Screwed Up Animation, Too Much “Star Wars,” and the NFL Network Should Get a Clue. Merry Christmas!

By:

The Dude on the Right

As I’m at home this Saturday night, becoming pissed at myself for my, hmm,
improper animation techniques (which actually means I screwed up a good chunk of
our animated review for "Apocalypto" that I wanted to get posted this weekend),
I also have the Dallas Cowboys vs. Atlanta Falcons game on my NFL Network
Channel in between my watching, again, thanks to the Cinemax folks, my various
"Star Wars" fixes.

For the animation, as I got through most of the subtitling
that would be necessary, I realized most of none of it was going to work because
I forgot about the camera angles I would use (I should have fully outlined the
animation schedule on paper, instead of doing it in my head).  In trying to
rush the animated review, I pretty much set it back a week due to heading home
for Christmas and my lack of computing power in Ohio.  My fault, but it was
a stupid mistake, which wouldn’t have happened if I had just done some proper
planning.

I’m also wishing, hoping, praying, that Cinemax is almost done with
their various showing of the "Star Wars" films.  For "Episode I" I’m a
sucker for the hope that Anakin is the one to save the galaxy, "Episode II"
gives me Senator Amidala to be happy she is of age, and she looks great as
monsters rip off her clothes.  "Episode III" has great fight scenes and
sadly, the end of Mace Windu.  "Episode IV" is always great but sort of
creepy.  Great because it was the first "Star Wars" movie, that I saw at
the Avon Lake Theater in Ohio before they remodeled from one screen to four, and
creepy, because now we now Princess Leia is Luke’s sister.  "Episode V" was
the dark episode, but I was now at the age when "A New Hope" started to make
sense.  And then came "Episode VI," "The Return of the Jedi," where
everything worked, except the Ewoks still suck, even watching it today.

But
enough about "Star Wars," what is really pissing me off tonight is the NFL
Network and their bizarre insistence of showing games on their cable channel. 
All I can ask is "Umm, Dudes at the NFL Network, have you, or your producers,
even watched the games that CBS, FOX, and NBC, have perfected.?"  Your
announcers don’t work together, your camera shifts blow, and no dude wants to
see a "long shot" of the cheerleaders – Give us the close-up, with the cutest of
them juggling their jugs and pom-poms for the camera.  And don’t get me
started on your trying to expand the season to a Thursday night and Saturday
night.  I totally forgot the Cleveland Browns/Pittsburgh Steelers’ game was
on a couple of Thursdays ago.  Sorry, NFL Network dudes, you’re just not on
my weekday radar.  And the only reason I tuned in to this Saturday’s game
with Dallas and Atlanta was because I heard someone else talk about how bad the
production (including the announcer talk) was.  And they were right. 
Dear NFL, leave the football to when we want it:  Sunday – All day, and
Monday night.  And never, ever, take away our Thanksgiving Day games. 
These extra Thursday night and Saturday games are crap, especially with your
presentation, so just cut it out and get back to what we want to see, and not
your convoluted way to make more money.  The only reason reason I was able
to watch your game tonight, which sucked, was because A: I was home on a
Saturday night.  And B: I pay for everything on my cable channel.

Well,
I’ve got to get back to my animating that I screwed up, but that’s okay. 
It’s that weird time of year when sometimes when things go wrong, you get a
little bummed, but then remember that it’s the Christmas Season, so sometimes
work can be put on a burner a little further back.  Our animated review of
"Apocalypto" will be posted, eventually, just not as soon as I planned. 
Merry Christmas.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

What’s New? A Podcast of: The Biggest Loser, The Plight of the Nauga, and The Golden Globe Nominated Movies I Didn’t See.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right agrees with Howard Stern that Caroline Rhea, the host of “The Biggest Loser,” ruined the emotional moment when Erik won, he also tries to remind people about the plight of the Nauga, and wonders why he doesn’t see movies in the drama category of the Golden Globes.

The Biggest Loser, The Plight of the Nauga, and The Golden Globe Nominated Movies I Didn’t See.

