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February 29, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Semi-Pro."
The Dude on the Right knew there would come a day when he didn't like a Will Ferrell movie, and for this movie review of "Semi-Pro" he can't really explain why he didn't like it, he just didn't. Even though he didn't like the movie that much, he still likes Maura Tierney,
thus remembering he should start watching "ER" some more, and also likes "Big, bouncy, jiggly 'hearts.'"
Posted by Rightdude at 6:30 PM | Comments (0)
February 28, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Lying is a Crime, Paula Abdul Needs to be Watched, and Dumb Robbers in Australia
For this podcast episode The Dude on the Right is upset that the federal government can't find Osama Bin Laden, won't make a decision on the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio merger, but instead seems to be worrying about who is lying, Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee. He is also a fan of the boobs on "Survivor: Micronesia," but is worried for the safety of David Archuleta on "American Idol" now that Paula Abdul seems to want to decapitate him.
And, oh yea, he tells a story of some stupid robbers in Australia.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2008
American Idol - The Ten Dudettes Who are Left
By:
The Dude on the Right
The dudes tried their best for 70's music, and didn't do to well, so now it's
time for the dudettes. Here's how I thought they did...
Carly
Smithson
- The Irish dudette who had a recording contract before. There’s still
something wrong about that.
- Crazy on You – Heart
- Like the bouncing, don’t like her tats, picked a good song for her, but
I wonder why she doesn’t work the stage more.
Syesha Mercado
- She does do a pretty good baby cry.
- Me and Mr(s). Jones – Billy Paul
- I actually liked the song, even though the judges didn’t seem to like it.
Maybe it came across better on TV than in the studio. She still needs to come
into her own.
Brooke White
- You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
- Almost seemed to be in the wrong key for her because she couldn’t hit
the low notes, but even though, it was good. I still like her, but if she’s
going to be working with the guitar she needs a wireless headset and work around
the stage because this ain’t no coffee shop.
Ramielle Malubay
- We are happy to know she can hula dance!
- Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
- Maybe they aren’t allowed to actually work the crowd because so far
they all just stand in that middle circle, but I am liking Ramielle and thought
she did a great job. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the judges, but I
liked it.
Kristy Lee Cook
- As opposed to seeing what the dudes are in their real life, we like
knowing what the dudettes are like, and I like that she’s a tomboy.
- You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt
- Nice outfit, and she’s doing her best to work the song. I think she
sings purty as well. Please, voters, keep her around for a while!
Amanda Overmyer
- She's a bookworm, and a Harley chick, and a nurse.
- Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
- Sure, she's a rocker chick, but this was a horrible song especially
with the "American Idol" band being her back-up band. She's looking scary,
and in the end, that won't work for this show.
Alaina Whitaker
- Our staff member Big Cooter doesn't like food touching each other either,
but at least he doesn't use a different fork for each food.
- Hopelessly Devoted to You - Olivia Newton-John
- Stop the hunch back (it shows in the side shots), fix the gap in your
front teeth, but it just wasn't a performance kind of song. She was good,
should have done "You're the One That I Want" from "Grease," in tight leather,
but needs work. Head to the dark side - country music.
Alexandrea Lushington
- If You Leave Me Now - Chicago
- It's a nice, simple song, but the key to this song is it being from
Chicago, the band. She did a decent job, but nothing spectacular for me.
There are probably so many more songs in the 70's that she could have done that
are more in her wheelhouse, it was almost sad she did a song from Chicago - the
band, not the city. If she had done a song from the city, not the band,
umm, sweet.
Kady Malloy
- She sings opera - does she know Orff?
- Magic Man - Heart
- Since it seems the singers aren't let loose to actually work the crowd,
Kady just looks like some chick singing a Heart song. It really didn't
work for me. She's cute, but man, bolt into "Carmina Burana" in the middle
and really make the song your own.
Asia'h Epperson
- She was a cheerleader. Ready, o kay.
