Keepin' it gangsta in a " lack of common sense" environment...

I was cruising with my ghetto car (pics and videos coming soon, I promise) downtown in the infamous Tenderloin when I got this hella funny view of a Thai??? guy (or girl) wearing THIS shirt...

and yes it says GREECE...guess that was the only thing he could afford...

I'm gonna keep it simple and just describe a common day a friend of mine had today...So, she wakes up in the morning and she borrows her roommate's car, ALTHOUGH SHE DOESN'T HAVE A VALID CA DRIVING LICENSE and she failed her test last week...
Where to??? She goes and picks her friend for an abortion appointment...Did I mention that she's 24, with a 5 years old kid and into her 4th month of pregnancy????
After they r done they go for "room decorating shopping" as my friend has just moved to her new place...
How else could you describe the lack of common sense people in USA have???
And it's not only young people but professionals too...
Rafer Alston was found not guilty yesterday of a DWI charge he picked up back on August 7th. He was initially stopped for driving without his headlights on, but when police began questioning the Rockets' guard, he became increasingly irritated with the proceedings, and ended up asking the officer to take him in, because he was apparently done answering questions.
Wait! There's is a video too, it's called:

"Rafer Alston would like to show you how NOT to talk to a police officer:

Had he been a little more patient and a little less hostile to the officer during the line of questioning, it's likely that the incident wouldn't have escalated to an arrest in the first place...

• QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“The flying dog, or whatever that’s called? No, I’m not good at it.” — Roger Mason Jr., on Gregg Popovich having the team do yoga together.
Not long ago everybody used to try and be like Mike , in today's world though it's NBA coaches trying to be like the original Zen Master, Phil Jackson!

• NBA outstanding stat of the year: The Milwaukee Bucks are the first team to ever have in their roster two Dutch 7-foot Centers, Fransisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric...

Giving you an update about stories previously released here I'll try to make it to the Booksmith Bookstore tonight where this event is taking place...gotta give some luv to all people that make us laught!!!

Mark Farina - Mushroom Jazz Vol. 6 Out Today!

It’s very rare that I buy entire recordings these days. After checking out the samples of this latest Mark Farina compilation, I will be buying Mushroom Jazz 6. Twenty tracks for $9.99 and I liked all but five of these acid jazzy/nu jazzy works.

I thought I have moved out from Greece where coaches get fired for no cause and before they can even get familiar with their practice facilities..
Apparently, same shit is going on around the Bay, as both coaches of the NFL teams around here have been given the axe...no time to prove their draft pick selections or their long term plans...again, all those professional leagues are results oriented but still I really can't see the difference from Greece when firing the coach 2 weeks BEFORE the team gets a day off and they can regroup...

I just ordered a Beno jersey from NBA.com...

The NBA preseason is generally considered irrelevant and nobody seems to care about playing some serious basketball and providing some highlights for us, the fans...Except from the blue collar journeymans hustling to get a last minute contract, right???
Enter Beno Udrih, who really did Kobe dirty...Once you get shook like that, there really is no coming back from that, even if your name is Kobe...It’s like the guy who got you steals all of your basketball powers and claims your soul...Beno’s gonna avg. 40 the first month of the season for sure....

and Mr Irrelevant, fooling Devin Harris...
Devin Harris = NBA player, starting PG in a structured game, multi million contract, nothing to prove...
Tanner = nobody, legend in an unstructured game, everything to prove...
Still, that was SICK!!!

I really didn't have the time to catch a movie lately but I spent last night watching (again) 1 of my all time favorites, a great masterpiece, a classic about teen life in California, San Diego and SoCal in general..."Fast times at Ridgemont High" For all of you that haven't seen that piece of art just go out and rent it...You'll be rewarded with one of the best characters ever seen on the big screen..a legend...Surf's Up, Spicoli!!!

Funny stories around the Bay...

• So I'm sitting there having an interview with this HR guy who reads my resume and starts laughing his ass off when he realizes that 1 of "my clients" has been Basketball Legend Walter Berry...
  

"Walter Berry boy? That's definitely a blast from the past..." he says! Oh yeahhhhhhh, I repeat...

