Idle Hands

So I am on the job hunt still, and things seem to be going okay. I actually am a whole lot more confident in myself then I have been the last 10 years. Working with people who support you and make you feel good about yourself will do that for you. Had another great job interview today and it appears the job is mine for the taking. The question is "Is this something I want to be doing?" and "Will I do well at it?" In fact my interviewer asked those exact questions, and honestly I don't really have a handle on the answers. The good news is that I have some other leads lined up and am taking some advice from my friend Brittany about how to submit for a job. Got some things lined up for tomorrow, a checklist if you will and having a list of things to do always helps me accomplish those things better.

Hosting the Musicpalooza Singers tomorrow night at Anthology SD, the winners from my big SD Fair contest will be performing. Can't wait. It's a chance to see these guys outside of being the contest coordinator and I can actually enjoy myself like a fan. Plus have a few beers and celebrate a satisfactory culmination of 7+ months hard work. Got a lead on some Comic-Con tickets for later this week, so I at least will be going one of the four days. And my roommate gave me a card for a Doctor that prescribes Medical Marijuana. Not sure if I am more thinking about it to get marijuana because I want it, or because I want to have something cool. I'm weird.

Ugh...Seriously

Today I finally am getting my act together and cleaning my room. I thought I had kept my room pretty clean up until a few months ago when I got busy with work and school, but it turns out I was mistaken. Not sadly mistaken, just mistaken. I found a shirt in my pile of laundry, clean and dirty, that I thought I had worn semi-recently but it turns out that I have not worn it since October 10 of last year. The reason I know this is that there was a ticket stub for America's Best Dance Crew at the Sports Arena in the shirt pocket. Oi.

So I find myself this morning, now afternoon, cleaning my room and watching Venture Bros Season 3 on DVD and listening to the directors/writers commentaries. Love this show. But a weekday cleaning my room and watching DVD's is completely counter productive to looking for a job and keeping my life afloat. But who wants to be productive? Oh and I am writing this to avoid doing homework now. Hey and Harry Potter is in theaters at midnight. I COULD stay up late and see it, or I could just sneak out to the first showing on Wednesday morning. :p

Total Let Down

So a week ago Tim Pyles and I crowned the winners in the Musicpalooza contest at the San Diego County Fair. We had so little time to announce the winners that literally we were announcing 3rd, 2nd, 1st and then pushing everyone off the stage for the next announcement. We gave away $64,000 in just under 5 minutes. When I had the results in my hands, and had to walk them on stage I almost vomited right then and there. All the work, blood, sweat and tears of 7 months came down to one announcement. That's heavy stuff man. A week later I am completely out of a job for the first time in 10 years. Anything I do today is a total let down in comparison to last Friday. Unless by some miracle I have a job interview later. That would rule.

Been awhile

Okay so it has been more then a little while. Last time I blogged on here was May 22. That was well over a month ago. Here we are July 8th, and I am back. Spent the last month straight working at the San Diego County Fair and wrapping up another semester of school. You now find me about to start school again and looking for work. Such is life the last two years. I never seem to be in one place for more then 6 months at a time. That being said, I have decided that the Top 5 Blog is going to be changing a little bit. No big surprise there. The name is going to stay the same, but if I feel like blogging, but don't have a Top 5 in mind, this will be my home for that as well. Enjoy.

Top 5 Terminators

So Terminator Salvation comes out this week and I took the opportunity to sneak away from work and see a Thursday afternoon showing. I had read the reviews and my own mirrors what a lot of people are saying. It's fun and flashy without a lot of substance. But the keyword is that it was fun. So on that note since this movie actually takes place in the story of Terminator AFTER Judgment Day there are a lot of Terminator machines that Skynet uses. And that got me thinking what are my Top 5 Terminators? So my list is based on Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator: Salvation, and Terminator The Sarah Conner Chronicles.

#5 T-800: Played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original 1984 classic movie. He reprised his role in the sequel but that time playing a good guy, made a third appearance in ROTM, and even makes a computer generated appearance and debut in Salvation.

#4 T-X: Played by Kristanna Loken in ROTM this was the first appearance anywhere of a Terminator as a female. And she was hot. Some featured upgrades included an arm cannon, she can analyze dna by tasting and can even jump really far. The T-X was bad ass.

#3 Cameron: Played by Summer Glau on the TV show The Sarah Conner Chronicles. I really like my female bad asses and Summer is awesome. She is approximately an upgrade to T-800 but not as advanced as a T-1000.