- All By Myself - Eric Carmen
- It was nice and all, but she couldn't hit the power ballad of it at the
beginning, instead worked it into the ending. I think she got shorted
because she didn't seem to do much of the song at all. Simon was right in
his comments, even if she was coming off being sick.
Hell, at least some of the dudes seemed to pick up on what to sing with the 70's era, but the ladies were all over the place and none of them kept up with some of the dudes. The voting will be interesting, and I won't give you my take on who should get the boot, but unless someone steps up in a huge way, or he totally fucks up, David Archuleta has this season already in his back pocket.
Then again, if next week is the 80's, at least some of these folks will be singing songs released when they were alive.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 8:53 PM | Comments (0)
American Idol - The Ten Dudes Who are Left
By:
The Dude on the Right
So last night was the night for the remaining dudes on "American Idol, and
here's my rundown of what I thought of the dudes. We'll see if have enough
gumption to do a synopsis for the dudettes this week. Here we go...
Michael Johns
Jason Castro
Luke Menard
Robbie Carrico
Danny Noriega
David Hernandez
Jason Yeager
Chikezie
David Cook
David Archuleta
Some of the dudes showed they might have a chance in this thing, but a lot of them still don't know how to pick a song. If next week is about the 80's, at least some of the songs might have been put out after these dudes were born.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2008
Flickr, Picasa, and Scanner Dilemmas.
By:
The Dude on the Right
As I'm trying to pay attention to "American Idol" tonight, with the dudes
singing classic songs from the 70's which so far have been bad renditions of
songs from Fleetwood Mac, Andy Gibb, Queen, Foreigner, and The Carpenters, I'm
also in a quandary because I can't get my film scanning stuff like I want.
First off, I finally scanned all of my concert negatives, got them digitized in a decent resolution, and slowly plan to update the photos on the website with the higher resolution versions I now have. That was the easy part, with my old HP Photosmart film scanner.
But
then I decided I wanted to start digitizing older photos (like this cute girl on
the right), and old negatives, and post them on the internet for family,
friends, and anyone to see, and I have run into many questions, and many
choices.
As far as posting them on the internet, I started by setting up a site at Flickr, but I have to say that as much as I like it, and would pay the yearly fee for unlimited stuff, I am worried about the potential takeover by Microsoft and what that might mean to the photos I post. I also looked at maybe using Google's Picasa instead, but from some quick things I have read there are some copyright/publicity issues Google might be able to enforce. And as I was investigating Flickr vs. Google, I came upon a bunch of other sites that seem to do a similar thing, namely set up family photo albums. I'm so confused.
Then came the problem of a scanner. My old scanner was an HP Photosmart S20, which has served me well through the years, but it doesn't handle the medium format film that my mom had stored in a box. So, today, I went to get a new scanner, based on a lot of reviews I read on the internet, and even though I like the scanner (it's an Epson), the software for it sucks, and I'll be damned if I'm going to spend more money for scanning software. So, sadly, tomorrow, I have to hope the store will take it back, and then I suppose I'll go back to an HP scanner (I loved the software that worked with the Photosmart), I just hope the HP folks kept the same format for the software (or at least close) that I am used to, and that the scanner works like I need it to.
Now don't get me wrong, for most people the Epson software will be fine, but for me, and my photos, it blows (and if the Epson folks want to know why they can e-mail me), because all I really want to do, before the rest of my older relatives pass away, is to find out who all of these people are in photos that are tens, and twenties, and maybe even thirty or forty of years taken before I was born, and if it takes me that much longer to get the photos digitized and posted (like the Epson software leaned itself to), those relatives will be dead before I find out.
If you've got any suggestions for digitizing old negatives, medium format (up to 6 x 12), or if you have an internet site you love for posting your family scrapbooks, please let me know. Right now I have to figure out how to box up my Epson scanner I bought, hope the store takes it back, and then hope again that if I buy the HP version the software will be to my liking. With my luck the new scanner won't scan worth a darn but the software will be great.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 9:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Oscar Talk, Who's Jimmy Kimmel "F"-n, and Stu Won't Shut Up.