• 1 of the reasons I love California and I wanted to be here is that this state has always been so innovative to the point that it has become ridiculous.....A friend of mine recently had to go under surgery and when I politely asked her what was wrong I found myself pretty much embarrassed...Apparently, she was having this breast reduction procedure that helped her change her bra size from G(!!!) to D....and yes they were natural!
• On to the bride sight...As must as the fast food addiction in America has been criticized , again, California is the first state (worldwide) to seriously take actions against it ...last week the "Terminator" signed a bill that will be requiring large chain restaurants to notify customers of the nutritional content of menu items....Given the past of this bill and the fact that all those chain restaurants have been trying to discourage citizens and legislators from taking actions towards healthy nutrition America might start claiming that No 2 ranking on the fattest children world index....I mean , seriously, you have to be totally stupid or unable to read to let your kids rush into a 12000 calories menu....
  
• I took a break from real life last week and visited a place that most of the entire population on this earth could not locate, Shinegletown,CA....
  

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My friends were telling me how this place was full of rednecks...You know, no offense but they were so totally right...what more can I say when I come up with this sign in the local grocery store...just check this list, my pic can most def make it in there...

• Also, in California, palms tend to replace all kinds of plants everywhere...even in the church!
  

More movie reviews....

M. Night Shyamalan is a brilliant writer/director who always manages to impress with his unique ideas or twists on previously attempted genres. For the record, my favorite two films of his were Unbreakable and The Village. That's exactly the case with his new movie too which however, I didn't really enjoy...The story is about an airborne toxin which causes those engulfed to kill themselves - possibly spread by trees and plants - and has been launched on the East Coast of America. A great story that fits perfectly today's worries about global warming as we are all witnessing how the mother nature is coming right back at us..."Ike" anybody???

A great story though ain't enough to produce an equally great movie... The Happening delivered no one-liners, no stand up acting from any particular actor/actress, and no real climax. It felt real. The characters reacted in a very human way, no heroes, the lines didn't feel scripted. It felt as though the person sitting next to me would react the same way. Amazingly realistic. Almost too realistic. BUT the acting was generally poor..The acting across the board is terrible. This is the worst movie I have ever seen Mark Wahlberg do. He talked to everybody in the movie as if they were seven years old for no apparent reason other than being a high school teacher...(By the way how many of you do you know that the actor Mark Wahlberg used to be the ultra funky rapper MarkyMark?????) The only good performance in the movie is given by John Leguizamo and he dies within the first forty five minutes..

More on the bad side: I like having no idea where the film is headed, and The Happening was a predictable joint. The plot was weak and at many times didn’t make much sense. We learn the “twist” in the first twenty minutes of the movie! There is no drama build up to the twist like a good suspense movie, and the twist itself doesn’t land in any way towards us the viewers.

The ONLY silver lining for this movie and probably the biggest reason to see it is the score. Although the suspense and story is terrible, the music is actually pretty great. Brilliant. Simply stunning. The music made the movie. Had the score not been as wonderful, the movie would not be worth seeing...

3 HATE CITIES!

Also, giving an update on plane flights and ways to make the most out of an uncomfortable airplane trip...

How To Keep Motherfu#%s From Putting Their Seats Back .

***A great update from SNL about Mark Wahlberg's acting....hysterical but quite realistic...***

LET’S PUT A SMILE ON THAT FACCCCE! I finally saw the Dark Knight in a cinemaplex yesterday! I wanted to take a break and watch "The Dark Knight" a few months after its initial release in order to avoid getting drifted by "Top 10 Movie on my all time list" comments...the hype for this one was huge while all kinds of problems surrounded production the bigger of them Ledger's tragic suicide/death...

But was the hype around Ledger's performance and the praise it’s garnered thus far well deserved????
Well, yes and no! While this is probably 1 of the best movie I’ve seen in years it seemed to me that the movie was tooooooo long and actually dead after the 1st half when batman brings back to Gotham City the Chinese dude...It felt like the movie reached it's peek and then went on a downfall with twoface's emerge being the only bright spot...Heck, I though they could have made a sequel out of this piece of tape...