By:

The Dude on the Right

In this podcast, as a fan of
"The Biggest
Loser,"
I tell tales of how I was happy to hear
Howard Stern on his
Sirius show this morning state how annoyed he was with the host,
Caroline
Rhea
, and her not shutting up when Erik won after he lost an amazing 214
pounds.  I was in total agreement with Howard, as was a friend of mine,
Crash, that Caroline needed to just keep quiet and let Erik enjoy the moment
with his family, friends, and his trainer, Bob.  I also hope to remind all
of you about the plight of the nauga, especially during this holiday season when
we drink their young.  And finally I question my credentials as a movie
reviewer since I haven’t seen any of the movies that were nominated for Best
Movie in the drama category for the
Golden Globes
I guess I’m a comedy movie kind of dude.

Thanks for
listening.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

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My Christmas Display is Done… For No One to See.

By:

The Dude on the Right

My
2006 Christmas display is done.

Thank God.

And I may never do it again.

I
finally got all of the fake snow I needed, but I think I overdid it.  I
broke the head off of my new horse riding dude, but luckily it was a clean break
since I don’t have any glue – His head rests gently on his body.  The train
doesn’t work like it should (damn cow-catcher keeps catching on the track joints
and derailing it, and the tracks need a good cleaning so even when the train did
run it didn’t have a lot of umph).  The windmill bent so it doesn’t rotate. 
I think I had some soap residue in the cup I used to fill the wood mill scene
because it bubbles a bit.  And I couldn’t find a sniper dude to man the new
mountain post (and it just occurred to me that I should have gone to the toy
store and picked up some green toy soldiers – that would have worked perfectly).

I should have picked up some more "flat" snow to cover my window blinds.  I
broke the head off of Sally from Peanuts, one of my Christmas Tree decorations,
when the tree was "side heavy" and fell over a bit when I was trying to plug it
in.  The addition of the waterfall didn’t come out nearly as cool as the
waterfall I had when I was managing a Radio Shack.  And as I look at the
waterfall backdrop now, it looks like a crazed animal, ready to eat my village. 
The "mountains" I made aren’t very sturdy, so I can’t run the ski-lift. 
And yet, another issue…

Some
of my friends say they want to come and see my Christmas display.  Sure,
the Christmas display looks cool, but now I have to clean the rest of the
Dude-Pad before any invites are sent.

My Christmas decorating used to be very
simple.  I bought a fake tree one year, decorated it, and carried it up the
stairs, to my spare bedroom, still decorated.  The next couple of
Christmas’ my decorating took about 10 minutes – I would move an end table in
front of the window, go upstairs and grab my "decorated tree," carry it down the
stairs, put it on the end table, and my decorating was done.  Then, for
whatever messed up reason (I’m blaming a friend from high school), I decided to
start my own holiday village, and now, rather than taking 10 minutes to be
festive, it takes me days.  And it never goes as smoothly as I think it
will.

That’s
why I’m thinking of taking a wide-angle picture.

Yup, getting back to my "lazy
days of Christmas decorating," I’m thinking of taking a nice wide-angle picture
of my Christmas display, getting it enlarged to about 10 feet wide, and next
year, instead of all of this "decorating" crap, just hanging the picture at the
end of my living room, and suddenly the dude-pad will be festive.  No more
broken heads, no more trains that derail, no more lame waterfalls looking to eat
my village.  Nope, just a giant photograph to unroll at Thanksgiving, and
roll back up again after Christmas.

Life seems to have been so much simpler
when I was young.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

What’s New? Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast: “Apocalypto” and Childbirth, The Bears, and How to get a Cheap Christmas Tree.

For this podcast, Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right are reunited, once again, to talk about their respective weekends. They both saw “Apocalypto,” Stu wonders why Hollywood can’t come up with anything new, and The Dude visited some staff members for some birthday celebrating. Stu also gives his secret to getting a free (or pretty cheap) Christmas Tree.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up: “Apocalypto” and Childbirth, The Bears, and How to get a Cheap Christmas Tree.

