Transformers: Revenge of the Nerds

In the recent Michael Bay explosion, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, the boundaries of moving picture entertainment (and boredom) are pushed yet again.

The basic plot of the movie is this: Megatron's mentor known as The Fallen (voice: Todd), is exacting his revenge on the six primes who thwarted his plan to destroy the sun and obtain a vast amount of energon. To do this, Megatron (voice: Weaving) is brought back to life with a remaining piece of the Cube shard, and is in search of the machine and 'key' to harvest the energon. Meanwhile Sam (LaBeouf) is having psychotic breaks after coming into contact with another shard of the cube, and Mikaela (Fox) is pestering Sam to say the three words no guy ever wants to say.

The movie operates under the premise that two years after the events of the original movie, the audience would still want to follow Shia Labeouf. In actuality many went to catch more of the tatted canvas known as Megan Fox. To our satisfaction, and later dissatisfaction, there is more of her in the film.

Her first appearance is that of the trailer, sitting on a bike with a bit of side ass flesh through jean shorts. That's all well and fine, only it's spliced in the middle of a dialog and seems almost completely random, as if by mistake. Next we see her changing, from a leather motorcycle outfit into a short white dress in the middle of yet another conversation. As fan service, the audience gets a 0.3 second or so blast of camel toe through some white undergarments. Also, later in the film there is a David Hasselhoffian slow motion Baywatch boob bounce run scene. Many of her scenes are out of place and appear to be extra footage that was shot and had no place in the film, or were not needed. Most scenes came off as tasteless, and were only trumped by her increase in poorly executed lines. As my grandfather would say, "she's not fit for talkies."

I talked with a couple hard-core Transformers fans (and perpetually single guys) about what they thought of the film. "I can't believe what they did to Jetfire," one says in exclamation! One of the most loved characters from the series is now a SR-71 Blackbird and portrayed as an absent-minded old man upon being revived by a shard. He tells Sam and crew of the energon harvester and states that it's somewhere in the Middle East. Then, almost randomly, he teleports them all to Egypt. "Did they even explain the Space Bridge teleport?" says another Transfan. The movie in fact didn't, and the scenes are poorly meshed together.
The general consensus I gathered from the Transfans was that the movie was worth the watch, even on opening day at 1:30am (getting out around 4:00am), but was not much more than a revamped Transformers 1. A constant complaint was that the battles were often too short, but that the forest battle was the best, a scene that gave homage to the final battle in T1. My only gripe on the battles was that the movie should have shown the 'bots a little more prior to the fight scenes because the battles were gaggles of detail that I had nothing to 'lock on' to when they fought. Both bots, for me, meshed together and I couldn't follow it like I could with a martial arts/action film. That has to be the only drawback to CGI with extraordinary detail in HD.

The movie incorporated many sad attempts to diversify the franchise's fan base. Several setbacks ended up ruining whole scenes of the movie. One such inclusion was the pair of autobots where one was obviously ghetto black, and another street latino. The caricature was intended to bring humor but turned out to be offensive. One African American male I talked to referred to them as just plain "stupid." Another setback was the inclusion of Sam's paranoid conspiracy theorist college roommate, Leo Spitz (Rodriguez). The character was perhaps a replacement for Turturro's character, Agent Simmons, in the first film (who ends up appearing later anyways). Leo is an abomination to the film and appears as a sniveling spineless latino who annoys more than entertains. However none of that compares to Sam entering Robot Heaven and having a conversation with the dead primes...The large culmination of negatives is slightly overshadowed by moments of pure awesomeness held up with fantastic explosions, excellent CGI, bot on bot action, and stunning locations. Overall, my rating comes as a 7/10 and I would say this: Think of T:ROTF as Transformers 1 revisited, with bigger explosions, more fights, and worse acting.

Terminate Marketing

I just got back from the 12:01am showing of the new movie Terminator Salvation, and I have to say the movie was well done... That is not to say that there weren't moments of utter ridiculousness, which usually caught crowd laughter.

I won't full on review the movie since most of you haven't seen it, but I'll give some pointers on how not to be spoiled.

First off, let me say this. Do not see the trailers. None of them. They give away almost every good part of the movie, and watching it after a trailer is like seeing what you already have seen, but with the filler that connects the action.