The Dude on the Right is back from his weekend in Lorain, Ohio, a city where both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are making campaign stops, but The Dude didn't stay long enough to see either of them. Instead he got back to the Chicagoland area as quick as he could so he and Stu Gotz could put together a new episode of their "Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast!" The Dude would have liked to have stayed to see Barack speak and Hillary flash her crazy-eyes, but instead he gets to listen to Stu not stop talking (maybe Stu should be a politician?).
But because Stu wouldn't shut up this podcast is all over the place, including talk about The Academy Awards and who should have won an Oscar, movies like "The Ex" and "Be Kind, Rewind," buying a meat slicer, "Saturday Night Live," starting a porn site, a non-bachelor party, Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel calling Stu in the middle of the night, and Mama Gotz almost falling out of bed. At least The Dude got to tell Stu that Jimmy Kimmel is fucking Ben Affleck.
So many things are in this podcast, and probably a few more. Go ahead, give it a listen.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:47 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
There Are Still Too Many American Idols for Me to Care.
By:
The Dude on the Right
As a fan of "American
Idol" I have to agree with my mom that there are still too many contestants
for me to really care. Sure, they trimmed it down to 24, twelve dudes and
twelve dudettes, but after watching the dudes do their singing yesterday, I
could care less about them. The dudettes are tonight, but other than
checking out which ones are doing the smart thing, namely trying to look hot as
well as sing well, I don't think I care about them, either.
The other thing, and maybe I'm wrong about this (go ahead, correct me), but I don't think they used to start right off the bat with a theme, at least not for the top 24. I always thought that, at the beginning, they let the kids pick any song, from any genre, from any time period, as long as it was on the approved "we've got the rights to this" list, to kind of show what these people thought they could sing well. Instead the boys were dropped right into the fire, with it now being 60's week, where most of the dudes seemed to struggle because A) They didn't seem to realize they were suppose to make it their own, nor 2) I'm guessing most of them had no idea how to make it their own, what with now being with the band and all. The judges kept blasting them for singing the song as the song was originally done, but I didn't think that, at this stage, most of our twelve dudes would be comfortable enough saying something like "Hey, band people, I'm singing Elvis' "Suspicious Minds," but I want it done in a hip-hop style that maybe Kanye West would do. I don't really know what that means, but since I have to make the song my own, and you're the band, well, you figure it out." Some of the dudes did okay, I don't think anyone sucked that bad, but it seems odd, at this early stage of the competition, for the contestants to have to reconfigure classics (and oh, by the way, the folks at "American Idol" need to look at a calendar because Danny's version of "Jailhouse Rock" belonged in 50's week, as it was released in 1957, I believe) into something contemporary.
We'll see how the ladies do tonight, and after yesterday I can probably guess there might have been a lot of scrambling, with maybe one of them saying "I am now doing "Baby Love" by The Supremes, and you better figure out how to make it sound like a version that Amy Winehouse would do." Somehow I don't think that would actually happen. My guess is the judges will be saying the same thing as yesterday, with maybe a couple girls, hopefully the good-looking ones, somehow making the song their own.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 7:02 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Lindsay Lohan is Naked, TV for Kids at Night, and Idols on iTunes.
The Dude on the Right was happy when he read Lindsay Lohan was getting naked, but for this podcast he states that he doesn't like Lindsay trying to copy Marilyn Monroe, that she should be her own woman. He's also frustrated because he ruined most of the animation of his and Stu's animated review of "Sweeney Todd," questions the decision to run a show geared for families, namely "My Dad is Better Than Your Dad" at a time-slot when the kids should be getting ready for bed, and wonders who will be buying "American Idol" performances on iTunes.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:16 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2008
I Don't Think Mom Will Need a T-Shirt
By:
The Dude on the Right
As I continue to use my blogging for some psychotherapy in dealing with the
death of my father last month, a couple of strange thoughts hit me the last
couple of days, some now dealing with my Mom, brought on by the death of my Dad.
