Great Moments in Crazy

Don't you wish this guy was your dad?

Sweet drums

I want these dudes at my bar mitsvah.

The Year in Movies . . .

I had a lot of time on my hands this year to watch flicks. Thanks to oneclickmovies.com its easier than ever to see stuff. Really great year for movies. Only one outright classic but about ten great movies and a slew of really good ones.

My Top 20 Movies of 2009:
1. Un Prophete / A Prophet
2. Anvil: The Story of Avil
3. Adventureland
4. The Hurt Locker
5 An Education
6. Funny People
7. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
8. A Serious Man
9. Big Fan
10. Observe and Report
11. Collapse
12. Tyson
13. Star Trek
14. In the Loop
15. Where the Wild Things Are
16. Up In the Air
17. The Hangover
18. Public Enemies
19. World’s Greatest Dad
20. 500 Days of Summer

Honorable Mention: Moon, Zombieland, Drag Me to Hell Paranormal Activity, Mystery Team, Up, Inglourious Basterds, Land of the Lost, Lymelife, The White Ribbon, The Invention of Lying (The romantic back half of the film keeps this from being a classic along the works of movies like Groundhog Day)

Notable movies I haven’t seen: 35 Shots of Rum, The Road, Black Dynamite, Afterschool, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Informant, and Brothers.

Biggest Disappointment: Avatar, District 9

Awards:
Best Actor: Tahar Rahim, Un Prophete; Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Anna Faris, Observe and Report and the chick in An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds and Alfred Molina, An Education
Best Supporting Actress: the older lady from In the Loop and the younger chick from Up in the Air
Best Director: Jacques Audiard, Un Prophete; Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Picture, Foreign Film, and Documentary are self-explanatory from my list.

Kings of the World

Check this out:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/article_c900c7fe-c326-11de-b7ed-001cc4c002e0.html

Now read between the lines:

For the purposes of full disclosure, Obama is coming to my city to visit Madison's king. That's right, he called me and asked if I would be available to discuss my scathing critique of Teach For America and other heated issues facing education, film, music, and television today. I look forward to sharing Bud Light and then taking him on a afternoon game of hoops.

Shaq Vs.

Shaq "I used to play quarterback when I was little"
Roethlisberger "When were you little?"



The sports announcers are ludicrously fantastic supporting roles and the sideline babe adds authenticity to the farce. Thanks Carissa!

Thanks to JC for the tip.

Teh Watchmen

Anybody wanna see this on Saturday? It is probably the most badass story ever. P.S. I can drive.

TBR Breakdown of Obama and Rebuttal

I think it's interesting to see how Obama's campaign theme has continued to run through his first 36 days of his presidency. I'm on the hope theme, but it's sort of hard to buy it when I turn on the news, check the stock market, or think about Detroit. Obama says the right things, but in fairly vague terms. Frankly though, I wasn't really paying attention, I couldn't stop staring at that fox, Nancy Pelosi. She's a vision in green.

How about the rebuttal? First all, how did Louisiana get a Rhodes Scholar to go to their state? I'm pretty sure this guy took voice lessons from Kenneth, the page.



He spent a lot of time talking about how he and Obama have diverse backgrounds... thanks dipshit, I'm not blind. I particularly appreciated his yarn about his sheriff buddy and Katrina. Break his point down... I'm from India, don't trust government... lower taxes for businesses, tax credit for home buyers, Democrats are big spenders, drill for oil, TER-ROAR!, Amerrrrrica... don't monitor volcanoes, etc. Look buddy, clearly we need volcano monitoring.

To be serious for a minute, the Indian guy made a couple points I typically agree with. Unfortunately, he did it in the hick-ass way Republicans tend to do shit. I don't necessarily agree with everything the Prez sez, but I'm impressed by his ability to play well with others, especially given his massive political capital.

wiki fun

give up? check early life.

I ♥ my job.

I received a meeting request today. Sam, this is probably for you.

Subject: Mustache Contest

When: Thursday, January 29, 2009 5:30 PM-6:00 PM (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
Where: Conference Room

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In case you haven’t heard… and yes you read that correctly.

