Last night, I ended up working over in the office for a little while after getting off the air.  Before leaving around 8:30, I called Happy Pie (insert shameless plug here) and ordered my usual, a medium mushroom and black olive pizza, then left out to pick it up.  As I picked up my order, I was talking to a young lady who works there out in the parking lot and noticed the oncoming storm approaching from the direction of my apartment.  So, I hurried over to my apartment so I could check my mail and pick up the copy of Fanboys I had waiting on me.

As I pulled into the complex, I stopped by the mailboxes and walked down the walkway towards my box on the left and noticed movement to my right out of the corner of my eye.  I looked down and saw a young copperhead striking at me!  The angry serpent struck at me two or three times as I backed away.

 I then called Rebecca who was already on her way to watch the movie with me and she had me call my property’s emergency maintenance.  In the meantime, I turned my car towards the walkway and my headlights apparently bothered the snake so it retreated into the pine needles.  When she got there, she called her cousin who happens to be a maintenance guy at my apartment complex and just happened to be on call so he had to brave the severe weather to make it in from his home in Piedmont!  She then played watchman for me so I could get into my mailbox to retrieve my mail without worrying about a venomous reptile nipping at my ankles!

We then went in before the weather hit the fan and popped in Fanboys, the long awaited comedy set in late 1998 about a group of Star Wars geeks who go on a mission to raid George Lucas’ famous Skywalker Ranch to steal an advanced copy of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  The film was actually finished two years ago, but must have faced some distribution issues or something leading to its delayed release.  The movie was well worth the wait as it was filled with great geek-laden humor and numerous cameos including the one and only William Shatner who assists our heroes in infiltrating the mansion owned by the creator of his rival sci-fi franchise.  Did I mention great Trekkie fights?!

Fanboys  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

This morning I got up a bit early to head out to Pebble Creek Golf Course to witness the kick-off of the 6th Annual Rise Guys Big Ass Golf Outing.  After meeting and greeting with a few P1 golfers, I left for Hollywood 20 to catch the noon showing of Pixar’s Up in 3-D.  The film was another heartwarming animated feature from the premiere computer animation company.  However, I did not expect the film to have so many tear-jerking moments as I had to fight back tears at least three times, and not quite successfully each time!  Another wonderful story with even more lovable characters!  How does Pixar keep doing it?!

Pixar’s Up  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

Wow what a week(end) this has been!  I took in some good movies, found a new bowling technique at the Rock ‘N’ Bowl, went to Morganton, NC and visited the renovated Frankie’s Fun Park!

Monday after work I went to Blockbuster to trade in a couple of my online flicks and picked up Passengers on DVD and Taken on Blu-ray.  I started with Passengers with Anne Hathaway which wasn’t nearly as suspenseful as the trailer leads you to believe.  The film is really slow paced with a decent payoff, but not enough to justify being dragged through most of the movie.  However, the ending did help make up for the rest of the film though it was an ending that was fairly predictable.

Passengers  \m/  \m/  \m/

Later in the week I watched Taken with Liam Neeson as a former spy whose daughter is kidnapped in Paris by an underground prostitution ring.  The film was quite impressive with Neeson’s character showing some even more impressive skills in the hunt for his daughter and her abductors.

Taken  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

Friday night was the night of my personal favorite event in Test Fest, our annual celebration of manhood, the Rock ‘N’ Bowl.  When Rebecca and I got there, we were placed in the first two lanes which we had to ourselves so we took advantage of it and bowled to our hearts’ content!  We started playing off of some of the P1’s in the neighboring lanes and P1 Boss T and I started randomly coming up with ridiculous bowling techniques including the reverse Granny or as I call it the ‘Goose egg’ because you look like you’re laying an egg and you tend to come out with no pins taken down.  Then, as a joke, I grabbed a bowling bowl with both hands, held it up in front of my face just below eye level so I could aim the ball then thrust the ball forward with rather satisfying results.  Needless to say, I began using this technique since it seemed to be working for me and ended up setting a new personal record for myself with a score of 116 and later tied it!  I grabbed a video camera and had Rebecca film me using this grand technique so hopefully I’ll have it posted here soon!

I had to pack in right after bowling because I had to be in Morganton, NC by 11 the next morning for a remote at Carolina West Wireless.  Being we don’t get to Morganton very often, I had Sarah Berger throw in some extra Planet shirts because I knew the eager NC P1’s would be out in force - and they were!  It was great meeting some P1’s I normally wouldn’t get to run into around town so I was thankful for the trip!

When I got home, I ran to Best Buy and bought seasons 6 and 7 of Tales From the Crypt since they were on sale for $17.99 each!  Now I’m only missing season 5!  I went home and chilled in front of the tv since I needed the rest and didn’t sleep well the night before.  Which is odd, because if I didn’t have to get up early, I would have been out like a light!  Weird!  I also watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans since I had picked that one up at Blockbuster when I returned the others.  This film serves as the prequel to the Underworld series with some of the original cast reprising their roles to tell the backstory of their characters.  Personally, I wasn’t blown away by the other Underworld films but I really liked this one.  Makes me want to go back and revisit the rest of the series with a renewed perspective!

