trek back up to SF. Dallas also left as he had some things to do. 

That left me and my 3 best friends, Chris, Will and Robert. We headed to the movies to watch Hunger Games (I'll review that in another blog post). We all enjoyed it and it was a perfect way to end a pretty crazy yet awesome day. We all headed back to my house where Robert and Will said their final good-byes to Chris before leaving. Chris and I then sat down to watch tonight's episode of Once Upon A Time (a show we both just love) before calling it a night.  We still have more fun ahead of us.. tomorrow we're going to Six Flag Magic Mountain... can't wait!!

You can check out more pictures HERE