Jaws 2

Well folks I have gotten a part-time job, but it doesn't start until Mid-August, leaving me plenty of time to watch old movies on AMC. Today the pick of the day was Jaws 2. I have actually never seen the sequel to the infamous killer shark movie that plagued the 1970s.

Chief Brody is still in the same town as the first movie and another Great White Shark seems to find his way into Brody's waters. After relentlessly watching the waves after a dead killer whale washes ashore our hero has a nervous breakdown and shoots a school of blue fish off the shore near swimmers. This happens after he rings a bell screaming that everyone should get out of the water. People believed him to be crazy.

As the movie progresses Chief Brody grounds his now teenage son Mike who rebels against his father by taking a bunch of friends out on some sail boats. While sailing the Atlantic the Great White decides to attack. He must have been a hungry bugger. The shark continues to stalk the teens as Chief Brody and his wife set off on a search for their disobedient son.

I haven't formally decided what my opinion is of this movie, but I can say it is not as bad as I thought. I do believe, however, there is a third movie that I can only assume is pretty bad. It would be very hard for me to believe a third Great White ended up in Chief Brody's town...again.

I will say I think my favorite part is when a girl is water skiing off the back of a boat and the shark decides to jump up and snatch her. Keep in mind friends that my Dad just bought a 2001 Bayliner that came with water skis as well as a tube. I mean I was already afraid of sharks.



Hmm...

Oooo or my favorite part is when a man in a small beach patrol helicopter comes to rescue the two sailboats full of kids. Apparently a helicopter can drag boats from the water to land? Oh, but before he gets the chance he gets eaten and the kids are still being stalked by the very hungry shark.

WWF..I Don't Get It...Do You?

Can someone please tell me why the WWF is something people actually watch? As far as I can tell it is totally fake yet people seem to watch it. I seem to remember watching my ten and under year old cousins watching WWF and knowing every wrestler. It was quite disturbing. I mean what is wrong with a little SpongeBob?

Now boxing, I get. Kimbo Slice and others are legit. Apparently, men beating each other up is a sport, scary, but at least it is real. I mean Wikipedia clearly states: "WWE's business focus is on professional wrestling, a simulated sport and performing art which combines wrestling with theater." The WWF had revenues of $486 million last year. That's a lot of dough. I bet some small countries don't even make that in a year.

Also, what is with the scantily clad women? What purpose do they serve other than to arouse the men who are about the fake beat up someone?


Yet the stands are consistently full! I just don't get it. I would hope America can find a new pastime other than this.

Bowling

I went bowling tonight with some cool high schoolers and several people had three strikes in a row. The sign for this was a turkey. This baffled me. Why should getting three stikes in a row create and image of a turkey with a three in the middle of it on the screen? Is this a common thing?

Furthermore, where do the names "strike" and "spare" come from? Strange.

I noticed some very interesting characters bowling. We all were trying to see why people would be in a league on a Saturday night? Do people really have nothing better to do in the greater Washington Metropolitan area or is it just that cool? I do not know the answer to this question, but I found a few pro bowler pictures. You be the judge?

Is professional bowling in or out?

Make sure to check out the Professional Bowler's Association. You can sign up for their fantasy league! Get on it!

Photoshop Class

I am currently in an online Photoshop class at GMU and this week our assignment was two create two flyers for two different exhibitions at the Smithisonian museums. I made one for the Crystal Skull exhibit and one for a Hip Hop exhibit. Check it out:

Submarine Drug Bust

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AOL news always has the most interesting topics. I was shocked when I logged on at the site of a homemade submarine that has been carrying drugs between Central America and the U.S. Apparently, the U.S Navy led Mexican forces to capture the submarine off Oaxaca's coast. The floating drug sub was 30 feet long, equipped with a GPS system, and a compass. Four Colombian "fisherman" on the sub were arrested. The sub was full of cocaine. U.S. officials say traffickers use the vessels to carry about 32 percent of the cocaine moved by water from South America to the U.S. Apparently, many of these subs can carry 10 tons of cocaine and can be controlled by a remote control miles away. What is this world coming to?

More Beach, Crabs, and other Shenanighans!

Yes friends. There are more crabbing stories. Anthony and I drove down to Ocean Pines on Friday night and came back this morning. My family from Ohio was there and we had a blast. Saturday was spent at the beach where I boogy boarded in FREEZING water followed by round 2 of crabbing, or so we thought.

