Entourage

Posted on July 31, 2006 by Shane

I love having HBO because it means that I am able to watch Entourage during the summer. Totally sweet. It is probably my favorite show on TV right now (that is currently showing new episodes…anything in summer re-runs doesn’t count).

The 3rd season started a little show, but it has picked up a lot of steam lately and the last few episodes have been excellent.

SEASON 3 SPOILERS AHEAD!

OK…so, I love that Ari is starting his agency with Barbara Miller…I think it is hilarious, despite Beverly D’Angelo’s absolutely awful acting (and really…could she have a little more work done on her face?). I think that if I had to rank the main characters on the show as my favorites, it would look a little like this:

Ari
Drama
E
Turtle
Lloyd
Vince

The show really isn’t about Vince, it’s about his Entourage. They are the most important characters…they are the ones that are the most crucial to the show. OK…maybe that’s a bit of a stretch…they wouldn’t be there without Vince, but you get what I’m saying. Adrian Grenier is only a mediocre actor…the show is carried by Jeremy Piven (PIVS!).

I’m anxious to see what happens the rest of this season. I was happy to see Walsh back for the last episode. He personifies the indie director who hates everything but his work (although I have to agree…QB looked like crap colorized). Vince is the idealistic actor who doesn’t really understand “the system” yet, but also has yet to come to grips with the fact that he is responsible for the lives of all his housemates as well as a bunch of other people who hang on his coattails. He’s kind of a punk.

But he has a great show.

Interesting Statistic

Posted on July 27, 2006 by Shane

Reading my SparkPeople Mailer this morning, I came across these statistics:

From 1977 to 1997, hamburgers expanded by 23%; a plate of Mexican food got 27% bigger; soft drinks increased by 52%; snacks (potato chips, pretzels, crackers) grew 60%. We’re now entering the second generation of overeaters who can’t believe that a fast food soft drink used to come in 10 ounce cups. There’s actually a frozen entree that proudly sells itself as “1 Pound of Food,” as if its total mass was a benefit.

I remember something similar to that being in the movie Super Size Me…it’s just weird to see it in print. It’s kind of gross.

Non-blog Journal

Posted on July 25, 2006 by Shane

Alli and I started new journals last night. She went to her parents house on Sunday night to help them faux paint their dining room and while she was there, she found some journals that were about 25 years old, written by her parents.

Her parents gave her permission to read through them and she brought them home with her. I picked her up at the half-way point in Mound City and she read from them to me as we drove home. It was such a cool insight into the lives of her parents when they were only just a bit older than us. They talked about their girls (Ashley was 2 and Alli was 4 when the journals begin), their church beliefs, their feelings about their friends and such. It was really cool because they journalled on the same days and it was interesting to read what they talked about individually on the days that they experienced the same things.

Their voices really came through in their writing and it was really neat to see that.

So Alli and I have decided to do it. Before we got home from Mound City last night, we stopped at Borders and picked up journals to write in (mine’s red, Alli’s is black) and we put our first entries in last night. I’m excited for us to do this together. I think that it will be a great thing for us to look back on in 10 or 20 years and remember our thoughts and feelings when we were still in our 20′s (not much longer for me…grrrrrr…).

Clerks 2

Posted on July 23, 2006 by Shane

Jake and I went to see Clerks 2 tonight. I’ve been looking forward to this movie for quite a while. Kevin Smith is one of my all-time favorite directors and I was anxious for it to come out.

The reviews on it have been really positive and it received an 8-minute standing ovation at Cannes, but it isn’t going to break any box-office records.

As far as the movie goes, it was pretty much what I expected. It was pretty over-the-top offensive, but it was in a wink-wink, nudge-nudge kind of way. Smith canonizes his uber-slackers Dante and Randal who have moved on from the Quick Stop to a Mooby’s managed by the new-to-the-Askewniverse Rosario Dawson. Dante is about to leave the Garden State for Florida to get married to his fiancee (played very well by Smith’s wife, Jennifer). Randal is up to his old antics and Jay and Silent Bob have moved from the Quick Stop to outside the Mooby’s. They provide some great physical comic relief in between Randal’s biting diatribes and Dante’s constant complaining.

