My girly post of the year

Not that I think it's a bad thing, since this is about a romantic drama, and not one of those tear jerker chick flicks that I've never seen. Anyways, last night after work I finally got around to watching Pride & Prejudice (which I downloaded), and quickly had my face kicked in with awesomeness. Not since Sense & Sensibility have I seen a romantic drama this awesome. Heck, I'd say it's better than S&S since it's not as slow (as far as I can remember). An amazing love story that drew me in from the start with it's great acting, writing, beautiful landscapes and music (classical piano OWNS me!). I heartily recommend it to everyone I know, even though I know none of my guy friends will care and the girls (the few I know) will want to see it regardless. The second it comes out I expect everyone to watch it whether they have to buy it, rent it or borrow the copy I'll be buying. Oh, and a few more thoughts about the movie.

1. Kiera Knightley finally proves that she can act. None of that boring acting from Pirates of the Caribbean.

2. An amazing love story that had me all giddy by the time it was over. Granted it was 3:30 in the morning so that might have had something to do with the giddiness. Anyways, all the twists and turns had me frozen in my seat and I even laid in bed for awhile afterwords thinking about the story, characters and the events that took place.

3. Judi Dench is the ugliest and meanest old woman actress ever, but she does a good job at it.

(note: My love for this should counter my hate for the Star Wars prequels)

Doug's look back at the best stuff of 2005

Well, I figured I've planned on doing this post for the last month or so, so here it is. Nobody is even reading my blog or commenting that I know of (I'm guessing because they've been busy with family and friends over the holidays) so I'll continue to take a break from blogging until things pick up again. I just wanted to get this done before we got too far into the new year. And speaking of the new year, I might also start work on a "look ahead at my most anticipated stuff of 2006" post. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this post.

My favorite movies of the year: (Note that I haven't seen a few yet. Like Capote, Broken Flowers, etc. Also I'm rating stuff based on entertainment, not content and stuff, so some of these might have content that offends certain people)

1. Cinderella Man
2. The Aviator
3. Serenity
4. King Kong
5. The Machinist
6. Batman Begins
7. Hotel Rwanda
8. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
9. Walk the Line
10.The Life Aquatic

honorable mention: Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, March of the Penguins, Million Dollar Baby, Red Eye, Kung Fu Hustle, Ray

My favorite Animated films of the year:

1. Wallace & Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Probably my fav movie of the year period)
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. The Corpse Bride

honorable mention: Grave of the Fireflies, Porco Rosso (These didn't come out last year so I couldn't include them)

Most disappointing movies of the year:

1. War of the Worlds
2. Star Wars Episode III
3. The Island

My favorite books of the year:

1. Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
2. Every Man, God's Man
3. Knife of Dreams (Book 11 of the Wheel of Time)
4. A Voice in the Wind (I think that's the name)
5. I forget what it was, but I know I read it and enjoyed it

My favorite games of the year:

1. God of War
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
4. Guitar Hero
5. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
6. Psychonauts
7. Mario Kart DS
8. Shadow of the Colossus
9. Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
10.Sonic Rush

honorable mention: Radiant Silvergun and Valkyrie Profile (neither came out in 2005)

My favorite artists/cds of the year:

Matthew Good and Sloan's greatest hit albums
Radiohead's OK Computer and The Bends albums
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

My review scores for every movie I saw in 2005 (only including movies that were released in theatre or on DVD)

Serenity - 9
My Date with Drew - 7
King Kong - 8
Shaun of the Dead - 7
Primer - 7
The Final Cut - 5
National Treasure - 5
House of Flying Daggers - 7
The Life Aquatic - 8
In Good Company - 7
The Chronicles of Narnia - 8
Cinderella Man - 9
March of the Penguins - 8
Walk the Line - 8
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 7
Wallace & Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit - 10
The Corpse Bride - 8
Million Dollar Baby - 7 (the ending takes away from its score)
Batman Begins - 8
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 7
Fantastic Four - 6
The Island - 6 (first half - 9/10, second half - 5/10)
Red Eye - 7
Star Wars Episode III - 6
War of the Worlds - 5
Madagascar - 3
Howl's Moving Castle - 9
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 6
The Longest Yard - 6
Kung Fu Hustle - 7
The Aviator - 9
The Machinist - 8
Ray - 7
Hotel Rwanda - 8
Fun With Dick & Jane - 6

