11. Zombieland (2009)
I thought this was a Top 10 list?  Much like the college Big Ten has a plus one, I have plus one.  I just had to put this in because of the tremendous storyline of this zombie filled action-comedy.  But it’s really the dysfunctional Butch-Sundance dynamic between zombie slayers Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg that makes this flick so red bloody fun to watch.  The best is the way they slay their common foes: baseball bat, hedge cutters, and a banjo? The Bill Murray cameo alone is worth the price of admission.

10. A Knight’s Tale (2001)
My wife has caught me watching this movie over and over again.  I then realized when I concocted this list that this movie has to be on it.   Combine great 70s/80s rock music, Heath Ledger, the genius that is Alan Tudyk, and a great villain, Rufus Sewel, and you are bound to have an awesome movie.  I think it’s the storyline of always looking to your heart in what you truly want to be in life; it hits close to home.  At the end of this movie, I always seem to leave with a big smile on my face.

9. Hellboy (2004)
Remember that “I am not a comic book collector”, that is a lie in this case.  I LOVE this comic.  And surprise, when you combine the artistic film ability of Guillermo del Toro and the actually comic book writer, you come out with a superb movie.  Who or What is Hellboy? The character is a demon who fights for an international non-governmental agency against dark forces including Nazis, in a series of tales that have their roots in folklore, pulp magazines, vintage adventure, and horror fiction, all of which where wonderfully built in this movie.  Action with a bad-ass main character always leaves me wanting more.

8. V for Vendetta (2005)
The BEST movie that the Wachowski Brothers made.  Period.  Seriously.  Better than the Matrix.  You heard me.  And many of you are asking, what is V for Vendetta?  How did I miss it?  Well, I lot of critics just didn’t get it.  Based on a comic novel in a dystopian 1990’s future United Kingdom, a mysterious anarchist who calls himself “V”, played by Hugo Weaving, works to destroy the totalitarian government in an alternate timeline.  The themes of this movie are quite possibly the best of any on this list and it even prove to me that Natalie Portman was just as hot with a shaved head as she normally is.

7. The Incredibles (2004)
Fantastic Four movies angered me, how can you just screw up a family of superheroes and take away all the kick-ass possibilities?  Did that sound weird to say?  It did in my head.  Well, as a fan of the Iron Giant film, I knew director writer/director Brad Bird can carve amazing stories; and this is the superhero movie that the Fantastic Four wanna be.  I am sure there are animated movies with more artistic credit this decade, but Pixar managed to tell a good story about a family of retired superheroes and great cinematic action/teamwork.  And there hasn’t been a hot amine red head since Mrs. Roger Rabbit.

6. Star Trek (2009)
Star Wars vs Star Trek, what side am I on?  Well, I hate to admit but I love Trek, only because of the wonderful (and better) storylines, ability to re-franchising itself better, and iconic roles; Three words: James Tiberius Kirk.  And as I was one of the skeptical ones revamping the original Trek, it was done masterfully with this version of the familiar crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  The retelling of Gene Rodenberry’s universe did not tear apart versions of the Trek world, matter of fact, it helped.  What will a Klingon will look like? Will the Borg be in this world?; we can only wonder.  A word to J.J. Abrams: TO MUCH LENS FLARE!!

5. Gladiator (2000)
My oldest movie on this list, Gladiator in my eyes, started the gorgeous visual historical epics that inspired movies like 300, Troy, and Alexander.  The sepia pantones with emphasized spots of prime colors and light effects made my eyes open as wide as it could just to soak in the paint.  I have not been a fan of Ridley Scott before this (seriously, G.I. Jane?) and I was skeptical about this guy named Russell Crowe, but after his emotions flow through onto the screen, I was not surprised that he received best actor award. This movie played to a formula that I concocted that guaranty it to be one of my favorite movies of all times: a love story, passionate revenge, strong storyline, evil dictator, beautiful well placed color, and kick-ass action.

4. Old School (2003)
Luke Wilson’s dry shtick, Vince Vaughn’s rude behavior, and Will Ferrell’s physical craziness makes this film the best comedy I have seen in this decade.  I am a sucker to relive my best days in college and this movie tugs on those cords.  The tackle scene into the fountain still make loud out of control and Frank the Tank, nuf said. A flaming Dr. Pepper anyone…crap, my hand is on fire.

3. Up (2009)
Ok, if you didn’t cry at least twice during this movie, you have no soul.  A movie about an old man attaching balloons to his house and fly away on an adventure does sound crazy, but I was not prepared for the meltingly tender love story, an unbelievable journey, and the roll-around-on-the-floor humor that glows from this film.  Pixar keeps giving me great reason to go to the theater and this is the best of them period.

