Wednesday, December 29, 2010

BootLeG's Year in Review

Well, it's been once again a helluva year.  Ups, downs, sideways, forwards, backwards, tos and fros...  Hell, why don't I just stop with all the anticipation and get this review going...  This is BootLeG sampler.., "wha-tha?!?"


Let's get this started on a sour note, I was like most people unemployed for the first part of the year.  It sucked royally, not much more I could say about that.  Thank goodness that it wasn't long that I found a job that suited my need for customer support and technical support, plus it also recognized me for the hard work that I've put within the company.  Unlike my previous employer where all they did was stole two and a half years of my life and did nothing but torment me with false promises of growth and success.  But that was a previous post.


The year was also about inconsistency.  In particular, my blog.  I try to make it work and function to what I want to be with regular posts and possibly different series, and that is still something that I want to do in the future.  But as far as the different redesigns and the way, way, too long of a hiatus, it hasn't gone to full fruition.  Rest assure, It's definitely scores better than what it was.


This year was also very productive away from the blog.  I was able to spend more time with my family and was able to help my friends in times of need.  They thought that I was there to help them, but in reality, it was them that were helping me.  In the duration of my unemployment I've became a little depressed and they were my gateway to help me out of my slump, even after me getting the job.  So to those who were there to put up with my shit, thank you.


In retrospect, outside of that it hasn't been much for the BootLeG sampler.., I haven't even written any new music.  One in part was because I sold my basses, the other is that I haven't had much inspiration to write (or time matter of fact), but with my library, I could spend a little bit of time off, and come up with some fresh and awesome material.  Lyrics could come and go, no biggie, and if it takes some time before I go back to that rhythm, it's all good.

There was one thing that I do plan to continue on.  I am currently learning on editing my own videos learning about the different cinematography techniques like lighting and all that jazz.  I figure it was a passion of mine for a while and I wanted to bring that into fruition along with my blog.  I'm recovering some old 'Jackass' style stuff that I've filmed from years ago and seeing if I could get that up here first before I look into start any kind of plans for production of a series of some sort.  Be sure to come back for big things to come.


Anyways, that was the year in review.  2010 was good, it was a tearjerker, it was... 'wha-tha?!?'  In a nutshell, it was what it was.  All I can say right now is 2011, bring it on...  BRING IT ON!!!  Seriously, just can't wait to see it has in store for us all.  Here's to a prosperous New Year everyone...


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Monday, December 13, 2010

Tis the Season

Every year for as long as I could remember I would sing to myself one verse to the 12 Days of Christmas per day until it was Christmas Day.  So that meant on December 13th I would start singing the first verse, December 14, the second, and so on and so forth.  So I decided to make a twist on this and post my favorite Christmas themed things, one a day for 12 days.

So I'll be updating this post every day from the 13th until Jolly old St. Nick fills my stocking.  So keep on coming back each day and find what's new each day on this post.  Enjoy!

December 13, The First Day of Christmas :: The music.  I have to admit, I kinda like the jingling and the fa-la-la-la-la's when it plays on the radio.  I do have a special fondness to the Charlie Brown theme playing at least once a day (even though the theme isn't even all that Christmas-sy,) it's the only time of year I get to hear it regularly.  So here's to the artists who try to put a new spin to the same old Jingle Bell Rock, keep rockin' out those sleigh bells until Jack Frost nips you in the butt to stop 2 days into the new year...

December 14, The Second Day of Christmas :: The lights.  Call me a crow, sure I'm attracted to bright shiny objects; and twinkling lights around someone's house is the flame that keeps drawing this moth to it.  From anything simple such as a string of lights across the top of a railing from a patio to Chris F'n Griswold's epic house lighting, Christmas lights are just FRIGGIN' AWESOME!!! 

December 15, The Third Day of Christmas :: The weather.  As a kid, Christmas was a time for a week or two off of school, presents, and the occasional snow storm during break.  That was great having snowball fights with my brothers and kicking their butts stuffing their shirts with the white stuff.  But than again I lived in a place with that kind of weather (feelin' homesick for Philly now.)  Now adays, Christmas is warm, sunny, and full of cacti.  Good thing is that my family eat Christmas dinner on the patio, bad thing is that rocks hurt more when thrown than snowballs.  The weather element is what you can enjoy no matter where you are.

December 16, The Fourth Day of Christmas :: The television programs.  I'm a sucker for A Charlie Brown Christmas or those old school claymation storytellings of Rudolph and Frosty.  It was a special time for me that the TV producers and executives could remind us that "hey, were all kids inside so let all the worries of life go away for a while and marvel at poor animation and special meanings of all the good that is still in this world."