Still waiting to see the following 2005 movies: Everything is Illuminated, Broken Flowers, Elizabethtown, Pride & Prejudice, Good Night and Good Luck, Capote, The Constant Gardener, Syriana, Oldboy, Pride, An Unfinished Life, The White Countess, Cache (Hidden)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Well, I'm sure Christmas will be over by the time anyone checks my blog, but anyways. It's been a pretty hectic week. Not because of Christmas coming up, but because it was my first week working at Day & Ross. So far it seems ok. I like the people I've been working with (even though so far I'm only really talking to three people (Todd and Patti who are my supervisors, and Jill who is in charge of keeping me working and fixing my mistakes). I also only had to work until 11 this week, so next week it'll be different with me working until whenever it is that they let me leave (1:30 maybe?). But anyways, I'll talk about work more after I settle in more.

Today I got my new computer, which Jonathan built for me. He gets mad props for doing such a great job. It's frickin awesome, which you should be able to tell from the pics below. Very nice job man. Now I just need a faster internet connection and I'll be downloading like a madman.

Taking a break?

It seems that things have slowed down on everyone's blogs. I'm guessing everyone is busy during Christmas, so I might as well take a break from blogging too unless things pick up again. In the meantime I'm gonna start work on my end of the year post. Oh, and I need to go to Fredericton sometime in the next week or so, so if anyone would like to go with me to help me finish my Christmas shopping, just let me know. I hate driving to Freddy by myself.

Guess who is now employed?

That's right, I got the job at Day & Ross. Now instead of having no life and being broke, I'll have no life and have money. I guess it's an improvement. As long as I don't get absorbed in buying and getting stuff. I'll probably keep selling games after I beat them so that I don't get caught up in collecting again. But yeah, I start Monday night and work Monday thru Friday from 5:15 pm to 1:30 am (with a couple hours overtime during busy months). There's a three month probation period starting out, so I guess I'll just have to take it as it goes. I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to help out with youth anymore, but I'll just have to leave it in God's hands. If he wants me helping out with youth then he'll work things out. And it sounds like I can still go to youth once a month since I get one day off each month. And it also looks as though I'll be staying home by myself for Christmas after all. LOL Funny how things work out. But I have a job again for the first time in over a year so it's all good.

Guitar Hero is here!

OK, I finally got Guitar Hero friday morning, and it has been owning me (and my fingers) with awesomeness. So far I still suck. It's a lot harder than you would think. I can usually only play five or six songs before my fingers get tired and sore, but I'm sure if I keep it up for at least an hour a day I'll get used to it and will get better. So far my favorite songs to play are David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, Boston's More Than a Feeling, Queen's Killer Queen and Frankenstein by The Edgar Winter Group. I'd also probably enjoy Ozzy Ozborne's Bark at the Moon if it wasn't frickin impossible to play. Anyways, so far it's one of my favorite games of the year (right up there with God of War and Resident Evil 4) and I can't wait to take it to youth and play with Josh and Josiah. As long as I keep constant supervision on the controller. Oh, and here are a couple of pics of me rocking out last night. Take note of my cat Kitten having a small cameo in the first pic. I think I see Pepper's tail coming from under the couch too. And yes, we are still in the process of putting up our tree.



Tomorrow night our youth group is taking the teens rollerskating in Houlton. I look forward to the ride more than anything, since my mom considers rollerskating one of those things that might hurt my back and just sitting there is pretty boring aside from watching the limbo. This time I'm tempted to just say "screw it, I'm having fun" and grabbing a pair of skates (if they have any that fit my massive feet). Is it wise to put having fun over safety? Probably not, but I hate sitting there while everyone is having fun. Knowing the way I am I'll chicken out at the last second and just do the usual thing, we'll see. For now, I'm gonna go read until Arrested Development comes on at 9. Please let Dave Thomas (Super Dave Osbourne) still be on the show!

I suck

I know I promised a massive update, but I've been in a weird mood today feeling awkward and slightly depressed which kinda is the opposite of what I was planning on posting about, so I don't really think it's a good time to post about the stuff that was on my mind. Don't worry though, I got Guitar Hero last week, so after I spend some more time with that and get some pics of myself rocking out I'll make another post. Oh, and today someone was passing notes to me in church for the first time since I was like 15, which was just weird and slightly annoying. Although she was just being nice asking about my job interview so no hard feelings there. Just kinda weirded me out. In the meantime I'll continue to feed my weird mood by contemplating how maybe I'll be better off in Adam and Greg's bomb shelter where I don't have to worry about feeling awkward around people.