I thought it would be fun to have a just-for-fun charity event this winter because after all, what else is there to do in the winter. For those of you interested, we are going to have the kickoff meeting for the Mustache Contest. Both men and women are invited to attend the event, after all we will need a panel of judges there too.

Prizes:
The overall best mustache­ will take home $25 (or a max of 25%) of the money raised.
The remaining 75% will go to support a charity of the groups choosing, or variety of charities depending on a group vote.

Why? To raise money for a charity to be designated at the kickoff… and to annoy your girlfriend, wife, or whatever all in the name of a good cause.
When? January 29th at 5:30 PM
Where? Conference Room
Who? Anyone you want to invite
Cost? A measly $10 clams

At the end of the contest, which will most likely be a month from the start date, mustaches will be judged on a variety of factors (factors to be determined at the meeting) by qualified mustache judges (what those qualifications are will be determined at the meeting).

Rules:
You must be clean shaven at the start of the contest. We will provide a Bic razor and shaving cream at the kickoff to ensure fairness.
No growing beards, goatees, fu-manchus, etc… Only mustache hair will be allowed on your face during the duration of the event.

If you can’t make it to the meeting, just send me a time stamped photo of you with a clean shaven stache’ along with your entry fee.

Awards for:
Most unusually shaped mustache
Most colorful mustache
Ugliest mustache
Worst mustache
Other?

If you’d like to help with the administration of the contest just let me know.

For some inspiration, visit the Mustache Hall of Fame

I'M BUGGIN OUT

BAHHHHHH HALLOWEEEEEN AAAHAHARRGGHGHHHHH BOOOOOOOZZZZEEEEEEE.
Dance Party Friday + Halloween + Caption Contest = least coherent post ever.

Also, check out my office:

I really like it, I'm listening to Bob Marley right now.

I've always felt that I would be more productive if I had me standing over my shoulder:

Christie vs. Paul

I miss you Sam.

Her Name Was Sally, But They All Called Her Sal Mineo

In an attempt to view every Steve McQueen film ever made, I watched "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956). McQueen is in the movie for all of two minutes, usually seen with a knife... badass. However, the movie still kicked some unexpected ass. I think it was Paul Newman's second movie and I've decided I like him too. This is primarily because of his performance, but secondarily out of vanity. Apparently my life partner's grandmother thinks I look like Paul Newman. I don't believe it, but I wouldn't mind if it were true.

Newman stars as Rocky Graziano, a middleweight world champ who came from a badass past, but turned his life around through boxing. IMDB tells me, and the Buskus may be able to confirm, that Graziano won the title from Tony Zale, but later, lost it to Zale in another match. He also fought Sugar Robinson, knocked him down, but eventually lost. The movie, however, concludes with Graziano on top.

The Trailer:


For Buskus, Zale vs. Graziano (1948):


The film also features Sal Mineo, perhaps you know him as Plato from Rebel Without A Cause. His role was relatively minor, but it finally explains a Lifter Puller (Finn's band before Hold Steady) reference. Until now, I was pretty sure they were talking about Al Mineo, the once leader of the Gambino family. I must have added an "S" by mistake. Coincidentally, both Al and Sal were murdered.

As Town might describe it, it was a good flick. I gave it 5/5 on Netflix. It also convinced me that the Buskus should pursue his boxing interests in the ring.

I've Got Serious Training To Do

As you may know, I pride myself on my Guiness drinking abilities. Unfortunately, it looks like I've got some serious work to do.





Soon enough, I hope to post my own video. Until then, you'll find me training. I'll need all of your support.

JC, She's Got You Beat

My Goal For Next Year

The Treasure of The Sierra Madre (1948)

Ok, I know this movie is supposed to be really good. I mean, it has Bogart and won a bunch of awards, but I wasn't feelin' it.

The story follows a couple prospectors who are looking for gold in Mexico. Bogart's character is pretty much like all other Bogart characters, except maybe a little bit more of a bad guy. He does a good job, but I think I might just be a little too used to seeing the badass-with-a-heart-of-gold type character (again, like Kenneth) to enjoy this Bogart performance.