And as bizarre as this sounds, I’m wondering now what should be put in her
coffin. Since she’s still in the land of the living, I suppose we should just
ask her, but hopefully she won’t need a t-shirt.
Here’s the thing: Even with my Dad’s many health issues, he always seemed to just soldier on, but with Mom being diagnosed with lung cancer a few years back, and sorry, no offense Mom, most of those in my family figured Dad would stick around and Mom would be the one to go first. But Dad had other plans, because he always had to do things his way, and last month his time on Earth was done. As we finalized his official obituary (I’m still working on my version), we also found/wanted some things buried with him.
In the couple of days following his death, as we were going through things, we found his wedding ring, which he never wore as long as I could remember, but it was stowed away, separately, distinctively, in his box of cufflinks. It was decided Dad would be buried with his wedding ring on, and from my perspective, to make sure, in Heaven, he remembered he couldn’t pick up other women.
It was also decided that Dad would be buried with a puzzle, because he liked doing puzzles. We debated about burying him with an old puzzle he had already completed, or a new puzzle for him to work on. So there, for him, is a puzzle of the Chicago skyline that I gave him for Christmas but he never got a chance to work on.
And as his official obituary stated, Dad enjoyed eating chocolate. One of his favorites was a coconut/chocolate concoction called a "haystack." Back in Lorain there was a chocolate/candy company called "Faroh’s" that had the best "haystacks." They were made with long strands of coconut draped in tasty chocolate, but sadly they aren’t there anymore. Dad did have some "haystacks" left with him, even though the newer version from another supplier look like turds with white speckles, and I have to admit, I snuck a few out of the box before I left the rest for him for his eternity. Though not as pretty as the Faroh’s brand, they were tasty. Sorry, Dad, I couldn’t resist.
But it wasn’t until the other day when I realized Dad had something of mine, for the rest of forever, and it’s simply a t-shirt.
I normally don’t wear t-shirts but with the colder winter we have been having this year, and my wanting to be a little more stylish, on colder days I started wearing a white t-shirt, and with the pending passing of my Dad, I packed my arsenal of four, white t-shirts for the trip back home. It wasn’t until the other day when it was cold outside, and I was looking for a t-shirt, that I realized I was one short, and that Dad was wearing my t-shirt. Forever.
You see, like most people dealing with the passing of a parent, there is always that awkward part of what to have them wearing in their coffin. Dad wasn’t a suit man and definitely not a jean’s man. His general attire, before he become bedridden when it was just easier to stay in a hospital gown, was a dark pair of slacks, usually blue, a t-shirt, and a flannel shirt in the winter, something lighter in the summer. We found the pants, found a nice shirt, but couldn’t find a crisp, white t-shirt in his dresser, so I gave Dad one last gift – a t-shirt.
It was weird when it donned on me that Dad was buried with my t-shirt. It didn’t make me sad, just seemed weird. I hope Mom won’t think it weird when we ask her if she wants anything buried with her. I doubt she’ll need a t-shirt, but when that time comes, I might just bring a spare one anyway.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 4:03 PM | Comments (1)
February 16, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Definitely, Maybe."
The Dude on the Right has turned in his guy-card. Yup, we find in his movie review of "Definitely, Maybe" that The Dude got weepy, even during a scene that was telegraphed from miles away. He does think it is a great date movie, but is sad the with Ryan Reynolds entering the realm of being a more serious actor, odds are there won't be a "Van Wilder: He's a Professor Now."
Posted by Rightdude at 5:13 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Jumper."
The Dude on the Right thinks "Jumper" had the potential to turn itself into a movie about a new superhero, and he tells you how in his movie review. Sadly, though, for The Dude the movie just turned into a movie about a dork with a cool power, looking to get his girl. Maybe the book the movie was based on was better, but The Dude doesn't read so that really doesn't matter.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:24 PM | Comments (1)
February 14, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Why Johnny Fairplay Might be Gone, Goodbye Josiah, TV is Almost Back, and Getting Howard Stern off the Air.