2. The Lord of the Rings: Trilogy (2001)
Ok, I am cheating, it’s three movies.  But how can you separate one from the others? Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, from J.R.R. Tolkien books I read when I was 14, is a blended cinematic piece of artwork that equals in great film production size and scope. With hobbits, wizards, dark lords running around Middle-Earth, it is a movie with laugher, loyalty, action, teamwork, strategy, magic, everything you want in a movie. Although when I was reading the books, Gollum was a little more badass, not the spindly, scary, schizoid, computer-generated villain in the movie.  I liked my version of Gollum better.

1. The Dark Knight (2008)
Who is hell Christopher Nolan?  A brilliant, under the radar, British director gave us two great movies: a low budget thriller Memento and a reboot of an old comic book franchise Batman Begins.  But with his third big budget film, a sequel to Batman Begins, he convinced me with a mental, dramatic, action thriller, that I had no other choice to make it number one.  I mean if I could I would make the music in this movie number 2 on this list as it’s even more a major part of this movie as the actors themselves.  I wasn’t much of a comic book collector but I LOVED the Dark Night comic series, which this movie was based on.  The Joker is such a great cerebral villain in the comic novel; I thought it would be hard to reproduce him on the big screen.  Surprisingly I was pleasantly wrong.  Heath Ledger pulls the villain off so well I was hiding behind the seats in some scenes, but asking for more of his wicked smile.    Sadly, he won’t reprise the role, but on the bright side Maggie Gyllenhaal won’t be back either.

Tell more when i find sleep and coffee…

Made three Sun Jars
Finished my Online Landscape Portfolio
Cleaned the house
Got some sort of stomach ailment
Fixed cords that the pet rabbit chewed through
Watch every episode of Wipeout
Finally watched the rest of Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince
Lots of time with my sisters and mom being in town
Watch all my “nerd” shows (Finally caught up on all fall/summer shows)
Did about 2 months of laundry
Killed a hornet nest with gasoline
Still trying to pass the last level on Peggle World of Warcraft free version
Tweeked the Linksys Router
Half way through Chris Jericho’s Autobiography
Watch all three “The Librarian” movies

And finally,

Missing my love.

Ok…so the plans for this week:
Review on Harry Potter (which will surprise you)
Review on Wipeout the TV series
Update the Crossfit Challenges
Sun Jar Craft review
Xcel Energy Rant
Landscape Architecture Urban Warfare
Slip some xbox video game playing in

And Finally,

Spend time with my love.

And talk about twists and turns.  I guess BBC has short run series compare to America’s 22 episodes runs averaging only about 8 episodes a season.  With not so many shows, they shock and awe the audience with an average about 3 deaths of important cast members per season, reminding me of a typical Buffy the Vampire season, which probably is why they have been getting high rating for so long.  The main core of actors stay but most of the key supporting roles were the expendable ones.  I am for one happy they kept Hannah Spearritt throughout the series being oh so fine with the jet white hair and a nice smile.  Not to mention a really good actor throughout the series.  I think I was the only one standing around saying, “That’s the girl in S club (7)!!!”  It’s really sad I knew that.

So we have a great team put together to find these anomalies.  What do they do next?  Well, that is the confusing part.  They protect anomalies, they try to shut them down, they investigate them, they try to see how they click, they travel through them, they play with the space time continuum with them.  It all over the board, and yet, I was there saying, ooo, that’s what they have to battle/bring back into the portals.  It was ‘fun’.

Then they got their villains and the primary one throughout the series is Cutter’s wife, Helen (Juliet Aubrey), who disappeared years earlier. What happened to Helen becomes the primary continuing storyline for she shows up out of nowhere announces her main goal is to tell the world about these portals and what they have within.  In some ways I agree with her initial thoughts (Damn the man!!) but you soon find out she is all in it for herself and to make a profit from the creatures themselves, turning them into experiments and slaves under her control.

A good part of the show is the not-taking-itself-serious but in a realistic manner, well, as realistic as a sci-fi TV series can get.  I haven’t really seen something like this since Buffy again with their little cute one-liners and fun fight moments.  And it really centers its viewership with a broad rainbow stroke instead of that 16-28 age range with adding kid fun (a lizard called Rex) and older adult entrainment (the relationship between Helen and Nick).  It can be a family affair good-ol time.