By:

The Dude on the Right

Christmas is coming, and Stu Gotz shares his secret to getting very inexpensive,
and even free, Christmas trees.  We both talk a bit about "Apocalypto,"
and Stu states that no woman better complain about how trying her giving birth
was without seeing what Jaguar Paw’s wife had to go through.  Stu also
wonders why there is going to be another "Rocky"
movie, even though both of us agree we will probably go and see it.  I also
breakdown my end of the year TV viewing, Stu doesn’t like "30 Rock" as much as I
do, and we both love "My Name is Earl."  Sadly, my TiVo seems to hate "Battlestar
Galactica."

Thanks for
listening.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

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What’s New? Movie Reviews of “Apocalypto” and “Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny.”

The Dude on the Right saw Apocalypto and thought the brutality was realistic (and great), liked the love story, and his buddy, Stu Gotz, says that no woman should ever complain about childbirth unless she has to do it while drowning and trying to save her other son. Stu & The Dude’s animated review of “Apocalypto” is coming soon. The Dude on the Right also saw “Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny,” and seeing it made him long for his college days.
The Dude on the Right also realized he can’t really blame “The Holidays” for not getting things done, but you’ll have to check out his “Myspace” blog for that.

December is a Clusterf&%^. At Least I Posted Some Short CD Reviews of Springsteen and some Presidents.

By:

The Dude on the Right

I won’t come out and say that I’m totally disliking December, but I’m stuck in a
quandary of getting things done, blowing things off, or just not giving a damn. 
The holiday season just seems to keep getting in the way of getting things done,
unless, of course, I would win the Lotto.

Case in point:  I wanted to do
a podcast tonight, but it didn’t come together.  I’ve been redesigning "The
Movie Theater
" archive area, to make it more functional, and thought I had
it all together.  The redesign looked fine in Explorer, but for a reason I
eventually figured out, the Firefox browser side looked crappy.  So tonight
I think I got the basic redesign of "The Movie Theater" archive section looking
okay, and that cut into the podcast.

Then there were all of the topics I would
like to write about in my last blog, which, my sister is probably right, I won’t
ever get to.  And who wouldn’t want to hear about Farmers vs. Dudettes in
Short Skirts.

Stu Gotz and I started our work on our next "Stu
& The Dude Reviewin’ the Movies for You!
" for the Mel Gibson flick,
Apocolypto, but knowing me and my OCD, or ADD (I always get them messed up), it
might take a little while to get it posted.  I figured for at least
tonight, I would post a couple of more CD’s I own reviews, "The
River
" from Bruce Springsteen, and the self-titled CD from "The
Presidents of the United States of America.
"

At least I got a couple of
things accomplished today.  How about you?

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

What’s New? Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast: Vin Diesil, X-Mas Cards, The Colonel’s Great Grandson, Karen With Nice Boobs, and Six Degrees of Movie Quotes.

For this podcast, The Dude on the Right is back from a pseudo-reunion weekend with friends from his college days and fills Stu Gotz in about meeting someone who alleges to be related to Colonel Sanders, meeting someone named Karen with nice boobs, and just having a fun weekend. Stu is having Christmas card issues with Mama Gotz, and he also came up with a new game dealing with movie quotes.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up: Vin Diesil, X-Mas Cards, The Colonel’s Great Grandson, Karen With Nice Boobs, and Six Degrees of Movie Quotes.

By:

The Dude on the Right

Much to the delight of some, the disgust of others, and the utter non-interest
of the rest, Stu and I are back for our Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast.  My
weekend was filled with fun and merriment and a little booze as I got together
with some friends from college, and I fill Stu in on some of the happenings I
can remember.  These include meeting someone who claims to be related to
Colonel Sanders, meeting someone with nice boobs, and just having a good time. 
Stu, meanwhile, is having issues with Mama Gotz and Christmas cards, and watched
"Find
Me Guilty
" with Vin Diesel.  Stu also comes up with a new game dealing
with six degrees of movie quotes.  My first challenge for him: 
Connect "I’ll never let go, Jack" to "His nose is cold" via six movies. 
Excitement abounds!

Thanks for
listening.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

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