Second, don't look any female character in the face. Sure, it's 2018, the machines own the planet and the surviving humans are left struggling for survival, but there's still somehow a surplus of bad make-up to go around.

Batman. Yes, there are ample Christian Bale "Batman" moments. Laugh about it and then move on.

Love interests. What would a Terminator movie be without it? "The Terminator" had John's friend coming back in time to pork Mom Conner. T2 had the love of a mother and child, and the black guy's family. Rise of the Machines had Junkie Conner and the young Kate finally hooking up in an underground bunker. T4 is no exception, and if anything it's more out of place. Deal with it.

Cheesy lines. Although there is no Schwarzenegger in the credits, there are a few cheesy lines. They're fan service, but somehow out of place. To this author's dismay, there was no yelling of "Get to the chopper," even though they had more than enough opportunities.

If I have one last thing to say about this movie, it won't be about the movie. It's about the marketing department. T4 should have been run something like this:

Machines firing weapons, human skulls getting crushed in tread, humans fleeing, T-600 exoskeleton standing on a hill. Zoom to the robotic skull, fade to black, run title, run "Christian Bale" name. That's it! Tease the crap out of the movie and build up the hype. The current trailers and exposure ended up ruining a lot of the movie for my friends and me as we knew how almost every action scene was going to turn out, save the last one.

I've got a message to the creators, "fire marketing"

Overall I'd say 7.8/10, solid C+ in my book, and worth seeing, just skip the trailers and you'll be set.

Recipe Maker

I was fooling around on the Food Network site when I had a sudden inspiration to write down one of my age old recipes.

Now the idea is nothing new, but I think I put a pretty good spin on it. Also, I think I made it easier to make, since before there might have been some confusion.

Click the picture below to check it out:

SNL Digital Insult

On the most recent Saturday Night Live, Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg collaborate once again and provide a follow up to the infamous "Dick in a Box."

Their follow up act? Well, it seems that the guys are out of time and need a mother's day gift. They devise the plan that the best gift to give their mom, is their best friend... I.E. Swapping moms. Gross and wrong, I know, but hilariously funny.

I won't say anymore because I don't want to ruin the experience. If you haven't had the chance, check out their new SNL digital short, Mother Lover.

Mother Lover

What is your reaction to the Digital Short?

Lost Cause

I just finished watching the latest episode of Lost and it refreshed my opinion of what I think the worst element of the show is. It's not the fact that each episode answers a handful of questions and then poses 50 more. It's not the incredible amounts of stalling where nothing happens in episodes. No, the thing that I hate the most about the show is the character, Kate.

Kate irks me to no end. No matter what the situation is, Kate will always go against it. Jack and Sawyer will go off into the jungle on a good hunch that what they're doing is important, but they know it is going to be dangerous. Jack will refresh this belief by saying something to the effect of "Kate, no, I need you to stay here. It's too dangerous." Of course, Kate immediately retorts in an almost whiny fashion but then somehow agrees to stay put. Only she never does stay put. She always follows the group, gets captured or causes the group to get captured, and always manages to foul things up. This situation happens so often that Jack's catch phrase has become "Kate, no, it's too dangerous."

If that was all that was happening, I'd shine it on and get on to the next scene, but there are so many other things that Kate does or is responsible for that just ends up being awry. In the recent episode Jack takes up Faraday's quest to detonate the bomb and prevent the plane from crashing and saving the lives of all the passengers of the plane. Good idea right? Wrong, Kate thinks it's a bad idea... Why? Probably because she is selfish and wants to stay with Jack, only she pushed him away when he was going through a rough time with the drugs and all... but wait... then she decides to get herself captured again and winds up messing up Sawyer's tea party with Juliet on the sub.

In past episodes, she's been hit with darts and had to be carried by Jack.
She's also been captured in almost all of her back story episodes. Once she gets captured by her bank robber friend who is following her plan. Just prior to that, she betrayed him and her own plan to yet again go against anything that would remotely resemble a well thought out idea.
Then there is the time when she is captured by agent who inevitably gets her on the plane to begin with just prior to the show's opening episode.
And don't forget that time she gets captured in a net with Jack... I'm pretty sure that was her fault as well.
Oh yeah, and that time in court when Jack had to be a character witness to save her yet again from her own stupidity. The list goes on and on...
Does Kate ever stop being a complete idiot? After a while, you think that she'd get the drift that almost every idea she's had is a complete waste. Kate is the worst character in the show.