The Dude on the Right is here for his Valentine's Day podcast, and he doesn't talk about love. Instead The Dude gives his analysis on Johnny Fairplay being booted from "Survivor: Micronesia" last week, feeling bad for Josiah who's back living in his car after "American Idol," and being happy some of his favorite TV shows will be back, soon. He is also worried that Howard Stern might be off the air soon recalling the movie "Spies Like Us" and the government looking to shoot down a "broken, spy" satellite.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2008
So Much Mis-Information: Bob's not Dead and the DOTL isn't Engaged. We Think.
By:
The Dude on the Right
In that last week I heard a friend of mine got engaged and another one died.
So much for proper communication.
First the death that didn't happen.
The e-mail subject simply read "Bob died." I know a few Bob's, but only one came to mind from the person who sent this e-mail to me and my buddy Stu Gotz. I met Stu before I got a chance to read the e-mail myself, he mentioned the e-mail, and it was a bummer. We both knew Bob had his health problems, but it was still sort of shock. The problem came because our buddy who sent the e-mail, Fruitcake, didn't add a last name in the subject line, only forwarding along the e-mail he received, and Stu didn't read the supplementary parts of the e-mail, namely that which would have given the last name. Nope, Stu assumed it was the Bob we were familiar with, but luckily we both found out that this Bob was one we knew from ten year's ago and not the Bob we were thinking of, before we spread the word out, which would have gotten to the Bob we know, who would have probably said "But I'm not dead."
And no, the DOTL is not engaged. Either. We think.
What's a good reason to go to Las Vegas? Why a bachelor party, of course, and late last week Stu got a text message from Wimp stating a quick trip was being planned to the land of gambling and boobs for the bachelor party of the DOTL. Damn, we didn't even know the DOTL was engaged! Stu investigated, or rather contacted Wimp, who said the DOTL was planning to elope with Trash at the end of March, getting married during an already planned trip to Vegas, so he was working to put together a quick bachelor party weekend for the DOTL and all of his friends. Stu had lots of plans for the upcoming weekend already set up but quickly worked to cancel them, mostly because Mama Gotz told him to get his ass to Vegas (trust me, that does not happen often), and me, well, I did some quick investigating realizing I couldn't afford a trip to Sin City on short notice (damn airfare), that, and I'm afraid of losing all of my money on a Blackjack table and, well, fake boobs scare me (I suppose they would scare me less have I had the chance to feel them, but sadly, Vegas strippers only seem to let other women feel them, or at least Trash). I even almost posted a "Congratulations DOTL & Trash" blog over the weekend, but then feared what if Whammy read the post and didn't know about the engagement? Stu still seemed to be getting innuendos of upcoming nuptials, but something didn't seem right so I had to get Trash involved in this rumor, sending off a quick e-mail, to which she squashed the story of the wedding plans, pretty much throwing Wimp under the bus.
It seems Wimp, not knowing how to "justify" for Mrs. Wimp a quick trip to Las Vegas for him and his friends, instead decided using the DOTL getting engaged and needing a bachelor party was the way to go. I'm not sure how he'll explain things to her when the DOTL and Trash don't actually get married, but I'm thinking he's also got that figured out, unless Mrs. Wimp reads my blogs (which I'm pretty sure she doesn't), in which case, Wimp, I'm sorry.
Important plans almost got changed, maybe I could have conquered my fears, felt fake boobs (if only allowed, of course), and lost all of my money in the casino, but the next time, Wimp, you can tell Mrs. Wimp anything you want, just fill us in on the "truth" so we don't blow it for others. That is, unless the DOTL and Trash are now lying and plan to get married at the end of March. Or maybe it's just the DOTL is lying, and was hoping to get married at the end of March. Or maybe no one is getting married, but we should all just plan a great trip to Vegas at the end of March.