The best part is that they try for that Jurassic Park shock value for every episode.  Sometimes they are SUPER cheesy and sometimes they are right on spot.  They got their token girl scream in every episode along with some bad-ass moment that remind me of “Pulp Fiction”

Well after 3 seasons, they got hit like most good sci-fi shows do: cancelled.  Mostly claming very expensive CGI costs and the cast money requirements.  Sad really but for me with this show, it really was time to say, “You know what, lets call it good, we had a good run”.  The story line in season 3 was getting weak and they killed off a very important member in season 3 that I for one said, “It’s like having Mulder leave X-files.”  See how they jumped the shark after that with the bad guy from Terminator 2.  Sad sad.

All in all. I loved the series and there is talk of a Big time movie in the works which made me happy to know it will be coming back for just one more time.  I recommend it for anyone who loves a good sci-fi show like X-files and Chuck (not Star Wars or Star Trek).  If you have a chance to rent it, do it.  Just remind yourself, its Sci-fi, open your mind, and have fun.

I give it 7 “Shooter McGavins” out of 10.

[via BBC]

Work out of the Day (WOD)
Warmups:
Shrug
Elbows High
Muscle Snatches
Power Snatches
Over Head Squats
Pressing Snatch Balance
Push Press
Snatch Land
Heaving Snatch Balance
Scotts Press
10 Air Squats
Stretching

WOD:
4 Rounds of:
25 Double Unders Jump Rope (or 100 Singles)
20 Wall Balls
15 Pull Ups

Final Results:
Time: 22:14

Like I said before, this was my best work out ever.  I did the first three rounds of pull ups with the black/blue bands without stopping.  I wasn’t even able to do 8 in one round about 2 months ago.  I did the single jump ropes attempting only 2 dlb unders.  But I was traight through though.  Baby step sir, baby steps.  The walls balls (squat throwing a medicine ball up against a wall) are still rough as hell but I for some reason not as bad today.

So what have I learned from this WOD today:  Stretch the groin/hip mucsles, thrity minutes at a time, 2 times a day.

Next crossfit update: Wednesday July 22th, 2009

[via HRCF]

Work out of the Day (WOD)
Warmups:
300m Run
10 Squats
stretching

WOD:
Shoulder Press:2-2-2-2-2 reps
Push Press:5-5-5-5-5 reps
Push Jerk:3-3-3-3-3 reps

Final Results:
SP: 95lb-115lb-110lb-115lb-120lb(1)
PP: 115lb-115lb-120lb-115lb(4)-115lb-Extra Credit=(95lb(8))
PJ: 105lb-115lb-125lb(2)-130lb(2)-95lb(7)

I felt pretty good and it was my first time doing all three weight lifting types.  I got really fatigued by the end of the push press and started losing form.   So you can see at the end of Push Press and Push Jerk I logged 95lb.  That was basically reviewing over form and technique.  It’s hard to get out of my mind that its not about throwing weight around.  Male mentality, damn you.

So what have I learned from this WOD today: Practice Technique, the weight will follow.

Next crossfit update: Monday July 20th, 2009

[via HRCF]

Now, I am not only inviting you, but I am asking your help.  Send this info along to EVERYBODY that you know in the Denver/surrounding areas.  We need people to help, we need people to fill, We need people to find some auction items; we just need people.  We are planning to make these events the best and we need all of you to make it even better.  Not only that, we are trying to raise cancer awareness and prevention, which is the big goal in all of this.

1 in 4 people you know has cancer.  And you ALL know me. So you are all in that statistic. [via LiveSTRONG & Colorado LiveSTRONG Army]

Work out of the Day (WOD)
Warmups:
10 PVC thrusters
10 Over head PVC squats
10 pullups
10 PVC Cleans
stretching
WOD:
4 Rounds:
400 meter row machine
30 medicine ball cleans 16lbs
20 push ups

Time finished: 40:02 minutes

It didn’t sound so bad until I started.  Oh momma my hips are feeling like they are jello, cherry flavor.  I kick butt in rowing and was O.K. with the push ups.  But those cleans are what got me in and wow was I last place today.  I felt like the black rimmed glass nerdy fat kid in gym class that gets picked last in dodgeball.  Wait, was I that guy??…(checking brain)…I…don’t think…so?  By round 3, I got about 5 to 6 cleans in when I had to stop to breathe.  That the problem with this, I can do all the WODs in problem, just my chest doesn’t cooperate.  Chop this up to missing Mondays training and having to learn to breathe more effectively.

And yes, my wife beat me by 7 minutes.  Damn her!  My brother and sister-in-laws were there and I won’t even say what those freaks of nature did.

Next update: Friday, July 17, 2009

[via HRCF]