Although in old age, the clerks have aged a little, they haven’t lost their edge. While Clerks 2 certainly has a lot more flash (and color!) than the original, it still manages to maintain its likability as a small indie flick. You have to appreciate people like the Weinsteins who give filmmakers like Smith millions of dollars and says, “make the movie that you want” which is exactly what Smith did.

One of the things I really liked about this movie was the new additions to the cast, Dawson as Becky and Trevor Fuhrman as Elias. Dawson seems completely at ease in Dante and Randal’s raunchy world, participating in their conversations. Fuhrman plays Elias, the ultra-Christian, Lord-of-the-Rings-loving co-worker who takes a lot of Randal’s verbal abuse. He’s really funny.

Overall, the movie is a statement about accepting your true self, no matter what that might be. I enjoyed it a lot…better than the first one, but I think that’s because it makes more sense to me these days and I can relate to characters who are searching for some greater purpose. For that, I give it two thumbs up with the disclaimer that you realize before seeing it that the language and content are more colorful than most movies. Just keep that in mind before seeing it.

The Kite Runner

Posted on July 21, 2006 by Shane

The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Rating: 8 out of 10

I went into this book quite skeptical. It’s been circling many different book clubs for the past couple of years and so many people were recommending, I thought that I was bound to be the person who didn’t like it (I felt the same way about Beloved by Toni Morrisson…WEIRD book).

I actually started this book about a month ago (before Holy Blood, Holy Grail) but found it really difficult to get into. I got 4 chapters in and abandoned it for a while.

Four books later, I decided to come back to it and give it a second chance. I’m really glad that I did. Khaled Hosseini has given us a moving, but haunting portrait of the last 3 decades in Afghanistan through the eyes of a boy named Amir.

DISCLAIMER: Before you rush out to read this book, you must understand that it is, at times, extremely difficult, containing graphic scenes that you would not want to witness visually. I was moved by this book, but at times I felt very uncomfortable.

By the end of the book, however, the sorrow that you feel for many of the characters woven through the novel is overcome by the triumph of the human spirit, one that does not know boundaries or class or religion. It is that human spirit that ties us together and makes this book a success.

SparkPeople

Posted on July 13, 2006 by Shane

I’ve joined the web site, SparkPeople.com, a free online diet tracking web site complete with resources for nutrition, fitness, and self-motivation.

I’m pretty excited about it. The web site has a lot of material and allows you to track all your progress along the way.

I’ve always been one of those people who really struggles with their weight. I go in spurts where I’m really good about it, but there are a lot of times (like the last few months) where I really get derailed. I’m hoping that this web site will help me to get back on track. One thing’s for sure: I’m glad to have a nice grocery store close finally so that it isn’t always such a chore to go get stuff for lunches or to make at home.

If you are interested in learning more about SparkPeople.com or want to join, click the button below:

Wish me luck. I hope that I am able to get some momentum. My goal is 65 pounds by next July 1. I think it is definitely possible. What do you think?

Unloading Tile

Posted on July 10, 2006 by Shane

I finally picked up our tile.

I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart to pick up our tile over lunch today. 31 boxes of French Quarter tile, 29 sheets of backerboard, 6-50 lb. bags of thin set, and 2 bags of grout later, my back hurts and the tile and all that other stuff is in our garage. You should have seen my car. I tried to take a picture of it, but it didn’t turn out the best:

But at least I got a good picture of all the stuff:

Now all I have to do is learn how to lay tile. Anyone?

Radical Careering

Posted on July 7, 2006 by Shane

Radical Careering
by Sally Hogshead
Rating: 10 out of 10

I heard Sally speak at the HOW Design Conference in the middle of June. She gave an inspiring closing keynote speech that was a brief overview of her book, Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jump Start Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life. After listening to her, I was completely inspired to read her book and take on her wisdom about building a radical career.

EVERYONE in a career should read this book.