At least, right now, Stu and I know the Bob we thought was, isn't dead, and the DOTL we thought was, isn't engaged. Right now, all we do know, is Stupid Wimp.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 7:51 PM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! At the Movies, Watching the Grammy's, A Song Not for The Grammy's, and The Dude isn't a Pimp.
Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right finally got back together for their "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, maybe just to stay warm. The Dude talks about The Grammy Awards and then spotlights a song that probably has no chance to win one, while Stu worries if his kids should see "The Spiderwick Chonicles." The Dude can't help with the "Spider" movie, but he does tell Stu about "Fool's Gold" and the Vince Vaughn comedy movie, while Stu saw "Atonement" and "The Nanny Diaries," but warns The Dude that those who hire a nanny might not get the funny of the latter.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Fool's Gold."
The Dude on the Right went to see "Fool's Gold," and guess what? That's right, he wrote a review. The Dude's always had a thing for Kate Hudson, and now he has a thing for Alexis Dziena, he just wishes the movie was rated R. As far as the movie goes, you will get exactly what you will probably expect, The Dude just wishes the film people could have made up their minds if that should be comedy or adventure.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show."
The Dude on the Right was looking for some laughs, and he got them when he went to see " Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland." The title might be long, but the movie is a great look at 30 days, and nights, with four comics and some special guests thrown in for good measure. A word of warning: If you are a blue-hair who doesn't like the F-Bomb please stay away from this movie, or just get through it to realize that comics are people, too.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:16 PM | Comments (1)
February 8, 2008
My Dream Woman at The Post Office
By:
The Dude on the Right
As is part of my problem in life I'm shy. The other problem is that I
don't know the right thing to say until maybe 30 minutes later. That case
in point came about during a visit to The Post Office today when I had the
chance to maybe meet the woman of my dreams. There she was, waiting for
some Passport help, her paperwork in hand, and doing some texting. And as
people are wont to do these days, then she starts a conversation on her cell
phone. Now there are times when people try to be discreet when they're on
the phone in public, but not my girl, dressed in tight jeans, a tight shirt, and
a giant, silver belt. Nope, she wanted everyone waiting in line at the
post office to know that she was planning on going to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight
because they have some drink specials, and she was pissed at her friend.
She was so pissed, in fact, that she told all of us he had called her the
P-word, was upset he asked if she was having sex with some other dude, then in
her conversation dropped an "F" him," and an "F" that "S," of course not using
the shortened version of the words, but the full-blown F-Bomb and S-Bomb.
What a woman of class! What a woman for me! What a woman I couldn't
take home to meet mom!
And at the time I couldn't think of a thing to say.
Sadly there weren't any little kids around so I couldn't go up to her and ask her to watch her language (for the children, of course), and sadly I was in the line to get stamps rather than get a passport so I couldn't strike up the conversation of where she might be going. Also, from her conversation, it sounded like she might be in college, at least I assume so because she talked about some classes she was taking and it would be kind of sad if she were 21 years old and still in high school, so maybe I could have offered to help her with some of her classes.
And then, sadly, while she was still in mid-conversation, I finally got my stamps and had to leave my dream woman behind.
It was then, thirty minutes later, when I figured out how I could have made my move: "Excuse me, can you tell me what Buffalo Wild Wings you will be at tonight and at what time? I would really like to buy a woman of your class a drink."
Looks like I let another great girl slip away. Damn.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 5:13 PM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Idol's Going to Hollywood, "Survivor" Has Fake Boobs, and Why I Voted for Barack Obama, and a DVD Review of "Once."
The Dude on the Right is still trying to get settled in to doing DVD reviews, so this time he watched a movie he already loved, and still loves, and thinks you might love, namely the movie "Once." He also did a solo podcast about hope, where he hopes Paula Abdul finally gives good audio now that "American Idol" is going to Hollywood, hopes the dudettes with the fake boobs stay awhile on "Survivor: Micronesia," and as much as he hopes for the future of the United States, he also gives, during the podcast, some reasons why he likes Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. Bring on John McCain!