December 17, The Fifth Day of Christmas :: The mall.  Well, not the mall per say, but shopping.  I used to work retail and every year from the week before Black Friday to half way past January, the crowds of people fascinate me.  The lengths they go to complete their commercial need to find the right present or biggest gift.  It's just humorous what they do for that.  Although, the holiday season is not about gifts, it's about family, friends, and remembrance of our Lord.  I know that what I'm gonna do, how about you?!?  (There's your five golden rings for ya...)

December 18, The Sixth Day of Christmas :: The food.  I love the food.  It breaks the monotony of turkey, turkey, and turkey from the last month.  The wifie bakes cookies and other stuff non-stop while I ready myself for ham and football.  Plus, all of the Food Network shows show off their holiday flair.  And if you can't tell by this day, I do think with my stomach.  So here's to all the good food in preparation of family gathering and all that other stuff that it does for us all.


December 19, The Seventh Day of Christmas : The good will towards men.  It's a good warm and fuzzy feeling that can't be explained.  Well wishing towards our fellow man that should happen year round surrounds us all and that in among itself is a Christmas miracle.

December 20, The Eighth Day of Christmas :: The presents.  Yeah, that sounds pretty vain after what I added on for yesterday, but the presents are a good part of Christmas.  And it's not about receiving that big gift that you wanted, it's about seeing the look of someone's face as they open the presents.  As a parent, I finally can say that that joy of giving and seeing my boys faces light up brighter than the wifie's tree warms my heart.  It hurts my wallet, but it warms my heart... :p  It's a season of giving and seeing that you can give that and joy to others is a special part of the holiday.

December 21, The Ninth Day of Christmas :: The gathering.  It's always hard when a loved one or best friend is away.  Whether they're half way across the country or half way across the world.  But when Christmas time comes around, we find ways to connect with each other.  We visit those whom are fond to us, or at the very least call them on the phone if possible.  Heck, even simply emailing them or leaving them a message on your social network of choice just to say I miss ya and happy holidays is of good merit.  Just as long as we have a means of communication, we have means to gather around each other; even if you're not next to them roasting chestnuts in an open fire.

December 22, The Tenth Day of Christmas :: The days of yonder.  Just think back to the Christmases you had in the past.  How pleasant most if not all of them were.  And you sometimes catch yourself trying to relive that today.  Returning to how good that time of year was to you and what it brought to the table.  There is nothing wrong with reliving those good ol' days, and there's no better time than Christmas time to do such.

December 23, The Eleventh Day of Christmas :: The traditions.  Everyone has them, they follow though with it whether it's baking cookies or singing carols or even watching a gauntlet of Christmas themed programing, we all enjoy them and love to carry them out.  The singing the Twelve Days of Christmas one verse per day is one of mine.  The others include watching at least once A Charlie Brown Christmas and some football, I mean, who can't enjoy any of that?!?  I also try to carry out a gift for the kids to open the night before Christmas.  Usually new pajamas and we tell them they were left on our doorstep by the elves to give them a warning if they don't go to bed soon, Santa won't visit them for presents.  Whether they believe the wifie and I, who knows, but it's a tradition that we started with our boys and we'll continue to carry it out.

December 24, The Twelfth Day of Christmas :: The birth of Jesus Christ.  After all that is what the holiday is supposed to be about.  To celebrate the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior, it is a true testament of what peace on earth, good will towards man, and miracles are all about.  Without the Lord, none of us would be where we are right now, and I am truly thankful for his birth and all that he given to us.  As Tiny Tim would end this in the most appropriate saying "God bless us, everyone"


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

P.S. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and throw in all those other holidays in December as well, even Festivus... *lol*  Ok, maybe not that...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

List O' Most Awesomest Cartoon Characters (An Alphabet Adventure)

I'm not gonna deny it.  I liked doing that Alphabet Adventure post from last time.  It challenged me as well as I hoped it challenged you to think outside the box of a top 10 or top whatever, and focus on one thing that is a constant all around; the alphabet.  Well, at least in my case the English alphabet.  I liked it so much (call me a glutton for punishment) that I decided to bring it back to another List O' whatever post.  This time; the most badass cartoon characters of all time (of course this is solely my opinion, but that's what you get when browsing into my blog.)  There's no time period restrictions or genre limitations in this list, just as long as they were animated.  No CGI phonies allowed here.  I want to see moving pictures of the cartoonish kind here.  So whether you're for kids or adults, serious or comedic, action or slapstick, it'll be on this list.

Just and FYI, I went a little link crazy trying to find links to support my decision on these choices.  Realistically just found the first good link that was represented each selected character that I could find off of Google.