Who is your least favorite character on Lost?

Mercenaries Are We

I was day dreaming at work today and assembling a list of old computer games that had a memorable impact on me. I was working my way down past the obvious choices: Starcraft, Diablo 1 and 2, Rage of Mages, etc. I couldn't come to a consensus of enough to make a best list, but I thought of one game in particular which made me jump in the joy of remembrance, MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries.

Mercenaries was released in the fall of 1996, and was supposedly stamped out as a cash cow sequel to Activision's then famous MechWarrior series of games. Mercenaries was not that at all.

In the plot line of MW2:M, you take the place of an inner sphere mercenary mech pilot and perform various missions from helping clan rebellions to utterly destroying them. There would also be various protect, destroy, recon, and other various mission types. A player could choose which mission best reflected their play-style, and the game plot will alter based on the player's choices. At the time, this was a relatively new concept.

The amount of individual choice and ease of customization is something not found in many games, even today. As a mech pilot you could choose between many various mech chassis and alter the weaponry, ammo, heat sinks, generators, sensors, etc. The variations are limitless, if do enough high cash missions and you handle your finances appropriately. As a mercenary, if you gained enough money from missions, you could hire other mercenaries to pilot alternate mechs that you design and customize for each engagement. As a mech group you could set up various tactics when running together, or you could send the other mercs to various nav points. Almost every action in the game was customizable and alterable to create a fun an unique experience every time.

The game play, once on a mission, is pretty similar in nature. You would either protect or destroy the targets and move to the drop ship for extraction. However, this does not detract from the fun of the game what-so-ever. How you engage each mission is up to you. While piloting the mech, you could switch from various sight modes including infrared and position a sensor map with real time telemetry. The various weapon types created a new ground for strategizing each mission. On a destroy mission, I'd stack up my heavy artillery. While on a defensive mission I'd stock up on my full auto projectile weapons and keep a gauss weapon at bay in case I ran up against any heavy resistance.

Remembering the game brought back nostalgia for a better time when games were primarily made for the gamers and not for the money. I wish Activision would hit the re-set button and publish more games with this level of customization and the game play to match.

What game(s) of yore do you fondly remember?

Home Gym Essentials

I've had this plan for a while to create my own home gym. It started about a year or two ago when I impulse bought a yoga mat and fitness ball for stretching and ab work. Since then I've bought and acquired a couple accessories including ankle weights, an Olympic bar and weights, and some adjustable dumbbells.

I was looking for my next upgrade when this weekend I spotted the Iron Gym at my local Sports Authority for around $30. A friend of mine has it already, or something like it, and I enjoyed using it, so I thought I'd give it a go.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Iron Gym, it's a pull-up bar that fits in your door frame. It can also be used to keep your feet in place while doing sit-ups and it can be placed upside downs on the ground and used for either push-ups or bar dips.

When I first opened the box there were about five parts, four screws and bolts, a tool to tighten down the bolts, and an easy to follow instruction booklet. I actually messed it up and used the large screws on the small screw bit, but the mistake was easily rectified and I assembled it correctly the second time.

I performed an entire workout with it on Saturday and I am still sore. I guess my lats were a little weak and the mass repetitions of bar dips and push-ups created a burn in my triceps, but so far no soreness there. I'm beginning to think that the Iron gym was the perfect addition to my home gym, but I still wanted more.

For most of my seated dumbbell work, I've been using a flat chair which is effective but it isn't always in the position or angle that I want it to be in. The same could be said for my lying down work which I predominantly do on my aforementioned fitness ball. The ball is great for bringing up the stabilizer muscles when doing main exercises like bench and ab work, but sometimes I need a flat surface do to more heavy lifting or specialized work. What I really needed was a good workout bench.