Posted by Rightdude at 7:12 PM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2008
I've Suddenly Realized I'm All Over the Internet World, and I Don't Know Why.
By:
The Dude on the Right
The Super Bowl is over and we found out that Bill Belichick must have had an
important meeting to get to at the end of the game. Super Tuesday is over,
and I feel bad for my mom because Ohio seems to be a pivotal state again in a
Presidential election and that means she will be bombarded with ads for both
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I also read they are even planning to
hold a debate in The Buckeye State - lucky O. Hi. O. And speaking of ads,
one of the latest iPhone ads touts the ability of using your iPhone with
Facebook. I would like to admit that the ad enticed me to set up a
Facebook identity, but I actually set one up over the weekend, before the ad ran
-
And I don't know why.
I say "I don't know why" mostly because I should just use this website to say anything I have to say, but suddenly I have found that I have a presence in multiple locations in the internet world, and maybe it's starting to get out of control.
Early on I was able to give myself the same name on a variety of IM sites, places like AOL, Yahoo!, Google, Messenger, and Skype, hoping to, I don't know, instant message people, but then I found that I rarely did, even when my "buddies" were online. Now I just check the sites every month or so to keep them active, but I'm still hoping to utilize the "talk" feature of one of them to let you, if you listen to my podcast, actually "call" in during a podcast recording (let me know if you might be interested in being a part of a future podcast).
I'm also a member of a music message board that is very informative, and I love to read, but I rarely post because by the time I read something and have an opinion about it, someone has already posted the same opinion I have (and I hate to be a "Me, too!" kind of poster), or worse, someone misunderstands what I was trying to say, posts that I am scum, and I don't have time to get in a message board shouting match trying to explain my point of view.
I have a MySpace page that I try to blog about things I don't think entertainment readers care about, mostly about my struggles with losing weight, and every now and then throw a comment to my sister, niece, or nephew, but in the land of MySpace I only have 85 friends, and lately the only friend requests I get are to be the friend of some hot chick trying to get me to join her web site where I can only assume she gets naked if I give her my credit card number.
We, meaning the Entertainment Ave! website, have a presence in Second Life, a virtual world that has recently been rocked with a bank scandal (it can even happen in the virtual world), and at the time when I bought some virtual land and built a couple of virtual buildings, I had plans on how to use it, namely as a gathering place for people to talk about concerts, movies, and TV, complete with a virtual bar called Squirrelly Georges. I actually have two names in Second Life, one for business (DudeOnRight Mannonen) and one for fun (Drewman Zapedzki, and not that kind of fun, even though you can have sex in the virtual world), but sadly I haven't been building much there lately though I'm hoping to change that now that I have digital versions of all of my concert photos (more on that in a later blog).
I also have a LinkedIn account which has actually helped me re-connect with some college friends, and I'm included in an internet social site for the fraternity I am member of, Theta Xi. I was a member of a Yahoo! Group for the those from the class of 1985 of Lorain Catholic High School, but I opted out of that when one of my classmates decided that every day was a day to post about his political beliefs. I'm tempted to rejoin just to see if he has toned things down a bit on his postings. I also have a Classmates account, though I haven't visited that site in over a year because I don't want to spend the few bucks to get "better info" on old classmates, although, sometimes, I am tempted to see where an old girlfriend might be.
And if that isn't enough of an internet presence, now that I'm done with digitizing my concert photos, I've been thinking about setting up a Flickr account as I digitize the rest of the photos I have, many of which will deal with photos from college, photos from high school, photos I took for the hell of it, and photos of days before I was born so that relatives and friends around the world could see them. The monkey-wrench thrown into this, though, is what the hell would I do with that account in the end, and now that Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo!, do I want Microsoft, somehow, in charge of my pictures?
And don't get me started on the various RSS feeds I read.