Sally started her career in the advertising industry and was immediately met with accolades and awards for her stellar copywriting skills. She’s been responsible for some great advertising campaigns in her time, stuff ranging from Dolce & Gabbana to MINI. At the age of 27, she started her own agency in Venice Beach. A few years later, she was asked to open the West Coast office of famed agency Crispin Porter & Bogursky. She started her job at CP&B on September 10, 2001.

What followed provided her with much of the basis for what formed Radical Careering. She has worked with some of the brightest minds in all of business and she gleaned a wealth of information about careers from them.

Radical Careering is a book of 100 Radical Truths about creating a career worth loving and living everyday. It is an inspiring book broken into 10 sections:

Deal with Reality
Master the Workplace
Own Your Career
Reject Mediocrity
Collect Portable Equity
Lead From Within
Fail Successfully
Reinvent Yourself
Balance with Intention
Remember Who You Are

Once I finished the book, I wanted to rush out to my nearest bookstore, buy up 100 copies of the book and send them off to all the people that I know. This book has the complete ability to change your life. Because the bottom line is that your career shouldn’t be your life, but a full life is impossible without joy at work (Radical Truth #92).

My favorite radical truths:

#12: Luck is for wimps.
#19: Being in a crap job isn’t your fault. Staying in a crap job is.
#20: Don’t work for someone you don’t respect.
#28: The most risky decision is not making one.
#85: Jump, and a net will appear.
#91: Don’t figure out your priorities while lying on your deathbed.
#100: Make your memiors worth reading.

If you have any doubts about what you are doing in your job or career, you should RUN (don’t walk) out and get this book. It truly can change your life. I’m ready to start radical careering, are you?

Dinner for Two

Posted on July 5, 2006 by Shane

Dinner for Two
by Mike Gayle
Rating: 8 out of 10

Mike Gayle is my second favorite contemporary British male author after Nick Hornby. In fact, after Hornby’s last two efforts, Gayle’s appeal is increasing to me. I’ve read 3 of his 4 novels now, starting with My Legendary Girlfriend and following that up with Mr. Commitment. I skipped over his last book, Turning Thirty, but I am ready to read it now, especially considering I’ll be doing that in December.

Dinner for Two is his most recent book and is about a guy, Dave, who has been married for 3 years and his biological clock is starting to tick. His wife isn’t too hip on the idea of kids. Dave’s magazine writing career takes a small turn as he goes from writing for a serious music magazine to writing an advice column for a teen magazine. That career change alters his life forever. He receives a letter from a girl who claims she is his 13-year-old daughter. What transpires is a great story about relationships – relationships between husband and wife, between parent and child, between friends.

Gayle captures the male mind very well, finding us in our insecurity and helplessness, our pride, our concern for our spouse/girlfriend/significant other. So many times while reading the book, I related to Dave and his experience with his wife, Izzy. It’s always so great to find an author who truly knows what it is like…it makes you feel that your experience is similar to others out there.

While I doubt Gayle will ever win a Pulitzer for his novels, he writes in a way that is accessible to common readers…a way that people can truly relate to and understand. Not only that, but his writing is timely to me as a person. For example, an excerpt from the chapter, “select”:

“It’s eight o’clock on the following Friday night and Izzy, our friends and I are standing in our local video shop: Blockbuster on Fortis Green Road. The shop is full of people like us: a slightly older crowd for whom staying in and watching a video has become the new going-out-clubbing-and-drinking-too-much.”

That passage is real life – such a true snapshot of daily life. While much of the book is about Dave and his newfound daughter, I found myself gravitating toward the chapters where he interacted with his wife, Izzy. Their relationship is really great, one that I think that people would be lucky to have. They love and respect each other without condition and I admire that in a couple. It’s too rare of a thing. That’s why I liked those chapters so much: the stuff in-between the huge events of our life is really what makes up the volume of your experience. Day-to-day life and how you deal with it is what matters. Gayle is an author who realizes that and I have a great respect for authors who can convey it in an interesting way.

Shane Life

A total sellout.

Monthly Archives: July 2006