After my workout with the Iron Gym, I went back to Sports Authority and checked out what else they had to offer. Turns out they didn't have much, but one bench in particular caught my eye. The 7-position Folding Bench is adjustable from a slight (about 10-20 degree) decline up to about an 85 degree angle, and many angles in-between. When I purchased the adjustable bench, it was fully assembled. It did, however, come with instructions to assemble, oddly enough. The price tag was around $120 or so, but I had already signed up for the "save $25 on your next purchase over $100 promotion" (see Sports Authority website). After tax and the $25 discount, I paid somewhere around $100.

After spending a total around $130 in the last couple days, my home gym is one gigantic step closer to becoming complete. The local Bay area gyms cost anywhere from $20-100 a month and anywhere from $60-$120 in "start-up" fees. The way I see it, I just saved myself from a lot of gym fees, gas money, and wasted time while waiting for the local gym rats to finish their baby curls. Money well spent.

What are the best purchases you've made for your personal home gym?

Plans and Schemes

I'm using this weekend as downtime to update a few features on the page.

So far I've got some plans for the future of this blog as it is still evolving, every day in fact. What started out as a little side project to an already hectic life, I've decided to branch out and spin the random generation machine... Ok, so I just wrote some things down on a piece of paper, closed my eyes, and picked the idea my finger landed on.

I wrote a "What is Shared Universe?" section on the right side of the blog and I'm currently designing a background and layout to bling out the homepage. I've talked to a few friends who have their own blogs and are doing quite well and I've asked them to contribute when they can.

Check out their blogs here:

• Jesse and Wes
  
• Lindsey and Sarah
  

Future plans include a post card scheme, global domination, and plans to incorporate some music from a few local bands and artists. Once we start gaining a fair number of readers and comments, we'll have a P.O. Box available for you to send some post cards to. The goal is to get some cool and unique post cards with a funny/quirky little message to us. Each week we'll pick the best cards, scan them (front and back), and post them on the site (last names and addresses omitted). We'll keep your first name and city/state/country visible and you'll get the bragging rights.

We're still hammering down the nail here and there and it looks like this site will soon be fully operational. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the site, comments on the posts, and dogs on a leash. They can get away from you if you're not careful.

Hell's Victor

Hell's Kitchen (U.S) Season Five is coming to a close next week when the final two chefs (of the original 16) face off in what will be an exciting and stressful match. If you're not familiar with the season thus far, the two remaining chefs are Danny and Paula.

1. Danny Veltri, 23, is an Executive Chef from Edgewater, Florida. So far he has been a front runner in the show since its beginning.
   
2. Paula Dasilva, 28, is an Executive Sous Chef from Pompano, Florida. Paula has been a frequent challenge winner and has remained strong throughout the competition.

The winner of Hell's Kitchen is awarded executive employment in the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City with a salary of $250,000. Both contenders have more than what it takes to make it.

As much as I would like to see both of them make it, there can be only one winner and I have to say that I'm rooting for Danny. He's been passed up on many challenges that should have gone his way. His constant strength through each service has been a testament of the leadership he will bring to the Borgata. Danny is one of the most talented and professional chefs that have competed in the Hell's Kitchen arena. Plus his 'afterthoughts' always make me laugh, and you can't beat that.

Go Danny!

Penny for your Thoughts

It's now officially the first day of May and I'm kicking off this month with a poll. This Month's theme will be, "What is your favorite holiday?" and you'll be able to respond with a few options:

• New Year's Eve/Day
• Valentine's Day
• Cinco De Mayo
• 4th of July
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Winter (Christmas, etc)
• Judgment Day

Please place your vote in the poll to the right, and feel free to comment on what you chose and why. I'll be compiling the data and reposting the results in a blog on or near the 1st of June.

Thanks for voting and responding!

Knee Slapping Party

I'm a pretty big fan of Japanese Animation (Anime) and I've seen a lot of titles. According to my Anime News Network account, I've seen all of 158 shows, movies, and OAVs and at least some part of 53 others. The only drawback to having seen so many titles is that finding more good and interesting titles is a bit of a scavenger hunt, only you don't know what to look for until you've found it. When I'm looking for a new title to watch/follow, I'll usually stalk the BBSs and a few high profile blogs to see what the latest buzz is about.