So let me just shut up and get this list started... 

Aang (Avatar, The Last Airbender) : The most creative protagonist in recent cartoons.  If you're not a fan of the series, after the first few episodes will get you hooked.  He carries the show from beginning to the epic, and I mean EPIC finale.
Batman (Batman, The Animated Series) : The best cartoon in the 90's showcasing the most epic detective ever...  Need I say more...
Charlie Brown : He's the everyman, no doubt about it.  The epitome of Murphy's Law and yet because of his setbacks, he is well loved for the pure determination of the one lone chance of not failing...  I love ya Chuck, but you're a smuck...
Devestator (Transformers, Generation One) : A hodgepodge of transformers forming an ultimate distructive force, I felt like I found love again
Egon (The Real Ghostbusters) : I just love the movies and found that Harold Ramis' character was the most interesting of them all.  Figured that was the first E I could come up with... (onset is sinking in fast that this might be a harder task than I thought these alphabet things.)
Fred Flintstone (The Flintstones) : An icon in his own right, Fred and company were ahead of their time spawning new ground to what is now common place for cartoons; prime time television.  He was a mixture of cartoon slapstick and 60's era sitcom satire.  The Simpsons and Family Guy aren't that pioneering of cartoons now that you think about it.
Gohan (Dragonball Z) : He is actually the epicenter of the entire series.  He has the most power growth of them all and ideally, the series revolves around him, not Goku.  Take a good long look at it all and it'll make sense.  I'm sure of it.
He-Man (He-Man and The Masters of The Universe) : A protagonist that didn't need a story to be awesome.  In fact, I don't think it had a story, just a standard plot format for each episode.  Probably a good thing because if it did had an ongoing plot, that would've probably killed it.  Thankfully, we got the Dolph Lundgren movie to blame for that.
Iroh (Avatar, The Last Airbender) : Until recently I did not know that he was voiced by Mako before he passed away, which that in itself is awesome.  Plus the character is the wise sage of the series helping Zuko and giving consul for the heroes of the series.
Joker (Batman, The Animated Series) : Mark Hamill is insane, and this is just the perfect role for him.  The hell with Star Wars, this was his calling.
Kenny McCormick (South Park) : The early seasons were awesome, even though I heard the later ones are awesome too, I just haven't seen them.  Pretty much when they permakilled Kenny for like a season and then decided to not kill him after bringing him back, my interest faded from the series.  Plus the movie was sick too...
Lex Luthor (Superman: The Animated Series) : This guy was the epitome of what a diabolical genius is supposed to be.  Wealthy, smart, had a political grasp over Metropolis' day to day running of business and archetype as well as practically everyone there, this guy was seemingly untouchable.  Unless you're the son of Krypton.
Megatron (Transformers, Generation One) :Another prime badguy, so cocky yet he could back it up most of the time.  Plus I got to give him credit for putting up with such a whiny little snake that is Starscream.
Nelson Muntz (The Simpsons) : Trust me, I tried to think of someone for N but I couldn't, and I felt like the list was going 'ha ha' to me, so Nelson was the obvious choice.
Optimus Prime (Transformers, Generation One) : His voice alone presents leadership and respect from his comrades.  And until this day, I still tear up a little bit seeing him die in the Transformers movie (which brings me to the following statement; Michael Bay, you can suck it!)
Patty Mayonnaise (Doug) : We all had jones'd on someone hard as Doug Funnie did for her in our youth at that age at one point or another.  This is for that person that we all wanted but couldn't find the balls to approach them.
Q (You really think it's easy to try to find anyone with the letter Q, none the less remotely awesome?!?  I dare ya to try.)
Ra's al Ghul (Batman, The Animated Series) : Who wouldn't be a little freaked out buy a guy who is practically immortal.  He organized world wide crime syndicates and when he's near death, he just takes a dip in the Lazarus Pit and BAM, back in action to cause more hell.
Spawn (Todd McFarlane's Spawn) : Speaking of hell, he's all like been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  A former Marine turned special ops merc (I supposed, it's complicated even if you'd read the comics.) gets killed, goes to hell, exchanges his soul for another chance to be with his wife, and has came back as a hellspawn to complete a demon's needs.  And for a twist, he defies the demon and goes rouge.  The only bad thing is that the series ended before it's time (a shame if you knew what happens in issue 100, one of my favorite comic book issues ever.  But that's another list.)
Tick (The Tick) : It was so random, so bizarre, and yet, so brilliant.  This guy had a few to many screws loose and that he somehow manages to get the bad guy at the end of every episode (with the obvious collateral damage caused in chasing the poor bastard) makes me want to go back and see the blue oaf over and over again.
Unicron (The Transformers: The Movie) : A transformer that transforms into its own planet and is voiced by one of the most notable voices of all time Orson Welles.  Can't get much more epic than that.  Once again I like to add on that Michael Bay can suck it, just for good measure.
Venom (Spiderman) : Probably the best rendition of the villain to the comic book source.  They really tried to make it as close as the person inside filled with the rage to get even with Peter Parker as possible, even though it rarely followed the story arc.  Character-wise, Venom gets my vote.
Wolverine (X-men) : He is hands down the best mutant out there.  Period.  It would be an injustice to talk about Wolverine without missing out a thing or two.
X (Hey, just be glad that this time I was only unable to find things for Q and X in this list.  Be greatful why don't cha.)
Yakko Warner(Animaniacs) : Just one part of the trifecta of loony (the others obviously Wakko and Dot) Yakko makes it in that of all the others, he was easiest to find a letter for.  But seriously, him and his siblings started the degeneration of cartoons and pushing the censors to the limits.  And for that I salute you.  Plus I still can't get the song about the countries of the world out of my head.  United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama...
Zuko (Avatar, The Last Airbender) : The story of a tortured soul who is trying to find his destiny.  In the end he finds his place in life helping whom he thought was the enemy and striking back those whom lead him to his dark path of destruction.  Perfect way to end the list.