Also, while I enjoyed the old prospector, Howard (Walter Huston), in a comic way, I can't understand how he got an Oscar for best supporting actor. Maybe it was for this:


Don't get me wrong, I don't hate this movie. I just don't understand the hype. You know how everyone says that Casablanca is one of the greatest movies? Well it is; it's fantastic. People say the same thing about this one too and I just don't see it.

Maybe it's all because of this scene:


I don't know. I gave it a 3/5 on Netflix. It's worth watching, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

A Decent Proposal

Alright studs. I'm not sure if it's the Designer Whey or the Mountain Dew® Revolution™ coursing through my veins right now, but I totally think we should do this:



There's one coming up in Cincinnati and San Fran in October. I'm just spitballing here, but what if we did a Buskus shaped racer? We could attach a Rolling Rock or pack of cigarettes to a fishing rod and hold it out in front to motivate it to move. More info here: http://www.redbullsoapboxusa.com/default.aspx.

TBR Team, ASSEMBLE!!!

Seven Reasons Why The Magnificent Seven Kicks Ass

For a full appreciation, I recommend watching/playing the youtube clip as you read.

1) Steve McQueen (aka, Vin)
I would be proud if my children could be 1/24 as cool as Steve McQueen. Dude is so cool that the directors/producers name their movies after his character (see Bullitt, Tom Horn, Junior Bonner, Thomas Crown, Nevada Smith, and The Cincinnati Kid). Not to mention, he was in The Great Escape and The Blob. He also paved the way for future blond badasses, like Daniel Craig (see right).

2) Yul Brynner (aka, Chris)
While not as awesome as McQueen, Brynner (lower left) is another badass with a heart of gold... like Kenneth. He was apparently in the circus as a trapeze artist, which is both weird, cool, and gay, all at the same time. He also claimed to be half-Swiss and half-Japanese, but this was apparently only a ruse to fool gulible reporters. His Swiss-Russian accent is an interesting take on the cowboys of the old west.

3) Bitchin' Sound Track/Title Theme
The theme song is probably one of the most inspiring ever. I'd put it up there with Star Wars. It also has several lounged-out renditions, which as you may know from my previous posts is a huge for me. If you aren't familiar, you should check out sample tracks: Surf Version (Jack Nitzsche), Cha-Cha Version (The Lounge-O-Leers), and the check the original in the youtube clip.


4) Britt (played by James Coburn)
Britt is a great character; Coburn has been in too many movies to list. Notably, however, he was also a Great Escape veteran. Britt is quiet and awesome with a knife. He proves that you don't have to be big to be bad ass.

5) Charles Bronson (aka, Bernardo O'Reilly)
Bronson is like the father of all bad asses, although I've never been a huge fan. His character's name comes from being half Irish, half Mexican. Also, he dies protecting some little kids that subsequently put flowers on his grave.

6) Lazy Mexicans
Although the characters are surprisingly liberal (we meet McQueen and Brynner while they protect the burial of an Indian in a segregated burial plot), the film still has some funny Mexican stereotypes. Surprisingly enough, none of them seem to have accents. It's not nearly as bad as the Japanese guy in Breakfast at Tiffany's and it could just be a result of old shots, but it's noteworthy.

7) Plot and Feel-Good-Bad-Asses
Most of the characters are hired to help protect a village of poor Mexican farmers and their stories are revealed in pieces over time. Towards the end, you begin to love them because, although they kill a shit-ton of people, they do it out of love. How warm and fuzzy. But on top of that, it's that sort of epic movie that makes you get all wound up. Sort of like me and The Departed, except minus all the obscenities.

I gave this movie a 5/5 on netflix, but it should be noted that Steve McQueen gets a 9/5. Yeah, I'd say I love him. So what, big whup, wanna fight about it?

MK = Hero, Fucking Bad Ass

1) Brothers... "hey you're too puffy" --> switch jackets. No prob getting in. "You FUCKING RACIST!"

2) break glass, moose nuts

3) dart to taxi, outside vintage

4) "hey, you know you're beautiful, you deserve to get in." --> moose nuts

5) more to come... way more to come...