A few days ago, I ran across some talks about this title, "Slap Up Party: Arad Senki."

The show primarily follows a demon knight named Baron who has a curse known as a demon arm. This gives him incredible strength, but has the chance of turning him into a monster if he pushes it too hard in a fight. So far in the storyline (episode 3), he is accompanied by a party of adventurers including a lecherous gun user, a big boobed martial arts girl, and a mini mage girl.

The genre of the anime could be described as an adventure/comedy/action, and is pretty safe for all ages. The animation of the show is very well done and although the character design is a little cartoony, they are very lifelike and constantly humorous. The jokes consist mainly of gags and mostly result from the different character's interactions.

This show blends together action and humor in an interesting way that is not seen in many anime. There are plenty of "cool" moments, like when Baron uses a wind-type blast attack almost hitting a comrade. This causes the companion immediately freaks out in a comedic nature and as a result instantly sparks viewer laughter. Likewise, Slap Up Party has an interesting way of being serious at some moments and completely humorous at others. In both cases, the show is interesting enough to keep watching and there is rarely a dull moment.
The commercial break cutscenes are done chibi style (characters are drawn in a child-like manner) which is nothing new, but adds variation to the show. Although the scene is accompanied by a simple gag, it still manages to solicit some laughter. One really entertaining aspect of the show is it's ending song and credits animation. The animators took the show's concept and plot and translated it into a 8-bit graphics animation and created what looks like an old school Nintendo game. The music, although it has a voice track, is reminiscent of the synthetic track that shipped with many titles back in the day including the NES Mario and Zelda. The ending sequence brings a positive feeling of nostalgia and the song is hard to get out of one's head, though in a good way.



Check out this new show on you not-so-local Japanese television station, YouTube, or torrent site.

Super Woes

It's no secret that I have been watching a lot of Superman related media the past month or so. A friend of mine turned me on to Smallville and out of curiosity I branched out to practically all other Superman related paraphernalia including comic books, graphic novels, TV shows, movies, and shorts.

This brought me to writing this blog and what will be known as my first of many "Worst Lists."

Here are the runner ups:

Smallville

Some would argue that the show is one of the best delineations of the comic than any other moving picture representation. I would disagree. What's different in this rendition of the classic superhero? Well for starters, Smallville is now in its eighth season and still no super suit. Now, I don't really want to see a grown man in tights and a cape, but there has to be something better than putting Tom Welling in a blue shirt that is two sizes too small and an off-hue red jean jacket. Sometimes, they even mix it up and throw on a blue jean jacket instead! Horrible. What else is different?

• Lois Lane is now played by a flabby stripper who makes it her business to date virtually every other male character (save Lex) and single handedly force me to spam the mute button.
• Lana Lang in the comic book is Superman's high school sweetheart and in the movie Superman 3 she is superman's girlfriend. In Smallville, however, Ms. Lang (played by Kristin Kreuk) is actually Clark's bleeding vagina, and is the cause of much discontent. She also steals much of the show's airtime in the first 7 seasons, drawing the viewer into useless subplots that are nothing more than a ploy to engage the young female viewers. Don't even get me started on the 'She's a witch' plotline.
• Chloe Sullivan is a new character to the franchise and created solely for Smallville. The character is more of a Lois Lane then the actual show's Lois Lane and in the first 6 seasons remains a constant reminder of why some of us don't keep in touch with our high school 'friends.' In Season 7 and 8 however, she becomes a love interest for a young Jimmy Olsen.
• In the comic book Jimmy Olsen is a young photographer that teams up with Lois to get the latest scoops. In Smallville he is now played by what appears to be a middle schooler, but somehow remains to be one of the most realistic and authentic characters.
• Oliver Queen/Green Arrow is not a mainstay in the Superman series, but many will notice his credits on the JLA comic franchise. Smallville highlights a unique character that although screams homosexuality, seems to constantly fall in and out of love with the ever single/slutty Lois Lane.

The show is built on a foundation of 1/4 trendy bullshit and 3/4 teenage angst, even though the characters supposedly left high school 4 seasons (years) ago.