I hope once again that you appreciated this unique trip to cartoon awkwardness...


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Thursday, December 2, 2010

A Trip down Memory Lane

This is an homage if you will about the recent happening of what was supposed to be my 10 year class reunion.  I still can't believe that it's been 10 years, and the Class of 2000, the Class of the Millennium, is a thing of the past, and a whole decade has flown by like a blink of an eye.  But this isn't the time or the place to try to recapture that, this is my immediate, yet collective, thoughts of what were to be my 10 year reunion.  Meeting up with colleagues and old friends that I haven't seen in years.  But the road to that is, well... complicated.


I suppose that the beginning is a fine place to start, so let's start there.  About a year ago I knew that my high school reunion was going to come up.  In fact, it was going to come up sooner than expected, at first.  It was supposed to be around June-ish, if memory serve me right, it was near the time of Fathers Day, but what do I know.  It was a a little close to what I thought would have enough time but I planned to go back east for it, save up some money and me and the fam would be there for a week.  But then there was the circumstance that left me in between jobs for a moment, and threw a wrench in the works from there.  I thought that would've been the end of that, and then I found out that the reunion was rescheduled.  Great I thought, but then I found out when it was rescheduled to...


BLACK FRIGGIN' FRIDAY!!!  That amongst itself should be it's own WTF PEOPLE?!? post, but it gets even better.  It was going to be at the local Dave and Busters.  How F'd up do my class has to be to have it at a Dave and Busters.  What are we supposed to do, toast our classmates over skeeball and Street Fighter 4?!?  I'm really trying to stop myself from making this into a WTF PEOPLE?!? post here people, but let's just stick to the story at hand.  Seriously, I thought that my high school had came up with the stupidest time for a reunion.  But nooooo, the wifie's class reunion was for the SAME DAMN DAY!!!  And to top it all off, it's on different sides of the state, mine and hers, so there was no way of trying to pull that off.  On top of that, the wifie hates, HATES, traveling during the holidays and refuses to come out of the house on Black Friday due to what she thinks are idiots who don't know how to drive (I agree.)  So I regretfully declined going to my reunion as well as she.  We spent Thanksgiving here with her family and we had a good time, and I made my merry old way to work for the week afterward.


And later on that day, or even the next day, I can't be certain I was just in a fetal position thanking God for a safe travel back home from work with the holiday traffic from hell.  I was on Facebook just to see if anyone of my friends went to the reunion to my shock.  The damn thing was cancelled at the last minute.  They're trying to reschedule it for spring/summer of 2011.  Yeah, that's right my Class of 2000's High School Reunion is going to be sometime in 2011.  If there was ever a time for failblog.org to be in existence, now is the time.  I just hope that it's going to be in a place that's a little more swankier than a Dave and Busters.  Hell, prom was at least held in a Holiday Inn, why the hell wasn't that available.  I just pretty much said that if I make it, I'll make it, I'm just pissed that I didn't go to the wifie's 10 year cause (even though it was held on Black Friday) it sounded pretty damn fun from what her friends said.


So, here's to making it back home in 2020 for our 20th 'mates, or in this rate, 2022.  I just don't friggin' know anymore...


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...


P.S.  The sarcasm within this post was not to poke fun at those whom tried to produce such a great get-together, but it was indeed meant to be there in it's truest of fashion.