If that isn't enough more, now that I'm a member of Facebook I'm not really sure what to do there, either, or whom I should poke (you can do that on Facebook, but do I really want to "poke" people?). Maybe it's just that I want to be the coolest 40 year old with a presence all over the world, or at least through the internet, but the crappy part is that most of the 40ish year old friends I would like to re-connect with, well, they don't seem to be as cool as I am and don't have accounts on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Second Life, various IM sites, or the world.
Maybe I should just Google them, or get younger friends.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 7:31 PM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Lot's of Super Talk About a Bowl and Voting, Bob's House Was the Best, and I Could Be A Stripper.
For another Monday The Dude on the Right is flying solo for a weekend wrap-up podcast, but that's okay because this podcast is all about Super. The Dude talks about the Super Bowl, about Super (thanks for asking) Tuesday, his almost being a Super Stripper, and Super Bowl commercials. And speaking of those Super Bowl commercials, he thinks the most creative of the bunch actually came during the Super Bowl Pre-Game, a spot titled "Bob's House" from Pepsi, which The Dude thinks they actually screwed up just tad. The hell with Justin Timberlake, if Pepsi wanted to make a stir they should have run "Bob's House" during the big game, without the pre-explaination of what it was about.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:51 PM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Strange Wilderness" and a DVD Review of "The Game Plan."
As The Dude on the Right prepares for the Super Bowl, he pounded out a couple of reviews. One was of the movie "Strange Wilderness," which he saw the other day, and thinks the movie might be the worst movie ever. Of course that means he gave it 2 stars and laughed during the film, mostly laughing about how bad it was.
He is also trying to get more DVD reviews done, so this time it’s a movie with The Rock. No, it’s not a super action flick, The Dude reviews the DVD version of "The Game Plan." If you’ve got a 5 year old girl it’s probably a movie for all of you to enjoy together, but if you’re a dude, you’ll probably want to catch the ESPN extras on the DVD.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 1, 2008
Today I Cried a Little. For Me He's Just "Dad."
By:
The Dude on the Right
We got snowed-in here, today, in Chicagoland. Some didn't, or maybe they
had the proper vehicle, equipped with snow-shoes, to travel the glistening,
white roadways, but I didn't and the snow-plow people
didn't show up until around 2PM to get the driveway in my townhouse area
cleared. Hunkered down in my bunker I did get a little bit of work done in
the morning, but shirking some of my duties I also did some cleaning of the
Dude-Pad. But that's not why I cried just a little, as the title of this
blog tells. Nope, as much as my pad needs a good cleaning, and that does
make me sad, it wasn't until this evening when the tears came.
Because, tonight, I figured, I would also work to clean up and delete stuff on my computers, and that is when I came across a picture.
There I was, haphazardly deleting stuff, when I came across a folder named "Home Photos," and the first picture showing up was one of a lazy, chubby squirrel. I remembered when I took it, back in July, for a blog posted in August, and for a moment I was just ready to hit the "Delete" key because I already had a blog, posted, with photos of that lazy squirrel. But then I scrolled through the digital camera roll, and there it was, a photo that made me cry, and it wasn't just a little.
And that was a couple of hours ago.
As I have been working on typing, editing, re-typing, re-editing this blog, I have been torn as to if I should post the picture, or not, because if members of the "... on the Right" family view this, they might cry a little as well, but hopefully, for the world that is forever in the Internet, and in having one of the last pictures of my Dad, maybe the better picture all of us can go to is an image of him smiling, with his granddaughter. And that's not such a bad thing for the world to see.
So here it is, the last picture I took of my Dad and Favorite Niece - His Favorite Granddaughter.
As I have been trying to digitize all of the pictures I have taken in the old version, that with film, in one keystroke I almost lost a picture of my Dad. He's gone from me now, but with this picture he will live forever, in the digital world. His name is, umm, Frank John Labis, it might also be Frank Joseph Labiszewski, it might also be Frank John Labiszewski, For me he is, and always will be, just Dad.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 9:19 PM | Comments (0)