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

Sunday I slept in getting some much needed rest and then went to Frankie’s Fun Park with Rebecca for the first time since they renovated the place.  We played various video games before going out for a round of miniature golf and laser tag.  I kicked her ass at miniature golf but got my ass handed to me in laser tag!  I’ve ALWAYS sucked at that!

Memorial Day I took in a double feature down at Hollywood 20 and saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Angels & Demons.  The sequel to Night at the Museum was true to the first film, but seemed to lack the charm and wonder of the first installment.  Don’t get me wrong, it was still a fun and immensely enjoyable film.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

There was only about a twenty to thirty minute lay over before Angels & Demons started so I went and got some popcorn while waiting.  The sequel, which was actually written BEFORE The DaVinci Code and serves as a prequel in the novels, was many times a better film than The DaVinci Code.  The film seemed more sinister with the threat of a very old vengeful secret society known as the “Illuminati” attacking the Roman Catholic Church.  Plus the battle of religion vs. science actually showed much more reverence for the Catholic church than the other film thus stirring less controversy.

Angels & Demons  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

Man, last weekend was the biggest event I’ve been a part of since I first started at this station over ten years ago!

Before I give the rundown of the weekend, last Wednesday Rebecca brought over one of her Netflix, The Rocker starring Rainn Wilson from The Office as Fish, a washed up drummer who was kicked out of an 80s glam band right as the band signs a record contract and goes on to become one of the biggest bands in the world.  After being fired from his job for fighting a coworker who was forcing him to listen to the latest cd from his former bandmates, Fish moves into his sister’s house and later joins his nephew’s garage band for their gig at their high school prom.  Despite the initial prom gig being a total train wreck, Fish stays on in the band but has to move out of the house so they decide to start practicing via webcam.  Playing from the hot, stuffy basement of an Oriental restaurant and unaware he is actually on camera, Fish gets behind his kit completely naked.  The video hits YouTube and the band becomes an overnight success thanks to “The Naked Drummer” giving Fish his chance to finally breakout and live his once-shattered dream.

The Rocker  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

Friday was an insanely busy day following another insanely busy day of giving away Crawfish Boil tickets EVERY hour and dealing with callers who became like kids incessantly asking “Are we there yet?” but instead were asking “When are you giving away Crawfish Boil tickets” over and over and OVER!!!!  So, after getting off the air, I had to tie up a few loose ends in the office before heading to the Crawfish Boil myself - of course Dex got to broadcast from the show as did Samantha D the following day - where’s the justice?!  I need to have a talk with Mark!  LOL!  So I arrived at the Bi-Lo Center and was pulling into the parking garage as GAVIN ROSSDALE was finishing up his set with “Comedown”, a song he did with his former band BUSH.  It sounded great from the parking garage!

After getting settled in, SHINEDOWN hit the stage and put on a great set although Brent was having a bit of trouble with his voice - maybe Paige pulled too much out of him when he and Barry came in the studio earlier that day!  Following SHINEDOWN was SNOOP DOGG who thus ended the day - and a bit late I might add much to the chagrin of the uppity residents of downtown Greenville who were very vocal about the ‘noise’ which baffles me since SNOOP honestly wasn’t very loud especially in comparison to the rock bands.  I also tried some crawfish as they were giving away some free samples at the end of the night.  My verdict: the tail meat is great (I can see the poor man’s lobster reference), but sucking the head not so much as the meat was real earthy and mushy.

As a result, Saturday’s decibel level seemed considerably lower but that didn’t spoil the fun by any means.  Since I had to work a shift that morning then wait in the long ass line to get in the gate, I missed PARMALEE but arrived just in time for FILTER to hit the stage.  Richard seemed to be struggling with his voice a bit but I speculate it may have had something to do with the mic levels as I threw out my voice while making stage announcements and I wasn’t talking over guitars and drums!  On a side note, as I was making my way to the stage for the first announcement after FILTER’s set, I saw frontman Richard Patrick backstage and introduced myself (a personal highlight for me).  CANDLEBOX was next and put on a great set which included OZZY’s “Crazy Train”.  THEORY OF A DEADMAN took the stage next follwed by HINDER and then 3 DOORS DOWN.

It was two great days of music and food as I spent a lot of money feeding and having a few drinks!  Let’s see: chicken on a stick, bacon cheddar ranch fries, chocolate-covered funnel cake, a chocolate milkshake, sweet tea, a Bahama Mama and some ice cold Miller Lite!  And I wonder why I weigh over 200 lbs!  And don’t forget the amazing turnout as we had reports of around 10,000 concertgoers EACH day for a grand total of 20,000!  We DEFINITELY need to do it again next year!

I hope everyone went and saw their dear moms for Mother’s Day!  I did but I’ll get to that in a few.

First off, as I’m sure everyone knows, Star Trek opened on Friday so I went to check it out both before and after my air shift.  After work, I met up with my friend Steve who used to do maintenance at my apartment complex along with his brother-in-law Rich and Jeff and Willie from my band TRAGEDY CHAPTER to catch the 8 o’clock showing on Hollywood 20’s digital projector.