#2 Harvester: Played by a computer near you! This giant CGI bad ass is seen in Terminator: Salvation collecting humans for Skynet to do research from. First of all it is HUGE. Like Transformers huge. Secondly it has some kick ass weapons. It features a particle cannon that is shoulder mounted, a lot like the Predator franchise. And it also has motorcycle Terminator drones that it can launch from it's legs to chase down runners. How cool is that?!

#1 T-1000: Played by Robert Patrick. This bad ass made his debut in T2. An upgrade to the T-800 he is sent back in time to kill John Connor. He is made up of liquid metal, is strong and fast, can create swords from his arms, regenerate from almost all damage, and even morph into different idenities.

Top 5 Cover Songs

Someone recently reminded me that opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. With that in mind I put forth my Top 5 Cover Songs knowing that I am leaving a lot of great songs off my list and even personal favorites. This list is not based on album sales, popularity or even coolness. This is simply my favorite cover songs. But what makes a song a cover? If it was originally song and released by another artist and someone knew sings it, it's a cover. What makes a good cover song? Anything that not only captures the essence of the original but also adds to it and makes it something that can stand on it's own. Left off my list are some of my notable favorites such as The Beatles - Twist and Shout, The Beachboys - Sloop John B, Guns and Roses - Knockin on Heavens Door, UB40 - Red Red Wine, Greg Laswell - Girls Just Want To Have Fun, and Social Distortions - Ring of Fire.

#5 The Fugees - Killing Me Softly. What a great song. You have Lauren Hill singing vocals better then Roberta Flack's original and Wyclef and Pras backing up with the Hip Hop flair. The video is a classic as well. One time...

#4 Van Halen - You Really Got Me. Eddie Van Halen bringing screaming rifts on his guitar with David Lee Roth on vocals do justice to this Kinks song and really bring it to a new and younger audience.

#3 Ray Charles - America the Beautiful. You only have to watch the 4th of July scene in the movie the Sandlot to fall in love with this cover and the imagery it invokes. My favorite part is when Ray brings his own flair and claims "Now waitaminute"

#2 Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah. Such a haunting and spiritual cover of Leonard Cohen's classic song. The sadness comes in the story of Jeff Buckley and his tragically cut short career and life. Oddly both the #2 and #1 songs were covered by Jason Castro on American Idol last year.

#1 Iz - Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I guess #1 and #2 have something else in common as well. They both feature singers whose lives were cut short. Iz, a hawaiian singer known for his folksy island sound gives this song a modern sound while keeping the charm and innoncence of the original.

Top 5 Reasons the New Star Trek kicks ass

I don't know that I am what you would classify as a "Trekkie", but I have to admit that up until the last Star Trek movie I have seen every Star Trek movie in theaters since around 1994 or so. I personally just love Sci-Fi, especially Sci-Fi that has a built in history that I can dive into. That being said, I have been eagerly awaiting this new Star Trek movie and franchise reboot for the last 6 months. I was able to catch the first showing on Saturday morning, and even that was sold out. The movie uses Time Travel and a really nasty villain to completely reboot this storied franchise. Fans of the The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and even the original show might be up in arms about completely changing history but I have a theory for that. Ultimately people want to be entertained, and if you keep making good quality movies like this one they will buy it. Also the movie acknowledges that this is now an alternate reality and that things will only change from here. I like that. Respect what came before, but don't be tied down by it. So with that here is my Top 5 reasons why this movie kicked ass.

#5 Zoe Saldana playing as Uhuru - She was great in this movie and it was nice seeing this fine actress in something more then a Drumline type movie.

#4 John Cho as Sulu - I'm a big Cho fan, so he could have just been a face in this movie and I would have been excited, but then Cho had to make Sulu a bad ass with a sword. Bravo.

#3 The Sci-Fi and the Special Effects - From the Mining Ship and the use of a planetary drill, to the costumes, the design of the Enterprise Bridge, the space fights, the bowels of the ship and all the pipes, to the red matter bubble. This movie did a great job of using special effects in great ways and capturing the Science Fiction of it being a space movie.

#2 Chris Pine as Jim Kirk - That's right Jim Kirk as he likes to be called, not James T. Kirk. I'll tell you what, the best part of this movie is that it captures the arrogance of Kirk really well and Pine shows it in his eyes and his in smirks that no matter what you throw at him he will come back for more. You only beat him if you kill him, and he refuses to die. But Kirk gets beat up A LOT.

#1 Bad Robot - From Director J.J. Abrams to the writers and production team they did a great job of capturing the essence and fun of the Star Trek series while making it younger, revamping it, and not being a slave to it's ginormous history.