Christopher Lloyd, That's Right, I said Christopher Lloyd

You read correctly, I am going to blog about Christopher Lloyd. I have recently been taking a stroll down memory lane as far as the movies I have been watching, and I realized how great of an actor Chris Lloyd really is. Notably, my favorites include all three "Back to the Future" films as well as his role as Uncle Fester in "The Addams Family". He also played lovable clueless man Jim Ignatowski on the 70's sitcom "Taxi". This guy never ceases to make me laugh. All through out "Back to the Future" his scientific seriousness and quarky theories as Dr. Emmett Brown force a smile on my face every time.
As far as the "Addams Family" this whole show is sheer genius. Director Barry Sonnenfeld's movie interpretation of the popular 60's television show was spot on. He used more adult themed situations and humor to appeal to a more modern audience, which in my opinion, endeared me more to the many eccentricities of the Addams' than I would have otherwise been. Getting back to Christopher Lloyd, his role as the long lost Fester Addams is perfectly played, from his struggle convince the family he is the real Fester, to slowly showing viewers his true colors shining through, until he is revealed as the real Fester Addams.
Actors of Christopher Lloyd's character are becoming harder and harder to come by. His is a dying breed, as classy comedians are nearly extinct. Funnymen these days are overexuberant and unnecessarily vulgar. If you're going to be vulgar, do it for a reason other than to be vulgar. Don't get me wrong, Will Ferrell and others do make me laugh, but not on as consistent of a basis as classic comedians like my main man, Christopher Lloyd.

Otter Pops

Man I love Otter Pops. I think I ate about six of them last night. Then I've had another two so far today. I know I'm going to keep eating the ones that I have until they are all gone, probably by the end of today. When I find something I like eating, I eat it until I can't stand it any more. Why is that? If I were smart, when I find something good, I would savor it. I would only use it when it would give me the optimum satisfaction. If every time I use this good thing I have found, it gives me less and less satisfaction, I should put off using it until my satisfaction will be at optimum level. That is the problem with us humans as a race. When we find something good, we use it frantically until it no longer exists. Where wisdom would tell us to use prudence, desire for luxury pushes us to use and harvest until nothing remains. Let's learn to use some restraint, to save our natural "Otter Pops" so that in the future, when we're sitting around thinking of the delicious frozen explosion of flavor we once enjoyed, we can walk over to the freezer, open the door, and pull out a refreshing cold one to satisfy our craving, instead of feeling that pit in our stomachs when we realize that we don't have any more, we ate them all too fast.

Bass Players

Recently I was having a conversation with an intellectual about bands and who makes the bands "cool". We decided that in order to make a band "cooler", the band member must not increase the overall average "suck" of the band. Lead singers have the most influence on the band. They are usually the face of the band, and they are obviously the voice, so they are what we normally associate the band to be like. Next comes the lead guitarist. Their killer riffs and shredding abilities can attract or repel our ear juices to their sound. A close third would be the drummer. If you haven't dreamed of banging the hell out of some drums in front of a sell-out crowd, you are kidding yourself, cuz everyone has had that dream. They are the designated "badass" of the band. Now where a band usually meets it's weak spot is the bass player. Usually these guys or gals are softspoken 'whoevers' who sit in the shadows on the side of the stage while everyone else is rocking out. The bassists usually increase the "suck" of the band more than anyone else. But you know what I was thinking? I went to the Weezer concert, and their bass player, Scott Shriner, freaking kicks ass. He is about the coolest bass player there is. He sang a bunch of the songs when River's voice was going out, and when he sang "King" he freaking rocked the place. So Weezer is so freaking awesome in part because their bass player does not increase the "suck" level of Weezer, he freaking decreases it. In fact, the only other bass player I can name is Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He also decreases the "suck" of the Chili Peppers. Okay, I can also name Mike Dirnt from Green Day and Mark Hoppus from Blink-182. Both good bassists as well. But if you are going to be a bassist that I have heard of, you aren't gonna be someone that increases "suck". And Scoot Shriner is not an increaser of "suck".

Weezer

Although it has been over a month since I saw the most rockinest show ever, I have finally decided to blog about it. Man this concert was radgidelic! Some crappy local band opened and played for about a half an hour. Then Angels and Airwaves did their thing for another hour or so. Even though I don't really know any of their songs, they still rocked the house and put on a good show. Their light show went haywire for a while, but they kept things a goin' and did a good job at it too. So kudoos to Angels and Airwaves. Then the anticipation began. Holy crap, I can't put it into words. Through the previous two acts I hadn't moved too much. Than it happened. The tale tale opening to "My Name is Jonas". Holy crap the whole place erupted. I started yelling and screaming and jumping around. Man they were freaking awesome! I sang along to just about every song, which left my voice horse by the time it was all over. They sang all the classics: 'The Sweater Song' with special guest Tom Delonge from Angels and Airwaves, 'El Scortcho', 'Greatest Man That Ever Lived', 'Say It Ain't So', 'Dope Nose', 'Hashpipe' and many others. The sweetest part of the whole night was when the crowd lifted a man in a wheelchair into the air and held him there. Rivers and Pat were like, 'sweet', and I was like, 'sweet'. Rivers voice was going in and out so other members of the band sang some of the songs, which I actually didn't mind at all. In fact, I kinda liked it. Rivers was interactive with the audience, as was Pat when he sang his song 'Automatic'. So if any of you two people who read this blog ever get the chance, I would highly recommend going to a Weezer concert if you get the chance.