Superman and the Mole Men

Circa 1951, and in Black and White, Superman is transferred to the silver screen for one of the first times. The plot consists of Clark and Lois traveling to a small town (name unimportant) to write a story on the world's deepest oil well (plot unimportant). Peril hits the town (and story) as the drilling strikes a secret cavern where the Mole Men live. After many an angry town mob sequences and ugly monster rebellions ensue, Superman is forced to play monkey in the middle and saves a Mole Man before taking the brunt of a ray gun and punching out a townsman stating "it's better than you deserve."

Unlike any of its predecessors and successors, there is no comedic flair to the movie and it is acted with an almost laughable seriousness. The Mole Men, the source of much paranoia for the movie, are seen as furry monsters with bald heads and posses the ability to touch something and make it luminescent at night. OoOoOoooo.... Scary... This of course sends the town into sheer peril and sparks a riot. Classic SciFi response, right?

It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman
A short-lived Broadway musical and later straight-to-TV movie, the musical follows Max Menkin... Wait, what? Who? The character doesn't exist in the comic and oddly enough is the main character to this travesty. Max is an egotistical Daily Planet reporter who's envy of Superman manifests into hatred.

The main villain of the musical is Dr. Abner Sedgwick, a nothing new/interesting character that takes the place of the Lex Luther persona... Rumors are that the creators of the musical didn't want to pay DC for the rights to use the Lex Luther character... and rightly so, on Broadway, the musical was a complete bust.

In what is supposed to be a comedic approach to the role of Superman, it is hardly about Superman at all. The only comedic responses derived from this are how bad the music, script, and acting are.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
What do you get when combine bad writing with bad acting? This show.

Dean Cain's "Slater" (see Saved by the Bell) version of Superman includes all the pitfalls and woes of the Superman Franchise: A gay man in pastels. From his high pitched voice to his awkward cod piece, Cain creates a unique rendition that is better watched with eyes and ears covered.

Lex Luther is no longer bald, instead supporting an ugly shock of dirty brown/red hair. His almost lewd fixation with Alexander the Great is still in full swing and as a bonus he gets a trained falcon sidekick that kills pigeons.

Teri Hatcher, as Lois Lane, reminds me more of a cousin then a love interest for Clark Kent, which doesn't hinder their marriage plans... Her physical "hotness," however, is the only redeeming side of the show, and is in fact the only positive trait that comes to mind.

That being said...

There are so many choices, but like the hit movie Highlander, there can be only one.

And the Winner (loser) is....

It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman

Who doesn't want to see Superman sing while battling generic Chinese acrobats (played by Caucasians) and lying on the couch for a psychiatry session? At least the others were mildly entertaining.

Two words: Epic Failure.

Power Movements and Power Burgers

Tuesdays are usually my biggest workout day of the week. It's when I like to do all my heavy lifting and really hit every major muscle.

Why Tuesday?

Most people do their Monday, Wednesday, Friday weight routines, and then switch to cardio on their off days. Even if they don't, the benches are usually open at the gyms I visit, because that M, W, F routine is their chest day. So on Tuesdays, most gym-goers are on their back or leg routine. With any luck, half of my needed equipment is open.

I like to lift ultra heavy one day a week and really push my limits. This builds strength no matter what phase of workout I am in, and if I'm in a rut, it tends to break me out of it. This also prevents burnout and boredom from interfering with my normal routine.

Today's workout goes something like this:

• Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
• Squats
  
• Flat Dumbbell Chest Press
• Straight-Leg Deadlifts
• Lat Pull Downs
• Hamstring curls
• T-Bar Rows
• Calf Presses
• Single arm Bent-over rows (lawn mowers)

If you are unfamiliar with any of the above-mentioned workouts, I recommend Arnold Schwarzenegger's The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (just don't look at any of the Lee Priest pictures). The book is really great for beginners and pros alike, and it's an interesting read. For shits and giggles, I weighed the book and found it to be just over 6 pounds, which would make it the Ah-nold in a sea of girly-man books.

After that workout, I'll feel pretty pumped up, but if I'm not maxed out, I'll finish up the routine with a three workout rotation of push-ups, pull-ups, and lunges. I'll keep doing the rotation until exhaustion.