We decided to stay away from crazy man pier so Anthony and I went back to the place my cousin, uncle, and I went beforehand. It should have been perfect except that is was SO windy. We, however, did not think the wind would affect us too much. I mean we had weights to weigh the canoe down. What could go wrong right?

Our first sign that this adventure was not a good idea was when we put the canoe in the water and I had to ask a guy getting ready to bring in his jet ski which side was the front of the canoe. Once we established that and were in the water we realized just how much the wind carried us in directions we did not want to go, i.e. a pier. We found a spot to crab and set the anchor down. After a few minutes of watching boats and jet skis buzz by, we realized the anchor was not heavy enough due to the absence of a third person in the canoe and the heavy wind. We paddled around and were unsuccessful in finding a spot and crabbing at all. We did see a very large barracuda head with VERY large teeth. It was dead and only the head was floating around. That seemed to be the only exciting thing going on for us. We didn't crab at all and returned home disappointed. However, that night all seven of us piled into our midsize Acura and went to Shenighan's bar and grill where live music and good times ensued.


Sunday was a more successful crabbing day. Anthony and I went to the crazy man pier. When we got there one family was there, but they soon left with a dozen crabs. The pier was all ours yet we were only catching small crabs. Then came the Asians...A family of about eight Asian people overcame the pier and within minutes they were catching huge crabs. I'm talking like 12 year olds are scooping these suckers out of the water. It was very discouraging. The Asian grandparents were a trip. Neither spoke English. Grandpa Asia sat in his chair and would say something in another language when there was a tug on a line and then Grandma Asia would come and pull a huge crab out. Anthony would look at each other as if thinking, 'What the heck?!?!?' In fact, I believe that was said several times. Nonetheless, Asians and all, we ended our crabbing excusion three hours later with four large crabs. We took them back to the house, steamed them, and ate 'em! It was a good day. :-)

Crabs and Such

Hello friends,

This past week I was fortunate enough to spend the week at the Pines with my family from Ohio. It has been quite the adventure. Adventure you ask? Yes. I went crabbing for the first time in oh, fifteen years. I went with two Ohio-ans whose nearest water is the pond outside their house. There is on salt water near them unless they mix water and salt in a glass. The point I am trying to make is that all three of us who went crabbing were very inexperienced.

Me, my 14 year old cousin Ellen, and my carpenter Uncle Mike, went crabbing from a canoe. Yes, a canoe. Our first endeavor was on Tuesday. We took the canoe to a local crab pier in Ocean Pines. This pier is very hard to get to and not many Piners know of its whereabouts. This could be due to the fact of the very stingy man who lives in front of the pier. He was kind enough to come out of his very large house and tell us we were not allowed to take a canoe down to the pier. The sign obvbiously says "No boats." He was right, however, my Dad had called the police and made sure it was okay to bring a canoe. The man, however, was skeptical and began yelling at us some more. My Dad continued to yell and it just became one big awkward turtle. In fact, I found myself saying outloud, "This is awkward. This is awkward," repeatedly. The man was very rude and we took our canoe down to the pier anyways.

The three of us finally get out of the canoe and my dad left to go fishing. About five minutes into our journey, with one chicken part in hand, my uncle stopped himself from throwing the disgusting bait overboard at the sight of my Dad waving. Apparently, the rude man had called the police and we were not allowed to canoe. It was a very unfortunate evening, however, the next day was better.

Naturally, my Dad called the police station and "sorted out" the issue, (aka he yelled a lot and "took care of it.) We later received a voice message saying that we could, in fact, bring a canoe to the pier in question and that they would change the sign from saying "no boats" to "no motorboats." This satisfied me, but not my Dad. No no. He needed to go that extra dirty mile to make the rude man mad. He is making sure a picture of the pier is put onto the Ocean Pines website so that every Piner can make use of it and make the rude man even ruder and madder.

Even though we could go back to the same pier, we opted not to...out of fear. We went to a public boat launch and ended up crabbing there from our canoe. Crabbing is a lot easier than I thought! We tied string to some chicken parts and then threw it out into the water as bait. As soon as you feel a tug, you slowly draw the line up and the crab comes right up with it! We easily had 25 crabs, however, only one of them was of legal size. You see, crabs have to be at least 5 inches from point to point on their shell in order to keep them. Although we did not keep any crabs, I am certain my next adventure will be more successful!

The next crabbing adventure will take place this sunday. This time Captain Antonio Michael will be aboard. Stay tuned for results...

DC United @ The Soccerplex?!?