Ragin'

I just got done listening to Rage Against the Machine after a long days work. You know, Rage just soothes the soul, especially after a shitty day of work. Any song that ends with shouting "F@#* you I won't do what ya tell me!" over and over again will instantly relieve any anger or built up pressure you may have been suppressing throughout your day. Sometimes people are douchebags. But you can't tell them. You can't let them know how selfish, retarded, stupid, or even how ugly they are. This is why I do something I call 'Ragin' at the end of some days. Ragin' consists of driving in your car or relaxing in your room blasting RATM and singing along. Rage is always singing about some kind of injustice in the world, why not sing along and add all the injustices that have happened to you and let the power of music ease your burdens? We can't all write our own songs with the word genius of Zach de la Roca or shred on the guitar like Tom Morello can, but when I am rockin' out and Ragin', I feel like they wrote certain songs just to describe how my life sucks sometimes. By the way, Zach's new stuff with "One Day as a Lion" is not that great. I mean, the lyrics are still pretty cool, but he just isn't the same without Tom. That guy does some crazy stuff on his axe. Anywho, if anyone still reads this blog, try it sometime and see if it doesn't help you vent all of the things that you have been holding in for who knows how long.

Scorcher

I went and saw Tropic Thunder yesterday morning. Then I went and saw it again last night. It was pretty freaking hilarious. Jack Black plays "the comedian" playing a serious role for the first time in his career. Saddened that people only think he's funny because of his farts, he turns to drugs to satisfy his insecurities. And while the actors are dropped in the middle of nowhere to film a war movie, his drugs run out and he has trouble dealing with his withdrawals, to say the least. Ben Stiller is an over the hill action star looking to get his career back on track after a horrendous performance in the drama, "Simple Jack". His commitment to the movie remains well after it is clear to the other actors that things have taken a serious turn for the worse and they are dealing with real drug dealers instead of hired Viet Cong locals. Robert Downey Jr. is one of my favorites in this film. The perennial allstar, Academy Award winning, philosophical acting genius who is well known for literally becoming the characters he plays, Downey's character, Lazarus, gets surgery to turn his skin from black to white to play the role of an African American sargeant. It is hilarious listening to him try to talk like a black man from the south throughout the movie. Even after he is convinced the movie has turned into reality, he never breaks character. Tom Cruise plays the financial backer of the film, Les Grossman. I think Cruise had a fun time playing the vulgar, eccentric, self-assured billionaire. You could see it in his eyes. He got to say things that most of us would love to say to the jerks we see every day but don't have the balls to say it. Things become hilarious when you see Cruise as a balding, overweight, extremely hairy middle-aged CEO berating the director of the film for his inadequacies as a film maker. All in all I thought this was a good movie with some hilarious parts in it. It kept me laughing even though some of the things said were deeply disturbing, the fact that I knew they were not serious made it okay in my head.

P.S. While working the other day, the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen came in with her mother and grandmother. Holy crap she was smokin'! Tall, slender, asian descent, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. So here I am, reaching out to you beautiful asian girl. If you read this and you were in Costco on 300 west in Salt Lake on August 12, 2008, I would love to take you out to lunch. Don't slap fate in the face and ignore this post script. I am the tall, ruggedly handsome, stand-up comedian/pilot/doctor that helped bag your food after it was purchased. I extend my hand out to you, will you take it. . .?

Crushin'

Here's what I'm spittin': After about four years on top as the undisputed best tennis player in the universe, Roger Federer is about to have his throne usurped by the one and only Rafael Nadal. The weird thing is, I'm okay with that. Rafa has shown that he is as classy as they come, and he has also proven hands down this year, that he is more than equal to the task of taking Roger's place as numero uno. For now. I say for now, because I have in no way counted the Swiss champion out. Pete Sampras, the well known second best tennis player in history, fell off the map once he won his twelfth grand slam title, and he went on to win two more. He did this as an old man. I have complete faith that while Roger has had an off year, he will undoubtedly work harder and have even more desire to reclaim his rightful place on the top of the tennis world. It will not be a walk in the park though. Rafa has worked hard to get where he is, and he will not take things lightly now that he has reached the top of the metaphoric mountain. He has the high ground now, and Roger is going to have to be amazing in order to return to the summit. I do have to say this, regardless of how the year ends, what Nadal has done this year rivals anything that Roger has done. He has made a name for himself, and all the greats of tennis past and present must show him the respect that he has earned, even in their great presence.