By this time, I'm ready for some fuel, and I'll usually chug a light protein shake, just to get a little protein, but mainly to help rehydrate, and then I'll cook dinner.

After a good workout like that, I like to treat myself to some good protein and some great vegetables. For this I pull my recipe from Gregg Avedon's Muscle Chow, and a personal favorite recipe of mine, the "Power Burger." It is easy to make and relatively fast once you get the hang of it.

Power Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Extra-lean ground beef
• 1 tbs Sunflower seeds
• 1 tbs finely chopped onion
• 1 tbs finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup toasted wheat germ
• 4 whole grain burger buns
• And, whatever toppings you need for the burgers, lettuce tomato, cheese, etc.

Step 1: Preheat a grill or skillet to medium-low
Step 2: Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl, and add all the ingredients except the wheat germ and buns. Knead with your hands until everything is well mixed.
Step 3: Form into 4 patties. Roll the patties in the wheat germ until they're covered.
Step 4: Grill or pan-fry for 8 to 10 minutes for medium or 14 to 18 minutes for well-done.
Step 5: Place each burger on a bun. Top the burger with your toppings.

Makes 4 servings.

I'll usually add on some Vegetable-packed Israeli Couscous and another vegetable like Baked Asparagus, both found in the Muscle Chow cook book, and packed with nutrients and muscle building enzymes.

After a huge workout and a feast like this one, I'm usually revitalized both mentally and physically.

Are we having fun yet!

Party Down is a TV show that premiered this March on Starz.

According to the Starz website synopsis, "Party Down is about a group of struggling dreamers who are stuck working for tips while waiting for their big break. As employees of the L.A. catering company “Party Down,” these misfits mingle with guests at everything from sweet sixteen parties to the most lavish Hollywood soirees." That sounds about right, if you replace "mingle" with "meddle" and "soirees" with "disasters."

The show follows the ragtag group of washed-up and never-was actors as they work parties that often end in complete disaster. Their fearless leader, Mr. Ron Donald, is beyond clueless but never loses sight of his dream to open his own restaurant, 'Soup Or Crackers' (ultra cheesy pun here "Super Crackers"). Each episode highlights a cameo appearance from an otherwise out of work and real-life actor, which only adds to the absurdity. The cameos are not enough to spark a divine interest in the show, but it definitely brings me back for more. The subject matter is almost always mature with an abundance of swearing, adult situations, and at times nudity (female and male). This show is definitely not for kids.


One particular highlight to the show is its characters. Every interaction between the creepy nerd writer, Roman Debeers, and the trendy emo asshole, Kyle Bradway, yields a ridiculous clash of the titans and a lot of laughter. My favorite character has to be the washed-up beer commercial actor, Henry Pollard, who generally plays the straight man and usually gets swept up in the commotion. Other highlights include the charmingly confused Constance Carmell, and the negativist siren Casey Klein.

The actors portraying the characters are not only believable, but also highly engaging. The troupe combines for a group effort not shared in many comedies (with exception to Arrested Development). Adam Scott and Ken Marino, arguably the lead actors do an amazing job of subtly propelling their characters to the foreground of each scene and all eyes are on them, even when you want to look away (if you've seen the adult after party episode you'll know what I mean). Jane Lynch pulls the audience in with her dramatic flair and delivers every line perfectly while Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr, and Lizzy Caplan raise the bar with solid performances.

The show itself has a similar feel to Curb Your Enthusiasm in that it is slow paced and its humor is methodical. Its characters are much like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, utterly clueless, yet somehow functional. While it shares many traits with other shows, Party Down breaks the mold and creates a unique comedic experience that has me laughing hysterically. I can't wait to see more of this show.

You can catch up on past episodes from its first season on the Starz website: Party Down on Starz

Opening Credits

Welcome to my blog Shared Universe!

My mission for this blog is to provide an outlet for all the activities that my friends and I share. There will be reviews and commentary on TV shows, Anime Series, Movies, Video Games, Books, Magazines, News, Politics, Religion, and more.

The goal of which will be to inform, entertain, and alienate you the reader and if possible, gain fame, fortune, and a fair amount of comments. Ok, I'll just be happy if I get the comments.

I'm sharing my universe because, hey, sharing means caring.