Ain't no hater, I love Batman, my Movies collection includes the original batman and Robin TV series from the 70's... Christian Bale is the best Bruce Wayne since Adam West (that’s the vintage s*** there). George Clooney was by far the worst. Gyllenhall was excellent, Eckhart was dynamic (and his two-face makeup was superb. it looked as though his face was blown off for real), Caine, Freeman, Oldman–all of these guys are accomplished actors. Its the like the dream team or something!!!! Oh yeah, Aaron Eckhart’s performance as Two-Face was fantastic although it will be lost behind Ledger’s Joker...
ENTER the Joker, a homicidal freak who wants nothing more than to burn down the city and break down the spirits of its residents. From the bank heist at the beginning of the flick to the hostages on the boats in the end, Joker proved to be next level psychotic. A true criminal mastermind that’s two or three steps ahead of his competition. His laugh was a murda maniacal one and his sense of humor was sick. Heath Ledger’s Joker was so brilliant that I really felt he made Jack Nicholson’s version seem like something out of a Disney Channel movie. Dude, Heath Ledger wasn’t genius, that was epic, phenomenal. Voice change, mannerisms, tics, the smacking of the lips, the eloquence, that might have been one of the best villains ever. He was scary. Just like Joker should be...
"skimmers...skimmers trying to control their little words...I'm not a skimmer, I'm trying to show the skimmers how...pathetic their attempts to control the world really are..."
The hospital scene and especially the ending is actually going down as a true all time classic....it's called great acting and it's a natural talent...Just check out how Ledger manages to deliver a true epic performance that stands miles above Jack Nickolson's Joker..Can't blame him for being furious over the production for overpassing him...

"It isn't about the money, its about sending a message" - The Joker

As for the haters?? just chill...the only thing you need to do in order to enjoy movies, whatever kind, is to forget it’s fiction...
Rule Number 2: Wanna get out right away??? Watch a movie, its cheaper than catching a Southwest flight... That’s what this movie did. I forgot about all my problems and was living in Gotham City for two and a half hours...When you forget that you’re watching actors live out a written script. That’s what this movie did. I forgot about all my problems and was living in Gotham City for two and a half hours. The flick was so well written that it was like poetry on the silver screen. The twists in the plot and the action was phenomenal. The dark humor was great. The gadgets that Batman was rocking was off the hook. Great dialogs, intelligent story. And the acting was impeccable...

All bullsh*t aside, I have to say it: “The Dark Knight” is almost a true classic. If this movie had any flaws it laid with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). It had nothing to do with her acting, she did her, but come on, they couldn’t cast someone attractive? Did it have to be all about the acting? But even though she’s a very good actress, bringing Katie Holmes back instead of Maggie G. would have been perfect. Especially the tougher looking sophisticated Katie Holmes of today not the sweety from Batman Begins!
Also, the ending sucks...Batman has now become the scapegoat, the Dark Knight...I guess it's not a big deal, just another prime example of how we build our heroes up only to tear them down...This movie actually makes you root for the bad guy, Joker!
Extra credit goes for a great music score and a wide range of official posters which manage to intrigue and promote a truly dark side of Batman...

Introducing my brand new movies rating, 5 hate cities means the movie was horrible, I hated it and you shouldn't be watching it while 0 hate city means I almost got nothing to hate , a masterpiece...

Hands down, only 1 Hate city...go watch it if you haven't already!

Ηρθε το φθινόπωρο...

Ήρθε το φθινόπωρο σήμερα στη Θεσσαλονίκη.
Σαν να κιτρίνισαν τα φύλλα μέσα σε ένα βράδυ και ο αέρας άρχισε να τα ρίχνει στα βρώμικα από την πρώτη βροχή καπό των αυτοκινήτων.
Ωραία είναι. Δεν είναι ωραίο το φθινόπωρο;
Εγώ αυτό βλέπω από το παράθυρό μου από τη δουλειά… Πλατάνια στην οδό Βαφοπούλου (στην οδό που βρίσκεται το Βαφοπούλειο) με κίτρινα φύλλα…

fou!