The film was great although I was a bit disappointed I think mainly because I had built it up in my head for many moons!  Still, the film was visually stunning and had a fairly unique and complex storyline.  Trekkies should not be disappointed though I, of course, am a Star Wars geek!

Star Trek  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

Saturday I loafed around all day and watched Hotel for Dogs with Rebecca since she had it on her Netflix.  It was a cute movie filled with wondrous inventions and that tugs at the emotions of any dog lover - yeah, I may have shed a tear or two…..

Hotel for Dogs  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

Yesterday morning I got up rather early so I could make it to my childhood church where my cousin Ray was dedicating his 7-month-old son Jay.  When I got there, I saw people who have known me my whole life who looked at me as if I were some heathen who’s been out raping babies since I no longer go to their church - which, by the way, is hardcore Southern Baptist.  To top it off, I ran into the former pastor’s son who I went to high school with who also happens to work with my drummer Willie.  He said he had heard TRAGEDY CHAPTER’s music from Willie’s iPod and thought we sounded really good.  Then he had to announce immediately after that he doesn’t listen to my radio station anymore because we’re so ‘anti’ everything he believes in.  Okay, granted, we are a rock station that is predominately, well, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll with songs like “Crazy Bitch” by BUCKCHERRY, “Bad Girlfriend” by THEORY OF A DEADMAN and “Figured You Out” by NICKELBACK but it’s not like EVERY song pertains to sex and it’s not like we’re advocating worshipping Satan, killing your mother or raping babies!  Now I know why I no longer go there and why so many of my colleagues and I go to a nondenominational church!

After getting home, Mom called me and said she was turning onto Woodruff Rd so I got in my Jeep to meet her at Cracker Barrel.  As soon as got in my car, she called back and said that there was a line of cars just trying to get a parking space.  I then asked her if she was that hungry to which she said she wasn’t so I told her to meet me at the station so I could go charge my iPod on the computer in my office since I don’t have one of my own!  When I got to the station I gave her the rose I got for her from church that morning and the $5 cake I got at the Wal-Mart on Pelham Rd with strawberry filling!  I then showed her around the station since she’s never been inside and then we went over to Best Buy for a little shopping.  She picked up Liar Liar and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford on DVD while I nabbed Night at the Museum on Blu-ray since the sequel is hitting theaters this summer and I haven’t seen my copy of the DVD since I moved into my apartment two years ago.

When then went to Cracker Barrel at about 2 in the afternoon after the worst of the crowd had died out.  We brought the cake in with us, had lunch and some tasty strawberry-filled Mother’s Day cake!  Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!  Love, your TWISTED son Todd!

I got the weekend off to a great start by taking a couple of hours out of the office Friday morning to go see X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  I actually didn’t have very high expectations for this one since it was a spin-off flick, but was pleasantly surprised.  The film actually did very well in telling the backstory of X-Men’s most popular character and keeping it fairly congruent to the other films.  And, despite comic fans’ disapproval, I thought Ryan Reynolds was great as Deadpool.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

Later that night I watched one of Rebecca’s Netflix movies, Choke based on the novel by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk.  Granted Choke was no Fight Club by any means, but the film was still very complex and compelling - ok, the boobs helped!  Like Fight Club, there’s really no simple way to describe Choke.  Just go pick it up and watch it!

Choke  \m/  \m/  \m/  \

Saturday I got up early for my air shift and then hauled ass to Spartanburg for the Upstate Unsigned/BLVD Music stage at Spring Fling 2009.  I arrived just in time to see THE DIRTY EIGHTIES take the stage as they put on a great set including their cover of METALLICA’s classic “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.  Next was FROM TOMORROW as they brought some hard-hitting metal action to our stage.  THE VESSEL followed with their unique blend of rock and then handed the stage over to EVERY MANS ENEMY.  This was the first time I got to see EME with my friend Mikey playing guitar in the band and I was quite impressed as I knew I would be having briefly worked with Mikey myself.

We then had to take a break as the weather started to get a little rough as did certain dog show hosts.  So after dealing with rain and pissies, DECADENCE took the stage and put on a great show that included a cover of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE’s “The End of Heartache”.  Wrapping up the night was NOXIOUS who took advantage of the extra time we had been given due to the circumstances of the day.  They ended with their cover of TOOL’s “Schism” after dealing with some technical issues.  So, outside of weather, technical difficulties and a few unpleasant dog lovers (don’t get me wrong, I love dogs myself but DAMN!), I had a great time as we had a great turn-out with some great bands gracing our stage!

Yesterday I stayed in except for a quick trip to Blockbuster to do one of my in-store trade-ins on my online account and picked up The Uninvited, another foreign remake only this time the original was Korean as opposed to Japanese.  A tormented girl returns home from a mental institution after witnessing her mother perish in a fire only to find her father is shacking up with her mother’s caretaker.  With the deadly vixen threatening to take over her home, she teams up with her sister to investigate the woman’s past.  I would like to say I saw the ending coming, but no, I did not by a long shot.  Great story with an incredible twist ending!

The Uninvited  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m