Yes. DC United played the Chicago Fire last night at the Germantown Soccerplex. It was quite ridiculous and loads of fun. It was for the US Open Cup. (I have tried to understand what that is, but I'm afraid I am still a wee bit confused. Sorry Anthony!) It was packed. There were few seats in the small stadium and many were sitting on the grassy knoll.

The first half was a little boring and the crowd seemed disinterested at DC's horrible play. Chicago scored pretty early in the half and with the addition of DC playing bad things did not look good. DC played most of their starters with the exception of Jaime Moreno and Peralto on the bench. We are not sure where Gallardo is, but my bets are that he is in the Argentinian mafia. Halftime soon approached with the score being 1-0, Chicago.

On a side note, Ben Puckett was working a frozen ice stand throughout the entire game. The second half was MUCH better. DC stepped it up and newcomer Francis Doe of Liberia scored his first goal. He played really well and proved to be a great addition to the team. The rest of the half was ruthless. Cards were thrown this and that and fans got anxious to see Chicago star Blanco warming up on the side. The 90th minute ended with the score being 1-1. It was overtime time. Woooo!

Brian Namhoff scored pretty early during the first half of overtime, but it was a long ways from being over. Blanco had entered the game at the start of overtime and was out for some blood. I really cannot stand him. He is a mean old man looking to start fights. Kind of like this guy:



During the second half of overtime Blanco did, in fact, use his old man skills and get a removed from the game by getting a red card. DC United player Marc Burch got one as well. The funny thing is, neither player was involved in the initial incident that caused the huge fight. Clyde Simms got a yellow card for a high kick and Blanco went off (even though he was not the player who got kicked.) He punched Simms and that started a whole mess. Everyeone was fighting! It was right in front of us. Anthony was in soccer heaven, my friend Sarah was thinking, why have I not come to more games, and I was wanting to throw something at Blanco. Marc Burch eventually got a red card for giving Blanco a little shove. I've never been so proud of a DC player.

So it was 10 vs. 10 and the United were able to hold back the Fire and win 2-1. It was an awesome game.

What is the best fight you've seen at a sporting event?

New York City

Hey all,

This past Saturday Anthony and I ventured to New York City for the day via bus. We left my house at 5:45 in the morning to be picked up in Rockville. The bus was nice and Asians ran it. Our driver sported the 80s look and he had a mustache. I don't think I've ever seen an Asian with a mustache. Have you?

We got to New York at 11:30 and were dropped off at Penn Station. It was raining. Boo. Now Anthony has been to NYC maybe once when he was 5, and even then he is not sure. It was quite the culture shock to him, but he adjusted and liked it. I love the city. I did not like the rain though.

After figuring out the subway we took it to 42nd street and walked through Times Square. There was a large Eddie Murphy head in the middle of the street which would be odd if it you did not know it goes with the movie "Meet Dave." (I think that's what it's called.)

We walked to 47th street to find the GREASE theater. Yes, we saw Grease on Broadway, but I'll get to that later. We then walked to 50th street and ate some NYC pizza. Mmmm. Obviously, we had to go to Starbucks for me.

Grease starred the winners from "You're The One That I Want" tv show as well as Taylor Hicks, 2006 American Idol winner. Taylor played Teen Angel and he had a few harmonica solos. Go figure. He was good I suppose.

I think this is a funny story. While we were waiting in line this young girl, maybe 18, was smoking and this older woman was YELLING at her to back away from the theater because the law prohibits anyone from smoking within 15 feet of a building. She was so rude and I wanted to turn around and say something to her, however, the Spirit inside me said no and what goes around, comes around. Check this out: the characters smoked on stage the entire time. I mean it's Grease and greasers smoke! Haha. I was sitting in my chair laughing. It was wonderful. Maybe a little wrong, but wonderful.
After the show we went back to the bus pickup place. We both ate vendor hot dogs and Anthony ate an amazing Gyro as well. It was the bomb. On the way back we had to stop in both Baltimore and D.C. before getting to Rockville, but I think the best part was getting to Rockville and my car was missing. My car had been towed as well as three other people. There were signs, but they were small and there was not one in the row I parked in. The lot is in front of an abandoned building! I made some bad assumptions and just parked there. It was unfortunate. My Dad had to come pick us up and take us to the towing company. It cost over a hundred to get my car back. Towing is stupid. There was no reason other than the fact that whoever owned that lot didn't want anyone parking there. They're totally out to get you! Nonetheless, God provided and we were able to get my car back in the nick of time even after getting lost and having 15 minutes to get there. God showed up big time. :-)

I mean who invented towing anyways?